SHOULDN'T a 'secret agent' be precisely that? So unobtrusive that you could be standing next to him (or her) in the queue for the information desk at the bank and believe that they were Joe Soap? So covertly ordinary, in fact, that you wouldn't even flash them a second glance? Well, James Bond, with his liking for flash suits, expensive hotels and noisy confrontations, is anything but secret.

James Bond – particularly in Quantum of Solace, the follow-on to Casino Royale – is in your face "look at me, everybody!" confrontational. Low profile he is distinctly not – he might as well have "SPY" tattooed on his forehead, for all the subtlety he delivers.

Yes, Bond is back – and with a very large bang that seems to reverberate throughout the entire length of the movie. There are, and I counted them, no fewer than three writers who are named on the credits, and that is a tad surprising, given that there is precious little dialogue going on within the framework. Narrative has been jettisoned in favour of spectacular locations, multiple car chases (and wrecks) motorboats colliding, and planes getting wrecked. There are few of the in-joke quips, less of the dry humour, and a great many explosions.

If it moves and Bond can steer it, then you can place a pretty certain bet on the fact that it is going to end up at best severely dented, and at worst, a total write-off. Bond always walks away (relatively) unscathed.

There are also a couple of curvaceous women – one a Russian, and the other (played by Gemma Atherton, fresh from Tess of the D'Urbervilles) a steamy moll from M16 who wears a Burberry trench coast and, it appears, very little else.

In Quantum, 007 is attempting to get his revenge on the people who killed his beloved Vesper in the previous film, and also seeks to destroy a rather creepy French businessman whose plan is to control vast swathes of Latin America. It's probably best not to question why.

Bond - to the fury of M (another couple of days' work for the divine Dame Judi Dench) and others of his superiors – is very much a loose cannon, to the point of pursuing personal, almost pathological, payback. A broken heart can do very strange things to a chap.

Daniel Craig plays him with nary a smile, rather he's cold, tight-lipped and pretty much inscrutable. If nasty things are being done to him, he's going to make darned sure that even nastier things are going to be done to the perpetrators, and that's that. No other solution is even possible. Craig carries the movie, this is his film, and he generates all the action – and does it very well. It's now his role, and it fits him well.

Don't expect the familiar Bond theme at the beginning of the film (although you will get it, much later) and don't expect those iconic powder blue swimming trunks – they don't appear at all. Do expect to be deafened by a cacophony of collisions. However some things are constant – Bond lives in the lap of gold-plated luxury, frequents the very best hotels, and has the pick of the top-of-the-range motors.

His suits are all Savile Row. If all agents lived like this in real life, then the budget for running our intelligence services would be simply astronomical. Especially when it comes to divvying up the dosh for the repairs to the hotel suites after the inevitable fracas takes place.

Is it as good as Casino Royale? No. Is it fast-paced? Definitely – it's so slick that you rarely get a second to think. Does it look good? Yes the locations are spectacular, and Mark Forster, who directs, keeps the adrenaline pumping on overdrive. Shove the kids into High School Musical in the screen down the corridor, and sit back to have your eardrums rattled. When it comes to all-action activity, this Bond makes Rambo look like Bob the Builder.

Rating: ****

* Quantum of Solace opens at Doncaster's Vue cinema tomorrow.