Watchable but disappointing

Rating: 4/10 (2 November 2012)

This was the first James Bond Movie I had ever watched and was bitterly disappointed. I have never read a James Bond book before so was not previously acquainted with the characters and style of the whole franchise but I found the movie to be lacking in any desirable plot. This therefore made the whole movie slightly tedious to follow as the story was so basic.
Although the actors were competent especially Bardem and Harris apart from the character of Silva all the other characters seemed very two dimensional and dull. The Bond character was especially unappealing as he lacked any personality or interesting quirks, his script was very flat and he didn't act like a 'Gentleman'. The most unnecessary moment in the whole movie was near the end when Bond kills Silva. I was expecting to be pleased that 'good defeated evil' and I thought I should have respect or even pride for Bond but none such emotions were felt. Instead there was simply the unnecessary and immature remark made by Bond when he said "last rat standing." I literally retched when he said that! He has just murdered a man who has an obvious reason to be mad after being left to be tortured for six months and M refused to help him and rather Bond showing any remorse or respect for a former ally he does the un-chivalrous by sarcastically insulting the man in his dying moments.
As with a surprisingly high amount of movies my interest ended up with the antagonist Silva played by Bardem. He was the only character with any back story, character flaws, quirks and brains and for someone who had never been immersed into the wold of James Bond before I found myself almost forcibly latching onto the villain! which I'm sure wasn't the intent of the movie but never the less I found more sympathy in this characters demise than I did with M.
This movie is rated OK in my opinion. The plot was basic and therefore a struggle to follow and all characters lacking in any emotion or personality. However the character of Silva should be commended and makes the movie somewhat watchable.