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Daniel Craig and Olga Kurylenko star in "Quantum of Solace." (CNS photo/Columbia)

A few issue back, The Catholic Sun ran Rebecca Bostic’s review of “Quantum of Solace,” the latest installment in the James Bond series. This year’s contribution is the second in the revamped series starring Daniel Craig.

It’s a darker, grittier Bond — a character that struggles with his identity and morality.

Today I stumbled across another review of the film by Dominican Brother Robert King, an old classmate of mine at the Dominican School of Philosophy and Theology. I follow Bro. Robert’s blog, Ad Saeculum.

After listing the ways in which Bond’s character develops, Bro. Robert writes:

James Bond is a sort of stand-in for a certain portion of western society. He has been one of the main ideals of masculinity for the past three generations. He is, first of all, irresistible to women; he is skilled at and knowledgeable about almost everything; he travels in luxurious style and hob-nobs with the most powerful figures in the world with ease; he does whatever he wants and gets away with murder — literally. So the shift to a more complex, more morally attuned portrayal which examines especially this last quality is a sign of hope: that perhaps our generation of men is beginning to recognize the necessity of consequences to moral (or immoral) actions and the absurdity of moral relativism. However, it also shows the extremes to which we may need to be pressed in order to achieve such a realization.

I still haven’t seen the movie myself, but when I do, I’ll be looking a little deeper into it thanks to Bostic and Bro. Robert.