Bond and diamonds have a commonality, they're both forever

Rating: 10/10 (23 November 2006)

Anyone who doesn't know that should have a goldfinger shoved in their surgically altered goldeneye.
This will be remembered as one of the better Bonds. But the producers always seem to do their best job when Bond is introducing himself a-new. Dr. No, OHMSS, Live and Let Die, The Living Daylights and Goldeneye were all first ventures for a new Bond and those movies are among the best in the franchise' storied history.
Craig is good, no doubt. Hugh Jackman would've done an equally good job IMO. For those bothered by the title sequence and it's song, why? The title sequence was original and yet felt inspired by Spielberg's "Catch Me If You Can". Also the song "You Know MY Name." is better than many of the recent song titles to Bond films, but yes it can't match classics like "Nobody Does it Better", "Live and Let Die", "For Your Eyes Only", etc.
Also some people haven't figured out why the bad guys behind the scene were never identified, and are angry about it judging by their posts. I'm pretty sure the reason for that is to get you to come back in May of 2008 and discover that an updated version of Spectre has been resurrected.
Women seem to either love this Bond or hate him. Men seem to be more in favor of this Bond. I can understand why. He isn't better looking than the guys giving him reviews. He is tougher, and certainly a better actor than his former detractors.
This movie was influenced by The Bourne Identity, Batman Begins, Die-Hard, Mission Impossible and Tom Clancy to various degrees. And it's for the better that this is true. The producers had to fight hard with Sony to get this picture made. Sony wanted another DAD fireworks extravaganza. The producers wanted to get back to Ian Fleming's vision. The funny thing is now I'm reading from amateur reviewers how the books are better than the movies, which is completely the opposite of traditional dogma regarding this franchise.
Here's the truth. The books/short stories and the movies both are entertaining and have their brilliant moments, as well as their less-than-brilliant moments.
The good news, this legendary franchise is in no danger of extinction anytime soon.
The bad news, we have to wait until May 2008 to find out the answers to the questions left dangling at the end of Casino Royale.
This much is sure. Right now Ian Fleming is up in Heaven sitting across the gambling table from God, and you can bet your golden Calibri pen, lighter and cigarette case that Fleming's stack of chips is a little higher than the Almighty's