No charm or personality. And that's sad.

Rating: 4/10 (14 November 2008)

The charm and personality of James Bond is missing in this new outing - Quantum of Silence. So much so, that if one were to remove the name of the characters and replace them with any other name, you would be hard pressed to identify this as a Bond movie at all.
The direction, editing and writing is manic, busy and incoherent. The opening action scene is unexplained and the hand-held camera shot takes you out of the action; you spend more time trying to discern what is going on that you don't for a second feel a part of the action. Bond movies didn't use to do this; they never pulled away from the action. The 1970s Roger Moore films arguable had the best stunts because they were fantastic - and done without digital effects. Think about the cool car stunt scene is View to a Kill; people talked about that for weeks. There is not one stunt piece that would wow anyone on that order.
However, the makers this time focus all their attention on the stunts, but forget that we come for the character. In the quiet scenes, there is a sense, yes, that this could be a Bond movie. Daniel Craig is great in the role but he needs to be able to act. Most of the time, he does not even talk. James Bond is a great spy because he is armed with his wits as much as his arsenal of weapons, but there were few instances of that in this movie.
Bond films stand apart from standard action films because they bear repeat viewings. I have almost all Bond films at least 10 to 15 times each. Except Casino Royale. It is a great film; I own it. But it is not a movie I enjoy watching over and over. It is miles better than the new one. I am not going to watch Quantom of Silence again. The movie just made me so angry.
I hope in the new Bond film, they bring back Bond, his girls, his charm and those elements that make Bond, Bond. I think the makers in their effort to reboot the character were so worried by their character and the possibility for cheese, they removed all traces of personality.
And that's sad.