This issue: Bond. And vampires! Not in the same film because that might actually be too awesome.

Quantum of Solace

(PG-13, Avail. 3/24)

In 2006 the Bond franchise rose from the ashes of "Die Another Day" with the blunt and blistering "Casino Royale." Daniel Craig gave us a different take on the character and it was most welcome. Now that the novelty of the brand new Bond has worn off, the question becomes, is this new style still interesting? The answer is yes, even if it isn't with unabashed enthusiasm.

Picking up mere moments after the end of "Casino Royale," "Quantum of Solace" opens with a wild car chase reminiscent of the "Bourne" trilogy. This sequence sets the tone for every action sequence in "Quantum." Director Marc Forster ("Finding Neverland," "Stranger Than Fiction") is not known for action movies, and it seems as though he overshoots quite often. The sequences are not bad but they could have been better without the frenetic editing, which makes them difficult to follow.

As for the plot, it's a bit murky. One thing is clear, however. Bond wants blood for Vesper's (Eva Green) death at the end of "Royale."

Being benched by M (Judi Dench) is not going to stop Bond from going after self-proclaimed environmentalist Dominic Greene (Mathieu Amalric), whose plan is to seize control of a country's entire water supply. Also setting out to stop Greene is Camille (Olga Kurylenko). Greene is in league with the man who murdered Camille's family as a child and she's been plotting her revenge ever since.

Story-wise that's really all you need to know. With these new Bond films, audience interest is primarily on style as opposed to story. The stories in these 22 movies have all been essentially the same, anyway. So how well does the new style work?

Like its predecessor, "Quantum of Solace" maintains a sense of reality for the most part (save for a ludicrous sky diving sequence). The new style also gives us a new kind of Bond girl. This worked very well for "Casino Royale," due to Vesper being a well-developed character who played well off of Craig's Bond. Camille, however, is nowhere near as interesting. Kurylenko's performance isn't terribly memorable, though to be fair she is given little to do with the role.

Craig is once again in top form. Some have complained that his Bond has no sense of humor, but at this point it wouldn't make a lot of sense for him to be cracking groan-inducing one-liners. He's still becoming the 007 we have known since "Dr. No." His anger has yet to give way to the cool detachment of Connery. For this film Craig's surliness is just right.

Written by the team that penned "Royale" (Paul Haggis, Neal Purvis, and Robert Wade), "Quantum of Solace" is a good movie that could have been better. They continue to do a great job of developing Bond, but the lack of interesting supporting characters (including the villain and the love interest) keeps this from being all it could be. Still Dench's M, Jeffrey Wright's Felix, and Giancarlo Giannini's Mathis are worth noting.

Forster's direction of the non-action sequences is good though not as sharp as his work on his previous films ("Stranger Than Fiction" is one of the most underrated movies of this decade). His best flourish is an opera sequence which is far more "art house" than we're used to from Bond.

"Quantum of Solace" is a flawed but fun adventure with James Bond. It's not "Casino Royale," but few movies are. 7/10.

Let the Right One In

(R, Now Avail.)

Last November two vampire films were released theatrically in America. One was the obsession of women aged 12 to 50, while the other made its impression quietly, but impressed nonetheless. Guess which one I was more excited about.

This Swedish tale set in 1982 is about Oskar (Kåre Hedebrant), a twelve-year-old outcast who spends the cold winter nights outside playing with his Rubik's Cube. However, there are suddenly strange happenings in the town of Blackeberg, which just happen to coincide with the arrival of a girl named Eli (Lina Leandersson). Out in the snow they begin to talk with each other night after night, even though Eli insists, "You and I cannot be friends...That's just the way it is."

But between sharing his Rubik's Cube and his daily school horror stories, Oskar wins a friend. Eli is angered by the behavior of Oskar's schoolmates and tells him that he must "hit back." Oskar does and begins to discover his true nature. Meanwhile, Eli struggles mightily with hers as she creates a body count.

"Let the Right One In" is an unusually smart and affecting vampire film. Writer John Ajvide Lindqvist and director Tomas Alfredson create characters far more interesting and well developed than the average cinematic 12-year-old (though we're never sure how old Eli really is). Oskar is very much a pre-adolescent boy but there is a sense of weariness to him. It is as if the horrid treatment he faces every day has made him an adult already. It is his old soul that allows Eli to relate to him. The subtle performances of Hedebrant and Leandersson are all the more impressive considering their ages. These are two young talents who will be around for a long time to come.

The world these characters inhabit is cold, dark, bloody and eerily beautiful as seen through Alfredson's lens. The cinematography is amazing, but only serves to create the proper atmosphere, not as a distraction from the story.

"Let the Right One In" asks that we sympathize with Eli in spite of her vicious, murderous nature, and though she is good to Oskar, she is still a killer. She should not be let off the hook for this even though Lindqvist and Alfredson seem to want that from the audience. I had a problem with this, but in a movie with so much to like, this does not deter me from highly recommending "Let the Right One In." 8.5/10.