Hated it!

Rating: 4/10 (5 December 2006)

To enjoy a Bond film, it was always necessary to suspend belief. The villains were over the top. The stories were close to fantasy. The violence had almost a Tom And Jerry quality to it, not to be taken seriously. This new Bond film changes all that. "Le Chiffre" is no more menacing then your average mugger. All he does is scowl a lot. The new Bond girl looks like a school teacher. And this new Bond is gritty and blue collar, not at all the classy, glib gent portrayed by Sean Connery and his sophisticated successors. There are no gadgets more exotic than cell phones and GPS sets. There is no Moneypenny. There is no "Q." And the action scenes lack the tongue in cheek aspect of the earlier films. Nor, with one piddling exception, are there any of the neat one liners and double entendres that were a trademark of the earlier films. It's as though Hannah-Barbera suddenly decided to do thoughtful cinema rather than have fun.The earlier Bond films were good fun. This one attempts serious drama but produces only run of the mill hash.