The best Bond film I've seen

Rating: 8/10 (2 December 2010)

Instead of moralistic adultness ratings, films should come with a difficulty rating. And it's true, this one is rated Hard. I tend to think that 75% of films are too slow-paced, but this one was hard to keep up with. The action scenes especially were impressionistic, giving the sense of the snatches of vision one might actually see in a frantic struggle rather than a strategic view from afar. But that still means it's a film packed with images with never a dull moment.
What's more important is that this is a Bond film with a plot --- not just action sequences and fantastic gadgets, but a genuine spy plot. The pointless trials of Dr. No and the vast underground and undersea empires of Spectre are replaced by an all too believable geopolitical plot to economically and politically subjugate the people of a nation. The populist tone of the film, though it's not nominally about this, seems to imply political support for Evo Morales rather than the plotters of the 2002 Venezuelan coup. Films like this give me real hope that the post-McCarthy era of film making may finally be coming to an end, bringing back an intelligence, relevance, and empathy for the common person.
It is possible to see this as a vengeful Bond, quick to resort to violence. But this is also a Bond who doesn't just do what he's told by higher authority, but pursues what is right at great personal risk. In all the previous films, Bond was a hero only because he happened to be ordered to do so, but here it is a matter of choice.