Dark Bond kicks it "Old School"

Rating: 7/10 (20 November 2008)

As we discovered in "Casino" the production team pushed the reset button on the Bond empire, building up from scratch with an "old school" approach to story telling and character interaction/development. This apparent new mantra is continued in this latest installment almost to the point of being self-aware about it. There are no gadgets, lavish sets or overly improbable situations. The villain is water profiteer for a small 3rd world country- hardly the Spectre vibe. Even the overall look of the film seems dated and Bond is quite often unquaffed and sullied along with the gratuitous femme fatale. Having said that, I found the story to be solid but not well told. There are many actions scenes (of course) but all of them were shot at extremely close range with rapid editing and dizzying camera movement leaving me to ponder in each of these scenes what was really going on. We know that Bond virtually wins every battle,i.e. we KNOW the outcome. But as a good story teller , the director needs to convey to the viewer HOW these battles are waged, but it never comes across. I still feel Daniel Craig is the best Bond since Connery but part of Bond's charm is that he never takes himself too serious and has occasional amusing quips- the writers don't allow for any of this with Craig's character development. Lastly, the premise that Bond is on a revenge trip is extremely downplayed and not the cornerstone of the story we have been led to believe. Will be just as effective on DVD.