What's the fuss all about?

Rating: 3/10 (6 December 2006)

--Attention: this comment MAY contain spoilers--
I don't normally write reviews, but seeing at all the great comments and high ratings everywhere, I felt like I had to voice my opinion...especially as some of these positive reviews are from some other classic James Bond fans!
To summarise: I did try to stay open-minded, but I felt like I was watching Mission Impossible 4 and not a James Bond - and an MI4 that was far to be as good as MI3 (note: at the time I write this review, Mission Impossible 3 is the last film of the series).
What I liked: -The overwhelming CGI which had made Die Another Day look like an episode of Star Trek has almost totally gone. -Nice impressive stunts at the beginning of the film with the French free-runner (but it was probably the only impressive stunt of the film). -BMWs are gone and James Bond drives a beautiful Aston Martin DBS (although he crashes it fairly quickly) as well as a DB5. -The story is more realistic than in a lot of Bond films.
What I didn't like: -The lack of gun barrel sequence is replaced by Bond shooting CGI blood after a weird black & white introduction to the film. -The opening credits are not very memorable, with a strange song which lyrics seem to have nothing to do with the film and not so good special effects. -Daniel Craig (I did try but I still can't picture him as being Bond). -Bond is portrayed as a cold-hearted killer who kills for pleasure, and who seems to be all muscle and no brain. -Bond's relationship with M makes you think of him more like a mercenary or a hit-man than a professional spy. -With Judi Dench being back even though the events are at the beginning of Bond's career, it feels like there is no continuation but it is a messy non-official James Bond film and that it shouldn't be counted as being part of the series but rather forgotten or put aside like the George Lazenby one... -It is violent as well and doesn't qualify as light-hearted family entertainment. -The atmosphere is very dark too, maybe it's closer to the spirit of the Ian Flemming's novels, but it is far from what made me the Bond fan I am. -The poker game DOES last for ages. It may be full of suspense for people who understand card games, but for others like me it is boring. After he came back from his (incredibly) quick recovery of nearly dying, I couldn't believe it still wasn't finished. -The tongue-in-cheek and play on words are virtually gone. -Gadgets are mostly gone too. -In fact most of what made James Bond James Bond is gone. And I felt like I was watching a boring usual modern action movie. -Again I was led to believe by other reviews that the plot was great, but it's in fact very basic: win money at a card game and kill the bad guys that get in the way until you finally get rid of the big boy. -The number of obvious product placements keeps on increasing from one Bond film to another.
So now make your mind up - I just don't understand why so many people like this film - I saw it and was truly disappointed, especially by the second half of the film...