"I think I'm getting the hang of this..."Casino Royale did the business - but can Bond back it up?

QUANTUM OF SOLACE

2008, Cert 12.

Released: March 23rd.  RRP - £24.99 (DVD), £29.99 (Blu-ray)

The review: ****

Daniel Craig clinically completes his reinvention of the suave superspy in his second outing as James Bond.

Following on directly from Casino Royale, he's out to avenge the death of Vesper Lynd...which means getting in the way of the chilling environmental terrorist Dominic Greene (Mathieu Amalric) and his plans to trigger a coup d'etat in Bolivia.

Monster's Ball director Marc Forster brings a dramatic flourish to 007 while the Bourne team ensure the action will have you working up a sweat. Mr Bond, you're looking good.

From the opening glimpse of Bond's Aston cannonballing alongside Lake Garda, the high-definition glories of blu-ray are apparent...especially when coupled with fender-bending Dolby surroundsound. 

It's a handsomely shot film anyway - from the slums of Manila to the deserts of Baja California (standing in for Bolivia) - and the HD version crisply captures the sharp images.

Forster's vision marks a move back towards the world domination scenarios of Blofeld with the sinister Quantum organisation replacing the rather camp SPECTRE and its predeliction for pussy-stroking megalomaniacs.

He also wryly acknowledges Bond's past: there's a, erm, "crude" reference to the classic death scene in Goldfinger, the flame-grilled grand finale is splendidly indebted to the sublime Ken Adam sets of the 1960s and opera fans will appreciate the contemporary take on Tosca sublimely weaved into a shoot-out. Roger Moore never did that.

Yet this is a Bond firmly of the moment. Whiplash editing, a sharp script (again courtesy of Paul "Crash" Haggis) and a careful expansion of what made Casino Royale such a winning hand means that 007 is in as good as shape as he was back in 1964.

Extras: **

Pretty sparse extras include the mediocre theme song from Jack White and Alicia Keys. A location report tells us the crew helped out local slum dwellers in Colon by replumbing their waterworks and offers behind-the-scenes footage from Bolivia, Panama, London, Siena and Austria.

There's a worrying amount of duplication and some dodgy spelling - not quite what you'd expect from a film of this stature.

Tim Evans