Three cheers for Fleming's Bond.

Rating: 7/10 (20 November 2008)

James Bond returns for his 22nd adventure, picking up right after Casino Royale ended. However, while he finds leads, they are elusive, and mysterious. After his first lead dries up, he ventures to Boliva and finds his nemesis: an ecological terrorist bent on withholding natural resources from the native people of South America. He also meets his Bond girl, Olga Kuryenko. She vows revenge on the Hunta leader who slaughtered her family. The trail leads to a strange, bizarre group of powerful people in the world who desire to manipulate and control the economics of the world. Through terrorism? Through murder? It is still not clear, even at the end of the movie. There were several things I liked about this one. The first was Daniel Craig who plays Bond the way he was meant to be played: like a ruthless assassin. He does have a license to kill, right. This is also the first real sequel, keeping many characters from the previous one like M (Judi Dench), Mathis, and a frustrated, on-edge Felix Leiter (Jeffrey Wright). The fight scenes are fabulous, and the action scenes have more believability than most over-the-top Bond movies. I also liked the villain in this one because he was not bent on "ruling the world" as so many Bond villains want. I have seen many critiques, blasting this film because it has "borrowed" from Jason Bourne movies (does anyone notice a similarity in initials--also think about Jack Bauer from 24). I am sure it did influence Bond--mostly by bringing 007 a healthy dose of realism. The cartoonish and outlandish flamboyanies of Brosnan and Moore really grated on my nerves. There were a few downsides to this one. Some of the action shots were haphazard and incoherent. I think director Marc Foster, being so green, did not know how to shoot an action film. Many people are dissing this one because it lacks gadgets. Roger Ebert said he missed "Q," and the massive overbearing megalomaniac villains. Not me. You see, there are two types of Bond fans. The first type, like me, has read the books and short stories created by Ian Fleming. The second type are the ones who grew-up watching all the James Bond flicks (the good ones and the bad ones) for four decades. In all honesty, the latter (for the most part) was the Bond of Cubby Brocoli, not Ian Fleming. If you want the Brocoli Bond, then rent the videos with Roger Moore and Pierce Brosnan to your heart's delight and enjoy the cheesiness. That way you can get the cheesy gadgets and megalomaniacs. If you want the Bond Fleming created, look to Quantum of Solace. It is not nearly as good as Casino Royale, but still up there.