Wow! This Bond film has real integrity. Daniel Craig is spot on as Bond, and gets a believable character across on screen, even – dare I say it – overtaking Connery, the ultimate Bond. He is certainly as good as, and fits the role perfectly. Where Craig has the advantage is in an updated well-written script, without the schoolboy humour, and without the naughty schoolboy antics with Q, who does not appear at all in this film. Nor does he have to contend with ridiculous gadgets, like exploding pens and wristwatches, yes I know they are really used by the secret service, but they strike audiences as pretty far fetched. Instead, the screenplay relies on Craig’s physicality. He’s stacked, powerful and fast. The opening chase of a bomb maker has them both (and brilliant stunt men obviously) running, leaping, hurling themselves off and through things, throwing punches and getting unbelievably bashed about. The chase through and up, on a building site, involving leaping on and off cranes at stomach-lurching heights, is almost unbearable as they both smash repeatedly into the unforgiving metal of the cranes etc. This is a really tough opening, and the tension rarely lets up.
It’s a great relief when there is a quiet moment of dialogue so the audience can get its breath back, and to have the story presented, but it’s not for long. Craig next has a fuel tanker to deal with and there is plenty of great stunt driving here, a sick-making fight with the driver, and enough screeching and skidding to make any lad happy.
Casting is excellent with Vesper Lind as the girl he falls for. The dialogue is excellent between the two, and a believable relationship is set up. The pre-sex scene in the hospital room looks ludicrously uncomfortable and unexpectedly rough, as they crash into things, and fall hard onto the floor. The actors in this film must be black and blue, but you don’t expect that from the moment that’s supposed to be tender. The tender moment is the shower scene well before this, and that’s moving. I want to see this film again, soon, it’s compulsive.
I have only one query – Vesper has the bank account number, Bond has the password. The money gets wired to the bank. It doesn’t arrive. There’s no explanation for the way the double cross with the money happens, timing wise. If it got put into the wrong account in the first place, that would account for it, but in the chronology of the story, I can’t see it. Pay attention on this point. I can’t fault the film otherwise, and I am a dedicated Bond fantasist. I really liked the way the Bond motifs were regarded but played down. He orders a different drink but, when offered the usual ‘shaken not stirred’ line Craig says ‘do I look as if I give a damn’, very funny. And his line ‘the name’s Bond. James Bond’ is saved for the final clip. Classy.