Rookie Bond is rubbish

Rating: 1/10 (12 July 2007)

The idea to have a rookie, pedestrian Bond is rubbish. Bond is Bond and will do things like drink martinis, look stylish, and say Bond, James Bond. Many of those things are rendered anachronistic when performed or said by a rookie, wet-behind-the-ears agent. An old fart Cold War fossil, a relic of a different era ingesting Beluga and Caviar in bed? - OK, sure, I'll buy that. But why in the blazes is this greenhorn rough n' tumble amateur doing such things? Am i to believe his years in SAS training were spent sipping Cabernet Sauvignon slightly below room temperature somewhere in the South of France? This decision to change Fleming's character into a rookie ruined one of the core elements of the character.
The story lacks the emotional development of the superbly written one in the novel, it pales in comparison to it. The Casting/characterization: lacks conviction and appeal. Craig's characterization of Bond is charmless, worthless, and disturbingly nihilistic. Judi Dench. Her "M" is more unsympathetic than ever. No other actress has ever contributed less charm and more unfemininity to the Bond series than Dame Judi Dench. They've turned her into a monster. At least during the Brosnan era she had the father figure angle like Bernard Lee's M. Now they thought it would be cool to have her have a "don't mess with me attitude" and swagger. The opening, in some grimy bathroom, and shooting some nobody was the worst pre-title sequence of all the Bond movies, nice way to inroduce the new Bond. None of them were this run-of-the-mill plain, it felt more like a xerox actioner. One thing i did like was the rich Technicolor-style cinematography looking more classy. Unfortunately the content we see through the lenses does not compare.