In the twenty-second film in the James Bond franchise, Daniel Craig continues to kidnap the 007 persona as he did in the prior Bond film, “Casino Royale” (2006). Bond began to bore long ago, but Craig’s grey, weathered, oily mug has hijacked this tacky franchise. With a face to match his name, Craig offers a more thoughtful, noir-scarred action character. (And “James Bond Will Return,” promises an end title card.) Just as Batman benefited from deeper and darker readings, Bond can do more than his mythology dictates. Gadgets and go-go models are underplayed this time, although one woman is dressed only in black oil, recalling a gold-painted victim from earlier Bondage. Writers Paul Haggis and Neal Purvis & Robert Wade plot the usual conspiracy that threatens the Earth. The detail about the natural resource that’s leveraged for intrigue in “Quantum of Solace” is tapped from the new political economy of privatized utilities. Director Marc Forster (“The Kite Runner,” “Stranger Than Fiction,” “Monster’s Ball”) honors action formula without art-film inflection. More telling may be the casting of French actor Mathieu Amalric (“A Christmas Tale”) as Bond’s nemesis and Olga Kurylenko (“Max Payne”) as Bond’s comrade in arms. And the chase scenes are quite cool. With Judi Dench, Jeffrey Wright, Gemma Arterton, Giancarlo Giannini. Jesper Christensen, Anatole Taubman, Rory Kinnear and Tim Pigott-Smith. 105m. (Bill Stamets)
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