A Story Telling Masterpiece...

Rating: 9/10 (31 March 2013)

Many people felt discouraged when Daniel Craig was declared the sixth actor to wear the tuxedo. The five men before him, Sean Connery, George Lazenby, Roger Moore, Timothy Dalton and Pierce Brosnan seemed to have gained the critics and Bond-fans respect far easier and quicker then the first Blonde Bond. The people who grumbled and moaned about the new Bond had to be proved wrong by the first Craig film coming out in 2006, Casino Royale. Let's just say, anyone who had any doubts about Daniel Craig's performance was proved wrong as soon as the pre-titles started. Craig is Bond, he doesn't need to look like Sean Connery to prove that. I think the important factor is that Craig wasn't trying to be another Bond. He didn't try to be Connery or try to be Dalton, he tried to be Fleming's Bond with a mixture of his own style in it. Keeping away from spoilers here, Q or Moneypenny do not appear in this movie, Bond doesn't have any gadgets, any awesome cars with machine guns hidden in the boot. What the producers, Barabra Broccoli and Michael G Wilson is saying is that these things do not make a Bond film. You cannot say that it is a Bond film because Q's in it, because there are gadgets, and Moneypenny flirting scenes with last name first introductions, a Bond film is defined by the central character and how he reacts and does his assignments. On to the characters, Vesper Lynd as the Bond girl is utterly superb. Eva Green is super attractive in her own right but her character is more complex then any Pussy Galore. Her interactions with Bond are the best in the series as far as Bond/Bond girl relationships go. In a few scenes they actually feel like a team. Mathis, a character lifted straight out of the Ian Fleming novel is another good character and memories of From Russia With Love's Kerim Bey can't help but appear in my mind while I watch it. The villain, Le Chiffre has earned my respect as a Bond villain. His plot may not be like Hugo Drax but he does seem evil and someone to start loathing midway through the film. M, played again by Judi Dench has been lifted from the Brosnan era and is terrific. She didn't really had that much to do with Pierce, not counting the world is not enough, but she has lots of stuff here! Enough of the characters, watch this movie. The action scenes are amazing and Bond has taken a giant leap from Die Another Day territory.