Bloody Good

Rating: 8/10 (17 November 2006)

This ain't your father's Bond. There are no wristwatch dart guns or ski-ing cars. The closest we get to a gadget is a dashboard defibrilator and an injectable RFID tag. There are no campy world domination villains. What we have are terrorists and their financiers. Gone if the foppish James Bond of Roger Moore and Pierce Brosnan. Daniel Craig plays Bond as a brutal, brooding agent just starting out.
Craig is brilliant as Bond. He plays him as a brutal killer, the first death we see in the movie involves Bond drowning someone. Bond is a womanizer, but with a hard edge. He's not suave and smooth but runs on an animal sexuality that can be as much of a turn off as a turn on. This is Bond starting out, reckless, rough, and raw. He's not the seasoned professional of previous Bonds but rather a young and talented hot head who can cause as much trouble for his superiors as for his enemies. Craig plays Bond as sledghammer rather than a scalpel. When a man he is chasing jumps over a wall Bond simply runs through it. In the tradition of Mel Gibson actioners Craig plays a hero who isn't afraid to take a beating, and the film includes a truly painful torture scene.
The plot owes more to Alias than to the over the top schemes of Dr No or Moonraker. Bond isn't trying to save the world. Instead he's trying to track down and flip a terrorist financier known as Le Chiffre. When Bond foils one of his money making schemes Le Chiffre organizes a high stakes poker game to make back his clients money and Bond bids in. The film contains some great actions scenes and Craig brings a physicality to Bond which has been missing. Hopefully we can look forward to many new movies in this vein of Bond.