Quantum of Solace: 6/10

When I go to the cinema and I gorge on a family-sized pack of Maltesers, I come away feeling full yet oddly empty. The same feeling came over me after sitting through Quantum of Solace, the new James Bond film, at a packed North London cinema last night - and not just because I ate too many chocs.

It's not that the action sequences weren't up to scratch (though some were clearly enhances with CGI). Or that the locations weren't glamorous (Mexico/Panama/Chile). Even the Bond girl - Olga Kurylenko - was appropriately gorgeous.

The trouble, right from the opening credits and the unBond-like song, was that this felt just like any other Hollywood action flick. Gone was the wit; absent were the gadgets; and, perhaps most worryingly of all, was the dearth of any solid plot.

So 007's nemesis this time is faux-environmentalist-cum-coup-mongerer called Mr Greene. But given that was billed as a sequel I was hoping that there would have been a deeper exploration of some of the twists and plotlines introduced in Casino Royale.

Instead, the story revolves around the dated concept of the US fomenting regime-change in its South American backyard so long as it gets a cut of the natural resources. One wonders what Bolivians will make of it when it plays in La Paz. A more believable story might have involved Congo, uranium and French complicity in a coup. But then that would mean no US-bashing for director Marc Forster.