She Likes to Watch

To quote another 2008 blockbuster, “Why so serious, ‘Quantum of Solace?’”

Compared to 2006’s “Casino Royale,“ “Quantum of Solace” simply doesn’t stack up.

“Casino,” which established Daniel Craig as the cool, brutal Bond of a new generation, blended gritty realism and gnarly violence with flashes of fun and adventure. It had a smart, stunning heroine (Eva Green), some amazing action stunts and a juicy central villain, the scarred card shark Le Chiffre (Mads Mikkelsen).

Even Chris Cornell’s theme song, “You Know My Name,” rocked.

So what happened?

“Quantum of Solace” pits British spy James Bond against the mysterious terrorist organization that killed his girlfriend Vesper. This time his opponent is Dominic Greene, head of an environment protection group that has dark designs on the world’s water supply.

Bond is joined by Camille (Olga Kurylenko), a beautiful South American woman on a separate quest for vengeance.

Starting with a scuffle that nearly claims the life of Bond’s boss M (Judi Dench), the action moves briskly from a rooftop chase in Siena, Italy, to Haitian waters to a thrilling aerial battle in Bolivia and a final fiery confrontation.

Frenetic camera work recalls Matt Damon’s “Bourne” movies. So do the desperate glances and guilt trips experienced by our man Bond.

Throughout it all, Agent 007 is dead serious. Despite his attempts to stay professional, his mission is personal — deeply so.

Part of this no-fun approach stems from Bond’s back story; after all, he’s trying to avenge the lover who betrayed him. The pedigrees of director Marc Forster, who helmed “The Kite Runner” and “Monster’s Ball” and screenwriters Paul Haggis (”Million Dollar Baby,” “Crash”) and Neal Purvis (”Casino Royale”) also lend a certain gravitas.

But would it kill the powers that be to throw in a few jokes?

Mathieu Amalric — so wonderful in “The Diving Bell and The Butterfly” — is sorely underused here as Greene, a villain whose menace is never entirely clear. He has none of La Chiffre’s coldness and cruelty, Ernst Blofeld’s Buddha-like calm or Auric Goldfinger’s wackiness. In fact, he’s a lot closer to those lame-brain baddies who sparred with Pierce Brosnan’s Bond in recent films. Not exactly a step up.

The ubiquitous Bond girls also suffer. Bond barely flirts with Camille and spares a scant five minutes of screen time “getting to know” the coyly named Fields (Gemma Arterton).

And don’t even mention the theme song, “Another Way to Die” by Jack White of The White Stripes. With vocals by White and Alicia Keys, it sounds tinny and frankly kind of weird.

“Casino Royale” was supposed to usher in a new era for the tuxedo-clad, martini-swilling secret agent known as Bond.

After watching “Quantum,” however, I almost long for the old, silly days.