Bland, James Bland

Rating: 6/10 (20 April 2007)

Before this was released, there was a lot of angry speculation about whether Daniel Craig had what it takes to step into the Bond shoes. But, in fact Craig seems to be the only one trying to make this a Bond movie. Craig plays Bond with his particular style of brutal vulnerability. He has always had the face of someone nursing an ancient wound that won't heal. And he does well with the material he has been given. Unfortunately, that isn't really very much.
The plot, which has to be one of the all time daftest, revolves around Bond stopping international terrorism by playing poker with its main financial backer  using millions of pounds of British taxpayers money. Gosh, now there's a good plan! It's just crazy enough to work, as they say in Hollywood. It's really just an excuse for a whole lot of very tense casino footage with actors saying stuff like: "I'll see your 20 million and raise you another 20 million" all spoken through clenched teeth, presumably to stop themselves from giggling.
Possibly because it's all so ridiculous, the writers have tried to offset this by removing all the other customary Bond absurdities. There's none of the politically incorrect sleaze (Bond even falls in love for gods sake!). And no gadgets to speak of  alas, no laser cuff links or jet propelled shoelaces. Even the action sequences look almost within the bounds of physical possibility. Gone are the days when Bond would think nothing of strapping himself into an evil experimental rocket-ship, still wearing his tuxedo. In place of all that, we're served up a wince-inducing torture scene straight out of 24.
The problem, as I see it, is that this has also removed a lot of the fun. This may well be a lean, mean Bond for our times, but it's Bond in name only. To be fair, the film is well made and Craig is (as always) engaging, but it could be about anybody. It's just not James Bond. When Craig speaks the immortal lines "Bond, James Bond", I simply didn't believe him.