The 22nd James Bond film is anything if not intriguing. The course began in Casino Royale is enthusiastically capitalized upon in Quantum of Solace as, for the first time, Her Majesty’s top secret agent, chases clues and villains from one movie to the next. And say what you want, but there’s no denying that this Bond is bold, brutal and breathless. Of course, there’s another word that comes to mind here: Bourne. It would not be unfair to say that the 45-year-old franchise is drawing heavily from his amnesic, American counterpart, but I’d call it more of a blood transfusion. Overall the zip of the relentless action compensates for any lost nostalgia for the Bond of old.

Picking up barely an hour after Royale, Bond (Craig, Daniel Craig) brings the sole remaining link to Vesper Lynd’s betrayal of MI:6 in for interrogation. What Bond and M (Dench, Judi Dench) find out is that Mr. White is part of a fiendish organization that has it’s tentacles in many pies, including world intelligence agencies. Bond pursues the leads to Dominic Greene (Mathieu Amalric), an industrialist that’s planning a coup in Bolivia in order to secure precious resource resources for the SPECTRE-like group called: QUANTUM. Along the way picks up Camille (Olga Kurylenko), a friend in revenge also looking for payback.

Quantum seems to go by in a flash, but the thing that Bond appears to be outrunning most of all is his own history. The staples are gone; no “shaken not stirred,” no “Bond, James Bond,” no Q, no Moneypenny, no quips and no gadgets. Even the famous gun barrel opening is saved for the very end, and is traded for a long, tracking shot of car chase along the Italian coast. At the worst of times, Bond’s appeal is carried through purely by nostalgia and that’s done thanks to the franchise’s numerous trappings. In Casino Royale the absence of these items seemed refreshing, but I think we thought there was a silent guarantee with us in the audience that they’d slowly be worked back in.

The other thing that appealed with Casino Royale was seeing a Bond that’s raw and reckless and just a little bit full of himself despite lack of experience and without the practiced demeanour. Obviously, this Bond is still emotionally raw, but as a fighter and as an agent, Bond seems light years of where he was in Royale despite the negligible time difference. But the action is kinetic for sure, but this is where the Bourne comparisons scream the loudest. It’s frenzied and brutal and even the hero can’t escape a battle without a scrape or a scratch, if not outright bloodied. There is however one slick tip of the hat to Goldfinger, which I will not spoil.

But Bourneian comparisons aside, and any longing for laser watches or invisible cars, are fairly neatly put away as Quantum unfolds. The real world grounding of the last two 007 movies has been an inspired, though obvious, twist. There’s nothing of Dr. Evil levels of spoofability when it comes to Greene and QUANTUM; think instead of Parallax View levels of conspiracy theorizing. There’s no satellite weapon or doomsday device, just the manipulation of the powerless for the benefit of the powerful, with QUANTUM acting as the facilitator. Bond has always had a black/white world view, and the villains he’s fought has reflected that. Now, in the murky grey world we live in, Bond has trouble dealing, and the personal side of the story can’t resolve the fact that by the time the credits roll, Bond still has an uphill battle before him against an invisible enemy.

But within two movies, the Bond producers have taken what was always a very Shake and Bake movie formula and turned it on its head to a compelling thrill ride that flows and builds from one chapter to the next. More than that, it’s built a cast of characters that are easily some of the most vibrant and intriguing of the series. Dench’s M has gone from desk shackled bureaucrat to a cutthroat field marshal that could stand balls to balls with Alias’ Jack Bristow. And Jeffrey Wright’s take on Felix Leiter is the cool, steadfast ally Bond needs in a pinch – a political pragmatist, but a loyal friend when it counts. Craig doesn’t get to stretch as much acting wise in this one, but his gravitas, magnetism and inner monologue centre the action. You can feel this Bond’s menace.

Clearly the producers have their eyes on a larger tapestry in mind for the super spy, but that same time they show the confidence to allow each film stand as individual chapters. Stylistically Quantum is very different from Royale and I think this is because director Marc Forster was given room to make the material his own.

But make no mistake, the emphasis in this Bond was action, action, and more action with not as much room for dramatic pause. Because of this, I think Quantum is slightly weaker overall, but it’s still better than much of the last 30 years of the franchise. Any Bond film that can play a Hitchcockian cat and mouse game in an opera house is definitely ploughing new ground, and even if you’re not sure about the stop, I don’t think anyone can complain about the direction being taken.