A Bond for the 21st Century

Rating: 9/10 (18 November 2006)

As with that other great British institution, Doctor Who, your favourite is the one you grew up with (with, just maybe, the immediate predecessor being "fairly good, considering"). It takes a lot to shake that.
And so, as the end credits rolled played, suddenly, all the preconceptions were tested,to say the least. While it is not (yet) "Move over Sean", it's a close run thing. So, what is it that makes Daniel Craig a Bond for the 21st Century? This is a man very much in the raw. When he fights, he gets hurt. He bleeds. He has to rely on his wits and reflexes, rather than the gadgets of the Q branch. More importantly, at the start of the film, he is newly promoted to "double-o" status. "M" even ponders out load whether he has been over promoted, so has everything to prove. Thus begins a baptism of fire for 007. Unlike, say many of Roger Moore's Bond adventures, where it is a given that he will come through triumphant, here it is less certain (other than, obviously, "It's a Bond film. Of course he wins in the end"), and there times in the film where it's a case of "How will he get out of *that*?" When he does, (and you can breathe again), it's not the end - just the end of a chapter. And there's more chapters. Craig has the poise, the looks and the overall "feel" for the part. A repeat performance in the next film and it really will be "Move over, Sean"