Give this a second chance - better the second time around

Rating: 8/10 (28 March 2009)

When I first saw this Bond, I was really disappointed. Sure it was a Bond film so worth seeing but it just seemed to be missing something. However I have just re-watched this on Blu-ray with the sound set right and with little expectations, and found myself really enjoying this. From November I thought that Craig was really good in role, continuing his tough gritty Bond (in the mould of Connery in Dr No) but felt his performance was better than the material he was given to work with. However, this is a good story and packed full of information that you need time to process to really enjoy this. With Fields, not wanting to give her name but having red hair, yeah, give yourself time to work out that her first name is....Strawberry! yeah clever. The weaknesses are still there, the film is flat in places where the main Director get hold of the piece and wants to develop the story but forgets that this a Bond film. The second unit Directors nail the action sections, covering up the many of the weak points. All in all, this is a good Bond. A lot better than most but suffers from coming after the best bond film ever. So, give this a second home viewing. You will be surprised how good it is. Also turn the sound up, this is best viewed loud. Last thing, I had to update my blu-ray player to play this. Hope you have a blu-ray player that you can update the firmware, nothing worst than having a film you can't watch!