SEE the MOVIE - READ the BOOK!

Rating: 10/10 (26 November 2006)

Most of the positive reviews for this movie on this site have shown considerable savvy as to just what the heck this movie is all about; perhaps the negative reviews should just be ignored. Yet as a long time fan of the novels of Ian Fleming, I got to say that the comments from those who didn't like this film because it lacks "gadgets"; or because it lacks "jokes"; or because it lacks "Miss Moneypenny"; or simply because it lacks any stick-of-wood prop-up like Roger Moore - These remarks leave me bewildered and a little angry. Since these reviewers can write, I must assume they're literate - haven't they actually read a book at least once in their lives? Well, if they ever decide to give that a try, I suggest they start with Ian Fleming's first James Bond novel, "Casino Royale" (1953) - a James Bond story without "gadgets"; without cheap humor at the expense of its characters; without Miss Moneypenny; and with a world-weary British agent who happens to be very human and can actually get caught off-guard, and does.
And I am stunned that the reviewers of whom I write complain about the wicker-chair torture scene - which not only comes straight out of the novel, but which was so controversial at the time that it first attracted readers of suspense novels to the book, just to see what the hub-bub was about. Which of course made a small fortune for Fleming and his publishers. In other words, without this scene, no further novels; without the novels, no James Bond, no James Bond films, no, not even Roger Moore (who first achieved fame playing Lesliem Charteris' "The Saint", as re-written for TV to appeal to fans of - James Bond novels).
In other words, everything those who pan this film complain as "not James Bond" IS James Bond, and everything they lament as missing from a "James Bond" movie is the cheap cartoon invented to appeal to the gaudy, campy '60s - and not James Bond at all.
They complain, because this is a REAL James Bond movie, and not one of those gaudy, campy fakes Roger Moore starred in.
Oh, gosh - do I feel sorry for them? - NOT! This is a great dramatic, suspenseful espionage thriller - tough, realistic, and still a part of our time as much as it was that of Fleming's original novel; there are concerns that Fleming wrote about, which still concern us - the cold war is over, but MI5 is still the British Secret Service, and still capable of some pretty nasty business; Fleming's refinements to this reality remain in this movie, as well as refinements intended to appeal to mature viewers of any age.
Enjoyed it thoroughly, and watched it twice; hoping for more of the same in the future.