Solidly balanced story and action mixed with emotion. Questionable for fans of the older Bond movies.

Rating: 8/10 (26 October 2014)

This is a rather colorful movie, both in its plot and characters as well as the actual color scheme. It introduces James Bond as a brash young upstart who does as he is ordered, but doesn't mind doing it his way to accomplish his own motives that he hides from people as best he can. I have minimal knowledge of the previous Bond movies, having only seen From Russia with Love and Goldfinger, so I can't say how people who are huge fans of the classic films will react. The Bond "traditions" are retained to an extent in his style of action, memorable introduction, the use of the old Bond theme mixed with modern styles from Dave Arnold, shaken martinis, and multiple romantic relationships. However the character and story seem to have a very different feel from the older Connery films that I have knowledge of. Bond doesn't always come out on top, especially at the end. He isn't always wearing an expression that is calm, collected, and almost amused at his situation. He also uses more brute force in his combat rather than pulling out lots of fancy toys to use on his foes. His interactions with people are also more stressed in this newer film. We get a good look at how he is treated by MI-6 and particularly M. He relies on help from Mathis, Felix, and Vesper instead of just acting as a one man show. He also has some diplomatic confrontations with his foes, which is not new for this character. It is evident that he doesn't fully trust anyone, apart from Vesper near the end, though he is very tempted to have someone he can fully rely on. This is likely why he is so eager to give his trust to Vesper after they take care of Le Chiffre. Of course, this trust does not last long as Vesper's betrayal at the end shatters his hopes and makes him colder. His more personal and less objective relationship with Vesper brings in a strong element of emotion not seen in the three previously mentioned Bond films (or any of them if this holds true to the ones I haven't seen). None of the trust he gives Vesper or his liking for her personality is seen in Skyfall, showing how hard the events at the end of Casino Royale strike him. The action, like most elements of the film, have a mix of traditional Bond and modern aesthetics. The fights are much more fast-paced than the Connery ones. Many of them are chase scenes rather than one on one brawls in enclosed spaces. As stated before, things don't always go 007's way in these scenes such as the beginning sequence at the construction site and the embassy. He uses wit along with force to overpower his enemies like his use of the ellipses text message. The stunts are quite good, though not too over the top and add to the intensity of the action sequences. On the subject of intensity, perhaps the most intense scene is the poker game in Montenegro. The game is, as Bond shows Vesper, much more than a game of chance based on your hand. Bond's tactics for winning the game are rather interesting, and the showing of the last hand is a fun scene for those who know the rules of poker. As to execution, I have not found any outstanding flaws in it, though feel free to criticize my being shallow if you can find any. My review to this point has been positive, so I will now try to appease those who didn't like this movie by trying to poke holes in it. Some might argue that the style of the action is rough and brawny, I suppose. It might be disappointing for some people if they are attached to the classic Bond, though again my knowledge of that area is limited. A case could be made that it is unnecessarily sad at the end or intense at any point. It could also be argued that Mathis and Felix are underdeveloped. Some people could find the poker game to be boring, though there is action and suspense mixed in those scenes. Finally for the holes, I have observed that some people are annoyed by the dealer's voice and directing of the game. I can't say whether I would recommend this to fans of the older Bond's, but I would recommend it to people who like good action or a decent story with some emotion or anyone who likes poker. I really wish I could put a decimal rating of 8.4/10 on the star rating, but sadly, that is not currently permitted. So it gets an integer of eight, though the lone integer does not do it justice.