Adequate for a Bond flick, but no Oscar there. The direction, by Michael Apted, certainly doesn't get one, either. The direction of the action sequences is, since this is the movie's raison d'etre, criminally lackluster in this post- Matrix age. They're not awful like those boring action scenes from Bond films of the 80's, just not as spectacular as they could be. Perhaps the problem is that we know that Bond isn't going to die, and we know that the babe probably isn't going, too, either - since at least one babe has to survive to the end of the film to shack up with Bond.
Predictability is, well, boredom.
But that's not the only problem. The editing for the action scenes clearly presents the action in a mix of long and medium shots. But it doesn't whip us into a testosterone fury. There are no clever camera angles, and few funny little details are thrown in - unlike, say, the magnificent action scenes in the first Indiana Jones movie. Based around a gadget and not a character.