Nice overhaul...

Rating: 9/10 (19 June 2007)

Very enjoyable Bond film. Some of the action sequences suffer from overkill, but are still exciting, if a little convoluted. I was almost ready to blast the movie for not including the James Bond theme, but...oh, you'll have to watch it.
Daniel Craig is a great Bond. Full of pith and vinegar, cold and charismatic, sexy and sinister. It's almost as if the opening black and white sequence tells you to forget everything you knew about Bond and the franchise so far...this is Bond re-born, year zero.
Once the movie gets into the plot of the original novel, the movie is in full swing. Obviously plot devices such as mobile phones and state-of-the-art MI6 communication have been inserted to modernise Bond, but the story does not suffer for it.
I've heard a lot of people say that they hate Bond movies, but they really liked this one. People also comment that they don't like the gadgets either. What the hell? Are the gadgets not one of the most exciting elements of a Bond film? The suitcase in From Russia With Love? The key-ring from The Living Daylights? The Lotus car/submarine from The Spy Who Loved Me? The Aston Martin from Goldfinger? Come on! This is certainly a re-invention, but the lack of some Bond traits disappointed me. Die Another Day was, quite rightly, hailed as the worst movie of the franchise, and CR does set things right again. A wonderful sign of things to come...but please, don't forget the roots of the series. Some things must be updated, but not everything.
All in all a very good movie, Bond film or not.