Brutally Wonderful/Wonderfully Brutal

Rating: 9/10 (21 March 2007)

As many have already trumpeted, James Bond is triumpantly back, and his name is Daniel Craig.
More accurately, I think the phrase should be that James Bond has finally arrived, as I think this Bond is the closest to the true spirit of the character that anyone has ever come.
Stripped of his fantastical gimmicks and gadgets, this Bond is a human being, who bleeds, feels pain, makes mistakes and has flaws, but does his job exceedingly well. All traits that previous Bonds have been conspicuously devoid of. Past writers have thought removing the humanity from Bond made him cool. But Craig is easily the coolest Bond ever, exactly because of his humanity. He's cold, but you can see that he makes an effort to be cold. And that makes all the difference here.
Furthermore, I think that this is also the closest we've ever seen to what an actual 'James Bond' type agent would be like if he were to exist in reality. Wickedly smart, resourceful, psycholologiclly damaged, fiercely loyal, and with a general sense of barely constrained madness, all coming together to serve whatever mission is laid before him. If an actual person were in this role, this is likely an accurate portrait.
As for the film itself, there is not much room for improvement. It has all of the usual beauty and exotica one expects from a Bond film, but has been stripped of the superfluousness. No laser-watches and invisible cars, or utterly unbelievable plot devices. The acting is solid, the writing is sharp and very very smart, and the cinematography is outstanding. The fight scenes are absolutely brutal and realistic in such a fantastic way that words really fail to describe the experience. And there is one torture scene that nobody will soon forget, and in my mind seals the deal regarding my high opinion of Daniel Craig in this role.
My only reservation here is that they've set such a high bar with this film, I worry the next one will inevatably be something of a disappointment. I lend part of the credit on this film to the fact that it is the first one in a very long time to be based on an actual Ian Flemming novel. I hope there is another one out there that can be adapted for film, or that a new script can be developed that captures the same magic that was unleashed in this one.