As I peered up at the screen in anticipation for the Bond music that would begin Quantum of Solace, I tried to ignore the empty feeling in my pocket from the $8.50 ticket (that’s matinee prices, people).

I was about to watch the new James Bond film starring the essence of man, Daniel Craig. The next two hours would be a feast of trademark Bond elements: Witty catchphrases, shooting at the camera, and awesome gadgets. After the movie, I felt, for the most part, satisfied.

Quantum of Solace picks up right where Casino Royale left off. Bond is trying to uncover who blackmailed Vesper, the woman he loved who died in the last movie. He is led to the super-criminal Dominic Greene (Mathieu Amalric), who is trying to gain control of the water supply in Bolivia.

The second action scene, a foot chase that happens only minutes after the opening car chase, includes some of the most original stunt work I’ve seen in a while. Bond and his enemy exchange punches while hanging from ropes. After these successive chases involving different modes of transportation, I hoped for a bike chase or even a skim board chase.

Later action scenes were equally exhilarating and ridiculous, but other than these set pieces, there wasn’t much else.

Only hours after the movie, I re-watched Casino Royale. Then I viewed it again the next morning, hoping that by watching the movie enough, I would inevitably become Daniel Craig. This didn’t work out…

Casino Royale was superb, and far superior to Quantum of Solace. Though not a failure by any means, why, after the franchise was injected with extra adrenaline in the last movie, did this one have to be a step down?

The action was entertaining, but where was the punch and all the hard-hitting grit of Casino Royale? The former movie opened with Bond brutally drowning a guy in a cracked bathroom sink as he grunted like an angry beast.

Pierce Brosnan’s Bond would have given a couple neat shots with a pistol, acting more as if he was removing the bag from his teacup rather than ending the life of a fellow human being. But the uncompromising, intense feeling is absent in Quantum.

Daniel Craig still does a great job of giving Bond a hard exterior while radiating the intensity with which he does his job. His focus isn’t only on the smooth perfection of Bond, but also on his animal strength and commitment. Watching Quantum and Casino Royale may be the only times I have questioned my sexuality; it’s difficult not to when Craig’s pectorals are on screen.

But the genius of Casino Royale was how, though Bond always found ways of escaping in the end, the situations he got into gave him the potential to be destructible. He was human, and by creating the opportunity for him to seem weak, it was all the more impressive when his strength persisted. This emotion isn’t as clear in this new indestructible Bond.

Quantum of Solace is missing some necessary aspects of Bond. Other than cell phones, the movie lacks inconceivably cool gadgets. And Bond is too consumed with his own personal vengeance to make jokes. This movie missed the fact that, though not as important as action, Bond’s wit is a key part of the entertainment.

World domination plots are often complex, but it is important they stay coherent. It’s hard to comprehend the menace and power of the villain and care about Bond stopping him when you’re not sure what’s going on.

Director Marc Forster doesn’t usually do action films, and like several sequences in Gladiator or Batman Begins, some of the shots are too close and the camera is too shaky. Combined with excessively quick edits, it makes it hard to understand what the hell is happening. Why cut between five hand-held, über-closeups of Bond pulling off a filthy jump between two widely spaced platforms when a wide shot would show us the stunt in all its glory? It’s backwards to make the combat hard to follow when the film is based around action.

Though Quantum of Solace lacked the punch of Casino Royale, it sure didn’t lack the quantity of punches. There were colossal amounts of bullets, explosions, and overall mayhem. Its entertainment may not have been as powerful, or perfectly orchestrated as other Bond movies, but it’s still a prime way to spend a Friday afternoon.