Something Must Be Wrong With Me

Rating: 7/10 (2 December 2006)

I'm going to level with you all, straight up:
I prefer gin martinis, stirred- not shaken (though I actually do like Vespers).
My favorites Bond Movie is Live and Let Die.
My Favorite Bond Actor is Roger Moore (except in Octopussy).
I actually like the Dalton years.
I find no redeeming value in George Lazenby's portrayal,
That said, I went into this film knowing it was going to be different. After all the producers have been promising us that since the end of Die Another Day. Well as anyone who has seen any long-running franchise can tell you, reinvention isn't always a good thing. I like both the book and the film interpretations of Bond, but I think they work better when they are separated. Everyone who is a fan of the books, wanted to see a serious adaptation of Casino Royale, and to be honest I did too. But as the old saying goes, be careful what you wish for. I sit on the fence on this particular film. It wasn't the worst, but there were many little things that bother me. First and foremost, the product placement really stood out this time around. I know it is nothing new, but it just really was distracting, at first I would chuckle at the appearance of Sony cell phones, because the movie was co-produced by them. Then I sorta giggled at the appearance of the stacked Smirnoff vodka at the Miami airport (both because the bottles were far too large to be allowed in that area of an airport, and because by law, liquor can't be sold that way), but by the time they had a near close-up of the logo of Bond's tux jacket, I'd had enough. Also, even in the books, Bond doesn't kill with a cold heart, he does it because he has to, and essentially because it's the only thing he is good at. In this, although we see the physical difficulties of his work (which I must admit were rather impressive stunt scenes), the psychological aspects are simply paid lip service, an occasional "Gee, this is bad" but really we didn't see any progress or growth. Bond's trademark wit is missing, though it's early in his 00-career (btw, 00-status is an invention of the movies, in the books agents are merely given sequential numbers, the last Flemming novel makes mention of the death of 016 for example), it's not unrealistic for him to make the odd quip or two, which are although kinda outlandish, actually they're pretty realistic because it's a defense mechanism. Bond is bad ass, but he's not a hard ass. Even Dalton knew how to toss out one-liners with a certain amount of irony. And I miss the real gadgets, cell phones and laptops don't count, unless they explode, release tear gas, or also make espresso. One more minor gripe, why the heck doesn't Bond go back to the Walther PPK? Ever since Brosnan switched in Tomorrow Never Dies, it's driven me nuts, and you'd think for "getting back to the basics" they'd use that too. That said, considering the unremarkable script, the acting is above par. The action and stunt sequences are impressive. And the location shooting is absolutely stunning. However I missed the traditional theme, which didn't appear until the end, and even then sounded like it was rather poor cover. One of the great things about the theme is that it can be adjusted to the situation on screen and makes for an outstanding running soundtrack, here was a wannabe theme, that devolved from the unremarkable opening credits song.
Update 2008: I gave this film another star, because my early evaluation of some of the music elements was based on the theater I saw the film in. With a sound system that's actually geared for more than explosions, the theme sounds much better.
Call it a double standard, but I like the traditional movie Bond. Allowing for the 3 Billion US Dollars earned by the 20 preceding films, I think it's fair to say that most other people did too. But the producers decided to mess with an otherwise winning formula. It'd be fine as an action film, but it just isn't a true Bond film.