A great Bond BUT a terrible film

Rating: 6/10 (1 July 2007)

Initially I was very impressed with this movie as it contains certainly one of the best Bond characters that I've ever seen. However, at one point during the film, Bond descends into a coma and begins dreaming the typical pearly white heaven one has come to witness on soaps such as Days of Our Lives, yet there is no clear moment where he awakens. Actually, quite confusingly, the coma appears to last for the entire remaining length of the film! Very disappointing to see a story that begins so engagingly, and forms the Bond character so well, to become so abstract and inanely formulaic. Personally I lost interest in Bond films many years ago when I first saw a semi-trailer launch onto it's rear four wheels while it's 2 front wheels were in the air. Since then, I have approached Bond films with an obvious apprehension (particularly when Pierce Brosnan played 007). Until, while watching this latest Bond instalment my faith was renewed, UNTIL the coma began. The viewer is constantly left in suspense and expectation while waiting for James to awaken and make things right. Unfortunately (both for the viewer and the producers alike) this never seems to happen, and the coma persists until the finale, leaving the truth purely elusive as a product of the viewer's imagination. Entirely disappointing, ridiculously intoxicating, yet gutless. Stick to the Bond films where everything is real, the coma cop-out just doesn't cut where the 007 I know comes from.