A quick confession: before the release of “Quantum of Solace” this past weekend, I had seen all 21 of the previous installments in the James Bond series at least three times each, most of them many more than that (the one exception being 2002’s horrendous “Die Another Day”, whose existence I’m still trying to forget). Bond’s irresistible combination of guns, gadgets and girls is escapist entertainment at its finest. Two hours of a Bond movie will leave any man desiring to be half as cool, sexy and sophisticated as Ian Fleming’s famed MI6 agent.

For me, Sean Connery, the epitome of suave as he strolled confidently across a casino floor, will always define the role of Bond. Still, Daniel Craig immediately established himself as the runner-up in the “Best Bond” competition with 2006’s “Casino Royale”. Craig played a huge role in rescuing a franchise that almost self-destructed from the horribly misguided assumption that the movie-going public wanted to see Bond drive invisible cars and Halle Berry make “yo mama” jokes. Add in the most prestigious creative team for a Bond movie ever (director Marc Forster was critically acclaimed for his J.M. Barrie biopic “Finding Neverland,” and screenwriter Paul Haggis won an Oscar for “Crash”), and my expectations for “Quantum of Solace” couldn’t have been higher.

The first direct sequel in the Bond series, “Quantum of Solace” picks up right where “Casino Royale” left off, with Bond and his boss M (Judi Dench) interrogating Mr. White, a member of a highly mysterious international criminal organization responsible for the death of Bond’s last love interest, Vesper Lynd. Although he denies any emotional attachment to the mission, Bond is clearly bent on avenging his lost love, disobeying direct orders from M in order to hunt down those responsible for the blackmailing and betrayal of Vesper.

The trail leads Bond to Dominic Greene (Mathieu Amalric), a supposed environmental activist (he’s ‘green,’ get it?) using his charitable organization as a front for more sinister purposes. In his vendetta against Greene, Bond must enlist the help of friends old and new, including former MI6 collaborator Mathis (Giancarlo Giannini), his CIA counterpart Felix Leiter (Jeffrey Wright) and Camille (Olga Kurylenko), a feisty Bolivian operative with her own reasons to find Greene.

“Quantum of Solace” contains most of the necessary elements of a Bond film. Fast cars? Check. Seductive women? Check. Dastardly villain with a nefarious, if vague, plot? Check. The animation in the opening titles is creative, though the title song “Another Way to Die” (performed by the curious combination of Jack White and Alicia Keyes) might have been better if it were possible to distinguish any of the lyrics. The action maintains the frantic, brutal pace set by “Casino Royale”, including a fantastic rooftop chase sequence; however, this chase is admittedly more reminiscent of the Jason Bourne series than previous James Bond films.

In fact, despite the denials of director Marc Forster that the popular Bourne action series influenced “Quantum,” it’s hard to believe that the success of Bourne had no effect on Bond. In many action sequences (car chases in particular), the shots cut so quickly that it is almost impossible to tell exactly what is happening, a technique the Bourne series perfected. The viewer is vaguely aware of shattered glass, automatic weapon fire and brutal fistfights, but translating this sensory overload into a discernible series of movements is essentially out of the question.

This change of style in the action is accentuated by an additional shift in Bond’s character. The James Bond in “Quantum of Solace” is not quite the smooth, aloof figure that he has always been. In the last film, Bond let his guard down, allowing his emotions to control his actions, and it came back to haunt him. As a result, he was clearly hurt on a personal level that we have never seen Bond exposed to before. The James Bond of “Quantum” is at odds with his duty for his country and his desire for revenge; fans of the series may be thrown off by the sight of a ‘conflicted’ Bond. Any more of this, and we might have to change his nickname from Mr. Kiss Kiss Bang Bang to Mr. Kiss Kiss Brood Brood.

“Quantum of Solace” may thus feel slightly out of place when compared to the Bond series as a whole, but when viewed in context as a sequel to “Casino Royale”, Bond’s character development makes perfect sense. The most radical change is not any of the stylistic decisions or Bond’s shift in disposition, but the fact that for the first time in the series, a single plotline has carried over through two films. View “Casino Royale” and “Quantum of Solace” as a single unit rather than two separate works, and the combined result instantly fits into the Bond canon.

All matters of whether it is a true Bond movie or not aside, “Quantum of Solace” is simply an excellent action film. Dominic Greene is one of the best villains in years, a true weasel with hints of no-nonsense ferocity breaking through. Camille has far more depth than the traditional action flick bimbo, with her own troubled past nicely complementing Bond’s. The supporting cast shines also, with the screen time for Giancarlo Giannini feeling especially short. The existence of a massive criminal organization able to operate undetected by the CIA and MI6 is certainly not the most outlandish concept a Bond film has tried, though one does have to wonder where and how this highly secretive group hires all of its nameless henchmen (with any luck, Putin’s political antics may bring Russians back in vogue as the stereotypical movie thug, eliminating that particular question). Of course, fans of the series are probably not too concerned with plausability; and if you are a fan, until you’ve seen “Quantum of Solace,” you, like Bond, have some unfinished business to attend to.