I was never a 007 film fan. Partly because of the cheesy effects, uncanny weaponry assists and the over-played lordly, elegant gentleman spy thing. The whole concept just turned me off.
Astoundingly, I've heard and read a lot of good reviews about the new James Bond film which came out in Greek movie theaters a month ago; although I remember reading -a while back- that most people weren't too enthused about the new bloke that had been cast to play the part of 007. Daughter#2 is an action film buff (I honestly have no idea where she picked up on this) and had been hinting about wanting to see the movie. My curiosity finally got the best of me and we saw it today.
Wow.
THIS James Bond FINALLY fits the picture, completes the missing pieces and comes off as a SUBSTANTIAL character, whereas his predecessors just LOOKED like flimsy movie characters. Daniel Craig (and the new 007 flick crew) does a great job of convincing us he IS James Bond. No gadgetry. No hi-tech arm conceptions. No invisible cars. Just raw muscle, lots of pain, action and... ouch!
As an action film goes, the action is dragged out; Bond is poisoned, whacked (e-v-e-r-y-w-h-e-r-e), beaten, shot at, slapped, thrown around, bruised and scratched. There are short intermissions with (thankfully) nippy conversations between him and his leading lady leading up to the scenes of Bond/Bond girl chemistry (with an unprecedented romantic twist).
Oddly, THIS Bond shows us a "human side" the viewers weren't accustomed to seeing with the leading men in former 007 films. The weirdness of this plot is that it's sort of a backward sequel; yet the "young", inexperienced Bond is an improvement compared to his "older, wiser self" in previous movies.
The loner rocker ambiance of Chris Cornell's voice in "You Know My Name" suits this new Bond well.
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