Great movie as such, no 007 movie though

Rating: 4/10 (26 December 2006)

As an action/spy/thriller movie, I absolutely loved it. There's action, explosions, quite a decent plot, a love story, suspense, car-chases, etc. etc. basically everything that a good movie needs.
What I didn't like at all was the fact that this was running under the James Bond franchise. Sure, in some shots Daniel Craig was wearing a tux, he's driving 2 different Astons and he even said 'Bond, James Bond.' in the final scene, but hey... where's the smooth finesse that all prior Bonds had? The 21 century Bond seemingly has none of the education, the snobbishness that I came to love. He has Terminator-like determination, an ego the size of Big Ben, but unfortunately no British education to make it uniquely 'Bond-ish'. I don't mind the fact one bit that he's no longer a sex-maniac that gets into every woman's knickers that crosses his path - that part was too '68' anyway... It's the missing gadgetry, the teasing of Miss Moneypenny, ever-annoyed 'Q', the superb British accent even (!) - all in all, he's no longer THE British 00 agent, he's become just another action movie actor. Not a bad one, don't get me wrong - only he's not Bond...
Well, maybe I'm utterly missing the point, and all I am missing only comes gradually over the next movies, but at this time I'm not a Bond-fan.
If you are out to see a good action-movie, by all means watch it. If on the other hand you are heading for a Bond movie, forget it...