Whoops

Rating: 9/10 (19 November 2006)

To be honest, I'm not impressed with the Bond excursions after Goldeneye. I adore Daniel Craig from some of his other parts (Road to Perdition, Layer Cake), but I expected this to be just another ho-hum addition to the legacy.
WRONG.
This, to me, beats out any of the other Bond flicks and Craig is either equal to Brosnan or Connery (Connery's the best one of the past), I just haven't quite decided yet Craig's place in the ranking.
The action was drawn out, more believable - as long as you discount the elongated chase in the beginning - and it's not anywhere near as easy for Bond to get the job done (or made to look so) as in the other movies.
The plot followed the book much more closely than many of the other shows which naturally made it exponentially better. The eye candy was there for both sexes; I've decided that Eva Green is someone to watch for both acting and pure beauty and Craig is very handsome any way you cut it.
Lastly, Bond was somewhat harder and more vicious in this interpretation than in others. He was subtle instead of over the top, growing up instead of seemingly overcompensating. I got much more out of the violence in this film because it seemed more realistic - he acted on personal vendettas, necessity, and pure spite on some occasions. There was more emotion than the norm of "Yes I'm awesome and probably going to sleep with several women on this trip," more of a very guarded man with little flashes of humor, vulnerability, and a serious mean streak.
This Bond is much more satisfying than the others have been, I'm just hoping the standard is as high for the next film. I'm fairly confident that if they just keep 3 things from this the next will be a huge success - keep the director (did Goldeneye, Mask of Zorro), Craig and his moods, and lastly keep to the book.
Recommend it, and seeing it more than once!