I have a confession to make: I often have absolutely no idea what is going on in James Bond movies. I mean, I can physically see whichever actor playing Agent 007 at the time chases down bad guys in an Italian sports car, dodging bullets as he performs corkscrew maneuvers flying over a cliff in the Mediterranean before ejecting himself mid-air and continuing the pursuit on a high-powered Vespa — that he parachuted onto.

But I'm never exactly sure why he's chasing the bad guy, what allegiances have been broken, who's blackmailing who, what country's future hangs in the balance, etc.

For me, Bond movies aren't all that much about plot details and character development anyway. They're about the white-knuckled chase scenes, the intense fights, the too-cool-for-school style of Agent 007 and the witty one-liners.

Luckily for the Bond legacy, Daniel Craig seems to have given the 46-year-old franchise a good kick in the pants with his rough and rugged take on the James Bond legacy. Pierce Brosnan could handle the suave and sophisticated demands that come with being 007, but he had outstayed his welcome in the kicking butt department.

Part of Craig's appeal is that — unlike his predecessor — he doesn't look like someone you'd rub elbows with at the polo club. He looks more like a guy who'd serve you a pint of Bass Ale in a London pub — and bash you over the head with the glass if you don't tip an amount he deems appropriate.

The latest Bond movie, "Quantum of Solace" picks up a few hours after "Casino Royale" left us a few hours ago.

Mr. White (Jesper Christensen) is in the trunk, and his cronies are hot in pursuit of Bond, who kidnapped him after his love, Vesper Lynd, died as part of Mr. White's evil plot. It only takes about six seconds for "Quantum" to be racing along a curvy road in the Italian mountains, bullets flying and metal crashing.

Unfortunately, "Quantum" is unable to keep up the excitement. About halfway through, it started to dawn on me that this movie is kind of a snoozer.

Bond, fighting the urge to make his latest mission personal after the Vesper ordeal, is in pursuit of Dominic Greene, a key player in the criminal organization known as "Quantum." Green has plans of taking control of a large portion of the water supply for South America.

There's not a lot of interest happening here between Bond and his leading lady, the feisty Camille (Olga Kurylenko). The two really never seem to connect, and Bond needs that from his leading lady. Much of the film is supposedly building up to a confrontation between Bond and Greene, but there's too much of a lull before we get to anything exciting.Arriving in theaters after "Casino Royale" might be the biggest fault of "Quantum" in that it's nowhere near as complete a film as that Bond picture. Whereas "Casino Royale" was vintage Bond, "Quantum of Solace" feels a lot more like lackluster Bond.

Other than a few chase and fight scenes, "Quantum" isn't all that much fun to watch, and will likely be remembered as a lull in the Bond franchise.

I'd spy something else at the theater this weekend.

Joel Sensenig is news editor of the Review Times.