Pure Bond, all the way, and it measures up. Ms. Newton is both pretty and spunky, but she doesn't have the humor essential for an espionage caper. Even Tom Cruise dulls a little because he hasn't yet developed the ability to deliver the whole silly, wonderful business with a wink that puts him in collusion with his audience. Anthony Hopkins adds a wallop of class in a small, but terrific, part. Dougray Scott's Sean Ambrose is more the spoiled European playboy who lacks the presence essential to a good villain.
Every hero needs a good villain, and the best villains are fueled by unadulterated evil.
We remember Goldfinger, and long for Odd Job, who threw his single weapon, his hat, with such style that he scared us witless. Odd Job had ice in his eyes. Our hero must destroy one and retrieve the other while single-handedly subduing Ambrose and his army of subordinates. With the exceptions of Ms. Newton and the Messrs. Hopkins and Ving Rhames, the entire cast exists to be mowed down by explosions, machine guns, and the virus. Helicopters, motorcycles, trucks, planes, and cars fly through the air, incinerating their passengers.