Maybe the first Bond movie ever...

Rating: 10/10 (26 November 2006)

Bond movies have always been too Bond-conscious. Even the very first, the Connery set, though we probably became more acutely aware of this as the years and 20 Bond flicks filed by.
Bond 21 (could well have been known as the "Black Jack Bond" had it not been for the "poker" factor) loses all of that excess 'Bond awareness'. For the first time ever the other characters (not just the super-villain!) and the world around them all seem to matter... all of which makes the Bond character so much more believable... even if he does survive falls and blows that would, surely, kill most men (maybe even other Bonds!) and even if he spends most of his time among aristocrats and surrounded by opulence.
Sure, it's still not a perfect movie but it is a perfect surprise to be able to treat a Bond movie as an independent movie-experience and not to have to excuse it with the old "Don't forget: it IS a Bond movie" line.
And, as an independent movie-experience, I thought it was great!