Good but greatly lacking

Rating: 7/10 (1 November 2008)

After the excellent Casino Royale I had very high hopes for this movie but left the cinema feeling that something was badly lacking.
Theme tune - it's a song that has grown on me but it's not a Bond song. Needs orchestration to make it powerful enough.
Opening Credits - I really liked the last sequence as it didn't have the tacky naked females of the previous Bond movies and told a great story but sadly we're back to tackiness.
Action - impossible to see what's going on in the action sequences, very frustrating. There looked like some great set pieces but nobody could make out what was happening due to poor direction and editing. Also, some scenes lacked originality.
Gadgets - I love the lack of hi-tech gadgets in the last movie and while we expect them to be technologically advanced at HQ, we don't expect them to have Minority Report screens. What next, invisible cars?
Dialogue - one of the things I loved about the last movie was the presence of intellectual dialogue between characters but this was non-existent in this movie.
The 2nd Bond Girl - the Gemma Arterton scenes existed purely so that M could tell Bond that he endangers anyone close to him. It was all so rushed and totally unnecessary that it could have been left out altogether.
Bond moments - in the last movie we were treated to small moments of accomplishment, where Bond displayed delight in what he had just achieved with a small smile. There was none of this here, the closest we got was the opera scene. In fact, the pace of the movie didn't allow for any further character development.
M - I love Dame Judi but there's only so many times M can say 'Where is he now', 'Put him through', 'Bring him in', etc. This movie got a bit repetitive.
On saying all that, I do think Daniel Craig makes an excellent Bond and would like to see more films with him in. Also, while I believe the above points are relevant for both male and female viewers, I do feel that a lot of the female viewing audience will now have been alienated judging by the reactions I saw in the cinema.
Let's have something with a little more depth to it next time!