Be prepared: there are flaws with this film. The first 45 minutes to an hour felt like a Brosnan Bond film to me in terms of exposition, settings and themes, albeit with an injection of Jason Bourne and a heap more violence. The volume was turned up so loud I was seriously worried the Queen might have a heart attack in the cinema across the road. I wished I hadn't seen and read so much about the film, and had such high expectations for it.
But then it got flowing. The plot started to come together, and the Brosnan elements (mostly) left the stage. This is really several Bond films rolled into one: it felt a bit like a child with a new set of paints. Once they'd started with this direction, there seemed a lot they wanted to say. Not every scene worked, by any means, but for all the discussion about Bond we fans have, they really dug deep to find something new to say here. For once, they actually have 'gone back to Fleming' and 'peeled back the layers' . And it's fascinating. Craig plays Bond spontaneously and effortlessly. By the end of the opening titles, it's already crystal-clear that he really is the character. This is certainly the best performance of the role since Connery, and in some ways Craig betters Connery, because he not only pulls off the menace and sophistication and laconic humour (this is a very funny film in places - the right places), he is also much more athletic and believable as a man who can use his hands to inflict serious damage on unarmed opposition. And on top of that he pulls of the emotional side, which we never saw from Connery, and doesn't lose any of his cool doing it. The love story's a tad rushed, but then it was in OHMSS, too. Despite the absence of so many so-called key elements, this still screamed from the rooftops that it was a Bond film. Now that Craig is established as James Bond - and my God is he established! - it will be fascinating to see if they dare to cut back even more on those old stand-bys with the next film, or if once again the cycle begins and we push slowly towards formula. I hope not. I hope this spells a new era for the most successful film series of all time.
Because, suddenly, everything seems possible again.
