A quite straight Bond. 82.5+%

Rating: 8/10 (6 December 2012)

This movie plays as a more drama orientated franchise outing but it doesn't do away with the humour the series is known for. So, you can include this movie in the category of more 'serious' Bond movies. It's a solid entry in the Bond franchise but I'm not sure that it will have the same 'repeat viewing' attraction of some of the fluffier instalments. That being said, it is one of the best movies of the series, but I'm sure on repeat viewing the unusual endgame will drag for some, although it doesn't really on first viewing.
My memory of Bond movies isn't so great, but there's probably other Bond movies which have this kind of plot to it...criminal mastermind wreaks havoc with super spy James Bond's employer, MI6.
In this case, the criminal mastermind is Raoul Silva (played by Javier Bardem). His entrance is actually delayed in the movie and if you hadn't of been bombarded by the film's pre-publicity, you could miss his first appearance...he's quite self-effacing. There is much fun to be had when Raoul met James for the first time. Dare I say that Daniel Craig (James Bond) wasn't acting when he looked very uncomfortable in his presence? Awkward! Anyway, in previous Bond movies, I'm sure that Raoul would be really camp...but here he is insane yet full of pathos at times. I'm kind of hoping that there is a deleted scene of Raoul waggling his hips and finger and saying something like "Nuh uh!". I was kind of expecting that to happen in any case! To the movie's credit, Raoul has a very detailed back story so he's more than just a cardboard villain.
The action sequences are impressive here...quite the Hollywood style spectacle, but maybe the franchise has those at ten a penny, so I didn't find them as incredible as in some earlier films...I'm probably just getting old! If I can have a little gripe here...Daniel Craig's running style...touch of the Forrest Gumps to it!
One thing I did find odd about this movie was some lines either James Bond himself says or other characters say to him. Odd in the sense that they didn't seem as believable coming from him/them as they would of, say, in Roger Moore's last movie as James Bond, "A view to a kill". I just don't think of Daniel Craig's Bond being in the same boat as Roger Moore's Bond in his final movie.
Adele's title track is amiable enough but it suffers from having a non-word shoehorned into the lyrics. I like other Bond themes more and even some with silly phrases in them (e.g. "Goldfinger") could at least be justified on the basis that it was an actual name in the movie. If Adele wasn't contractually required to use the title of the film in her song, it might have been more alluring.
The ending of the movie suggests to me that the future of Craig's Bond may lie in direct remakes of earlier Bond movies...ones starring Sean Connery, for example. So, I could imagine "Dr. No" being next cab off the rank in the Bond franchise...or "On her majesty's secret service". If that's right, I could quite enjoy that...Connery's earliest Bond movies didn't seem very modern...they seem dated, even for the time.
One of the best Bond movies.