Excellent, with one notable flaw

Rating: 7/10 (18 November 2012)

*Spoiler Alert*
As most people, I'm a huge fan of the James Bond character. My favourite actor to portray the coolest agent in the world has always been Connery, but I must say, I'm really warming to Craig. Despite missing some of his original characteristics, I think that the character is still fascinating, perhaps especially because of its development in a new and quite interesting direction; coolness, charm, elegance and, let's face it, a lack of any real depth has been replaced with an icy, stubborn, dependent and 'rebel'-like surface to cover up for the tragically lonely and distrusting core, that has come to be Bond, since Craig's debut in Casino Royale. This movie gives further insight to the Bond of the 21. century; and even when it gets maybe a little too sentimental (like the battle in his childhood home, before it is blown up), I think it works mainly because Craig is not the sentimental type; he is a dislikable version of a cross between John McClane and Jason Bourne on the outside, and only on the inside a kind of 'tortured soul'. So definitely, Daniel Craig's character and performance is a big part of this movie's excellence. Another big part is Javier Bardem's portrayal of the betrayed MI6 agent. If it is not actually the reason, why this movie is so totally worth seeing. This is indeed af type of villain not seen before in the 'James Bond Genre'; sure we saw Sean Bean as Alec, the former agent who went 'bad' in GoldenEye, but as Bond evolves with Craig, so does the concept of the Evil he fights. Silva (Bardem) is actually in many ways a typical villain of our time; of course he does his evil deeds with the help of computers, and homosexuality is now rightly accepted even in the Bond-universe. But the new aspect of the villain is Silva's humanity: He might be in some ways typically mentally unstable, but he is also just angry - and perhaps rightfully it seems. He is lonely, sexual, passionate. And actually also loving it seems, in his last scene, where he seems to truly be concerned with M's ('mom's) condition. The only thing actually wrong with him seems to be his overpowering feeling of being betrayed - which has then led him to become what we would call a 'psycho'. Alas, the defining character must be intelligence, which is indeed characteristic for the last ten to fifteen years' movies' portrayal of evil people. Along with Kevin Spacey as John Doe in 7 and of course Heath Ledger as The Joker in The Dark Knight, Bardem just went right to the top of my 'Coolest Bad Guys of All Time' list. Bardem is as always convincing, and really nails the psychopathic but at the same time sad avenger. The whole theme of 'M's past' is interesting. For the first time, it's not decided for us, that she is good; even she has a past - she has sins, even if her deeds were for the sake of her career and her country. The direct M-Villain relationship is definitely an exciting initiative. Of course a number of flaws can be found in any movie, but the only one really worth mentioning here is the character of 'the New Q'. I actually get the notion that since Bond is middle-aged, it would create humorous tensions if 'a guy who still has spots' gets to boss him around. And strictly talking appearance, Ben Whishaw is an excellent choice; skinny, pale, 'nerdy' - but in that kinda-cute-and-kinda-fashionable way that has been so popular lately in the portrayal of 'The Nerd' (think Seth Cohen i Orange County). The major problem is that he is not efficient. Bond cracks the code - he doesn't, his computersystem - the supposedly best protected security system in the UK is hacked by one IMPRISONED man, and - he seems more confused, than intelligent. What's with the subway scene - 'I see you Bond' - okay, but are you actually contributing with anything? The old Q (before John Cleese) was dominant, authoritative, self-assured, and a genius (which gave him the right to the first three characteristics) - Ben Whishaw's performance unfortunately doesn't let us believe that the new Q has the potential to become any of these things. One last minor detail: Very nice touch, that Naomi Harris turned out to be Moneypenny - she has actually always been one of my favourite characters, and one that I've kind of missed in the last couple of films.
All in all: Beautifully filmed, stunning action movie - and a James Bond movie with more layers than usually. 7/10