Bond is back but the 007 is weak in this one

Rating: 8/10 (7 November 2008)

James Bond returns wearing camouflage, and perhaps a little too much of it.
The story continues from where Casino Royale left off. Bond is out to get revenge on those who brought about the death of love. At the same time he uncovers a secret organization and its sinister plans and all of these things are tied together.
Unlike previous films, this one heavily emphasizes Bond as a person, his feelings and emotions. No longer is he a word traveling, womanizing superhero but someone more down to earth, someone who feels. Although this is good from certain point of view, giving the character a bit more depth and making him somewhat more realistic, it isn't quite the classic Bond we have grown to love and admire over the years. Bond has also seemingly misplaced his sense of humor. Where did it go? Unlike most of the previous films, Bond's mission in this one isn't as clear as it used to be. There is no concrete checklist of things he has to accomplish. Instead things are much more vague and ambiguous. The opening scene, although nicely reminiscent of The Living Daylights at times, seems to come completely out of the blue giving little explanation as to why those things are going on. The classic "bad guy's scheme" is very classic-Bond and an extremely interesting one, combining modern issues with the best of what makes Bond what he is. Yet this detail seems to be underplayed and very little attention is given to it. It is treated as if it were little more than some minor side element.
On the technical side, the influence of films like the Bourne series is strong. Which isn't surprising because the two series now share the same second unit director (the guy who shoots the action scenes). The camera has been brought much closer to the action, a lot more use is made of hand-held or just generally shaky cameras and the editing is something out of a Jerry Bruckheimer production. Luckily on this film this style isn't as over the top annoying as it is in the Bourne ones but yet again, this is not representative of the Bond films I grew to love over the years. Same goes for the music- it is an excellent soundtrack, some really nice tunes in there, but it just isn't Bond. In fact the classic full orchestra Bond theme can't even be heard once during the entire film. All of these things by themselves aren't bad at all but the series has just gotten a little too far from its roots.
A good film definitely but it just doesn't feel quite what a Bond film should feel like.