Not enough cheese !!

Rating: 4/10 (21 November 2006)

Am I wrong in wanting more Cheese Royale from James Bond? Not enough cheese and a movie taking itself too seriously. Disappointed with the latest incarnation. Expecting a good old romp and ended up with a movie with a half-hearted love affair, an embittered 007 and no sense of us having been all saved from some world disaster by a debonair hero.
James was unconvincing. No charm. No presence. More gay icon than lady killer, expressionless and dull. The Bond girl was a pretty plain impression of the alluring beauties of old, all caught up in the psychology of it all.
As a one-time semi-professional poker player, I lost respect for the movie during the poker scenes, central as they were to the story. It was like the old movies when the piano player had obviously never played a note in his life and twiddled his fingers on top of the keys. No-one playing those kinds of stakes would make the plays they did.
Positives were the chase scenes, the eye-bleeding bad guy was nice and nasty and of course the pretty cars.
Mark