Set on Self-Destruct

Rating: 4/10 (8 November 2008)

How on earth does this film have an IMDb rating of 7.1 ?????
I'm beginning to wonder if the current directors and producers at EON Productions have been infiltrated and subverted by SPECTRE, on orders from Blofeld, with the aim of destroying James Bond from within.
This just does not look or feel like a Bond film. Where's Q ? Where's the gadgets ? Where's the car with the cool armour and trick gadgets ? Where's Moneypenny ? Where's Bond catchphrase ? "The name's Bond. James Bond" Where's Bond's martini ? "Shaken not stirred" Where are the girls ? - the simply gorgeous girls that make a Bond film. What has happened to the stirring music ? What has happened to the dramatic opening title song that needs to be sung by a booming diva so as to let the audience know that we are in the presence of an epic Bond ? What has happened to the thrilling, dramatic and breathtaking opening sequences that made a James Bond film so fantastic ? What has happened to Bond making love to the Bond girl ?
They have abandoned everything that made James Bond so unique and so loved.
But even worse is what they have done to the character of James Bond himself. Bond, as played by Sean Connery was oozing with sexuality and sophistication, Bond, as played by Roger Moore, was a gentleman who could dispatch villains with a wry joke. But Bond, as played by Daniel Craig, is just a cold hearted, unfeeling thug.
What both Sean Connery and Roger Moore realised was that Bond's job is to be Her Majesty's killer and that, therefore, he needs humour, sensitivity, class and sophistication in order to make him human and likable. Killing people dulls and deadens the soul, so Bond needs to have redeemable qualities in order to retain and save his own soul. Daniel Craig's Bond has none of those attributes. He is a killer, brute and thug. It's as if he kills by numbers. The viewer is not drawn to Daniel Craig's Bond in the same way as he was to Sean Connery's Bond or Roger Moore's Bond.
As for the action sequences, they were far too fast and furious. They simply didn't register on the eye or the brain. There were far too many close ups and a complete loss of perspective. The viewer sees Bond in one fight scene and then, just a little later, sees him in another fight scene without any rhyme or reason or story development.
Violence for the sake of Violence does not a James Bond film make.
EON Productions have devalued and debased James Bond. They have discarded everything that made Bond great. This Bond runs the risk of being labelled and viewed as being nothing more than a Jason Bourne rip off.
Why did they do it ? Why ?
Even the directors and producers of this film seem to acknowledge that they have lost their way with this current Bond. How else can anyone explain the scene where a girl is found naked and dead, dipped black in oil, (a wry reference to Goldfinger, where a naked girl dies after being dipped in gold).
EON Productions needs to get back to a traditional Bond, if they carry on like this, all they will achieve is to alienate the Bond fan base. They are on a licence to self-destruction. They will ruin James Bond, they absolutely will.
The World needs a James Bond who is more than just a thug.