Destined to be a classic

Rating: 8/10 (19 November 2006)

Bond is back and he's kicking butt.
The best Bond in years, this is a no nonsense approach thats more or less realistic, certainly the most realistic of all Bond films yet produced (except for maybe the first hour of Die Another Day and a good chunk of For Your Eyes Only). This is the Bond of the books, mean and nasty and doing what ever it takes.
The plot has the recently appointed 007 going after a terrorist organization. Bond follows the money and he soon finds himself in the middle of a high stakes poker game where the terrorist money man is trying desperately to win back the money he's lost gambling. Along the way there is a great deal of brutal in your face action as Bond kills or destroys anything that gets in his way. Its more amazing than the action in most of the last five or six films because the film is so close to real so you actually feel more danger, this could happen while an invisible car probably won't Its edge of your seat material, with Daniel Craig turning in a dynamite performance as Bond.
If the film has any real flaw its that its too long. Running almost two and a half hours the film stalls after the poker game and Bond's capture. There is a dead spot, more a false ending, before the finale in Venice, which while exciting and one of the great movie action scenes, seems some how anti climatic. Its not a fatal flaw, but if you're like me you'll reach this one point and then be ready for the exit. I looked at my watch and found that there was still 25 minutes to go.
If you're an action fan or Bond fan see this movie. Its destined to be a classic.