Bond without the elegance or competence

Rating: 5/10 (26 November 2006)

The producers's declared intent of bringing Bond back to his roots would have been an interesting idea, and the novel _Casino Royale_ might make an interesting basis for a film some day. There are a few intriguing moments seeing Bond before he was actually good at his job though after, of course, he acquired his mystic ability to dodge bullets. But there are only a few, and most (though not all) of the film isn't worth watching even for those of us who can tolerate the lowest depths of the franchise. It seems deliberately to avoid the charm and humor even the worst of the Bond films occasionally displayed, replacing it only with even nastier gratuitous violence.
Note to Mr Haggis: Mechanical translation of "communist" to "terrorist," and "baccarat" to "poker," doesn't actually work, and deliberate ugliness is worse than even ersatz elegance. I wouldn't expect your co-authors to grasp this point, but I'm surprised I have to explain it to the second best actual writer ever credited for a Bond screenplay.