We've lost the reboot and gone back to the old Bond

Rating: 5/10 (27 October 2012)

No! No! No! No! No! No! Mendes has taken the hard, gritty reboot from Casino Royale and gone full circle back to the light-hearted humour of the old Bond.
OK, so first let's say it is a HUGE improvement on Quantum of Solace – none of that Paul Greengrass/Bourne-esque jumpy camera cuts (or whatever the technical jargon is). Also, to make Mr Silver as quite openly gay was a brave move – was it to bring the pink pound in I wonder?
Then let's overlook the "eh?" moments:  Bond is shot and falls hundreds of feet into a river and somehow survives? (eh?)  Then somehow he finds his way to some sun-kissed location without M knowing his was alive - obviously must've had a huge wad of cash handy nearby because a credit card would've revealed his identity. And that cash lasted his pain killers and drinking and then enough to get him home again (eh?)  Or how Bond can fall into a lake in the moors in Scotland, which is so cold that he can run on top of it and yet he can survive an underwater fight and still make his way to kill Silver without contracting hypothermia (eh?)  Then there's the way Mr Silver got himself out of his cell and killed 2 guards by . . . well all we saw was him stretching so god knows how he did it (eh?)
Maybe we can ignore the clichés  car chase where cars crash into loads and loads of barrows and stalls etc and yet NO-ONE is seen getting injured or killed.  Bond shoots his shirt cuffs after getting off the digger on to the train. Like Brosnan adjusting his tie under water in World is Not Enough
Then let's say nothing about the nods to other films or themes:  the Roger Moore alligator run  the Mission Impossible NOC list
Perhaps we can let slide the inconsistent background to Bond's youth – in Casino Royale, Vesper says "you didn't come from money and your school friends never let you forget it and you were at the school by the grace of someone else's charity hence the chip on your shoulder". Well looking at Skyfall he DID come from money (they had a gamekeeper for chrissakes), albeit maybe it went when his parents died, but then why the chip on his shoulder? At least they kept the orphan aspect consistent.
Finally, let's take for granted the fact that if all Silver needed was to be imprisoned and his laptop captured, then all he had to do was walk up to M after the bombing and say it was him. We didn't need Bond to go to Shanghai, kill an assassin, have a stupid fight in a casino, shag a girl and ultimately get her killed.
All of that I can just about stomach (just about), but the ONE thing I cannot abide is the humour! There are lives at stake, both his and other's and yet he can openly make quips? No! Mendes just pandered to ignorant press comment lamenting the lack of humour since the reboot.
So, I am afraid I don't give it 10 stars or even 7. I give it 5 just for Craig and the action.
Oh and the last problem was the length of it, never better illustrated by the way Silver lumbered slowly and exhaustedly to the chapel. That was how I felt about the film up to that point. It was too long.