Meet the new Bond...

Rating: 7/10 (30 March 2008)

007 out of 10 that is! An obviously big budget feature, attempting to take its place in the lineage of one of cinema's longest running franchises as well as show a thing or two to contenders-not-pretenders such as Matt Damon's Jason Bourne series. And while it succeeds in the former, it doesn't for me cohere well enough to outstrip the latter. Dealing with the history first, there are some nice reference points such as the exotic locations, (here prominently taking in author Fleming's old hunting ground, the Bahamas), the introduction to Felix Leiter of the CIA and of course the beautiful "Bond-Girl" women, although the sex scenes seem toned down, perhaps for the censor perhaps just a statement of intent to eschew frippery. The in-jokes are cute and worth watching for; the fact that the famous Bond tuxedo is picked for him by a woman, the nonchalance displayed over Bond's trademark, "shaken, not stirred" Martini, the Aston Martin and the ending on the famous "Bond, James Bond" announcement. It was also good to see Bond up against an everyday sadistic, high-rolling villain rather than a "rule the world" Blofeld type - certainly realism is in, cartoonery out - there are only a couple of humorous quips here to echo the early Connery's delivery (until the gadgets took over)...and yet the whole doesn't quite catch in my view. For example compare the lengthy running chase early on between Bond and his assassin protagonist to the similar scene in "The Bourne Ultimatum" and there's really no comparison in terms of action, stunt-invention and thrill-making - Bourne wins hands down. Also making an over-lengthy poker game the fulcrum of the action (am I the only person who has no interest in this over-rated past-time/sport - the new "rock and roll" my eye!) slows the action down far too much. What action there is, and there are healthy doses, is fine, some of the effects excellent, particularly the climax to the earlier referred-to chase, high up on construction cranes and the demolition of a Venetian warehouse at the climax but I also found the acting suspect. It was also strange to view a prequel to a 1962 movie with completely up to date gadgetry, talk about lack of continuity. Daniel Craig is more craggy than handsome as Bond, but again this is going the right way, in my view, taking us back to the machismo Connery prototype. He's fine in the terseness stakes but lapses into Lazenby territory when required to get emotional over the death of Vesper for example. Mads Mikkelson as Chiffre does a reasonable sub-Christopher Walken turn but doesn't quite seem vicious enough - indeed his guerrilla paymasters are far more violent in his pursuit. All told though, now that introductions and exposition are out of the way, let's hope that the next instalment ups the ante just as "From Russia With Love" did when succeeding "Dr No" all those years ago.