This is the real Englishman I would expect to see as Bond

Rating: 9/10 (29 November 2006)

Daniel Craig..I salute you. The hard-nut style works perfectly as Bond (whom I've always seen as a sophisticated SAS-type, comfortable in his skin for the work he has to do, intelligent and culturally well-travelled). Pierce Brosnan never filled that role for me, he was too well-coiffed and perfumed.
Daniel Craig looks like he will rip your head off if necessary, and yet look entirely at home in the Casino - because this sort of risk-taker would be! And a true Blond Englishman to boot - that's a real Englishman in my book.
With his piercing, steely blue eyes, rugged, streetwise attitude and rugby-player build, he entirely took over the role of a credible Bond. I would want this sort of man protecting my Government interests. And his sexy transformation in the sophistication of his dress suit worked perfectly. Yet, underneath the hard exterior, their emanates a complex emotional person and Daniel portrayed this perfectly, too. He looked like he was hurt and beaten...human, not super hero.
The film chases round the world as usual - yes, maybe for the sake of just the pretty locations, but it did make us feel like spies ourselves.
I thought the quick recovery from a poison was a bit of a stretch and I didn't like the Venice scenes of a Palazzo collapsing (how did the British Government get out of that one?) but for sheer spectacle the crane jumping scene, however implausible, worked the audience into a dizzying start to the film.
The casino scenes were beautiful and of the right length to involve us. Eva Green left me cold, but at least it felt like a real liaison (not that I was ever convinced Bond had fallen for her)
All that was needed was a less jarring score to the film along the lines of 'You only live twice' or 'Diamonds are Forever' and I would have given a ten.
That said, there is at last, a Bond that fits the original mould and one that, as a Brit, I can feel proud of.