Bond-Fall

Rating: 1/10 (4 December 2012)

What a crushing bore of a movie.
There's nothing even remotely original or progressive about this outing for Bond, and for me it actually plumbed new depths of disappointment that even Quantum of Solace hadn't reached.
It's the same-old, same-old, with the obligatory car-chase opening which, unlike the superb Casino Royale, attempts nothing innovative, such as parquet or scaffold-scaling.
The plot is a by-the-numbers yawn-a-thon along the lines of a rogue former agent, which sounds very familiar if you've seen Goldeneye.
There are even obvious mistakes, which, due to boredom in the cinema, I picked up on. They both involve characters (M, then Bond) failing to pick up objects that they miraculously have in hand seconds later despite leaving them where they lay. This is unforgivable for movies with huge budgets.
I despair for Bond, for although Casino Royale injected some much needed excitement and depth to the series (good plot, interesting characters, emotional resonance), the two movies since have trundled on as if it had never happened.
In fact, so much of the movie is spent referencing the old ones, that there is a desire to dig out the originals, which surely can't have aged that badly, could they? If you don't expect anything new or interesting, you might not be disappointed.