Wigwam of Lollies? Fountain of Wallys?, Mountain of Bollocks? Nope. That title is never going to fly.

Give us a Thunderball, a Moonraker, or a Live and Let Die - and we know what we're in for verbs and nouns: that's the rule for a Bond film. Stuff doing stuff to other stuff.

But Quantum of Solace? Sorry, you can justify it all you like, but that title is a mutt. And, likewise the opening sequence and the title song - each of them possibly the weakest in a decade.

So, not a strong beginning for the 22nd entry into the world's most durable franchise.

Luckily, the actual film does okay. Not Casino Royale brilliant, but okay. Quantum picks up the action only a few minutes after Casino Royale has finished, with Bond at the wheel of his Aston, desperately evading a pack of Euro-nasties with big guns while careering around some incredibly photogenic body of water.

At about this point the committed Bond fan - like me - will forgive them that stupid title, the dull credits, even the naff song and start to believe that normal (secret) service has been resumed.

From now on it doesn't disappoint. A passingly silly plot sees The Diving Bell and the Butterfly's Matthieu Amalric surface as the head of a world-wide gang of rotters - Quantum - masquerading as an eco-friendly conglomerate.

Their plan is to cut off the water supply of Bolivia, which seems like very small potatoes compared to what some earlier Bond villains have plotted, but I guess that humility is all part of the franchise's efforts to remain viable in a post-Jason Bourne world.

Daniel Craig is again excellent, Judi Dench better than ever, and Olga Kurylenko pretty but forgettable.

Maybe the real 'Bond girl' in Quantum is the memory of Casino's Vesper Lynd, since about half of Bond's dialogue is devoted to his attempts to reconcile himself to her death.

In short, Quantum will do. It hasn't got the wit or panache of Casino, and there's nothing here that compares to that film's fuel-tanker-on-the-runway set piece, but this is still a solid and entertaining entry to the canon.

Nice one.

Quantum of Solace
Director: Marc Forster
Starring: Daniel Craig, Judi Dench, Olga Kurylenko
Rated: M
Time: 106 minutes
Trailer: Flicks.co.nz

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