This is truly a Bond film only without the gadgets. Daniel Craig reprises his role as the super-secret British spy, and once again he hit it out of the park. There is no question that Sean Connery made James Bond into a cinematic icon, but Daniel Craig definitely reshaped the new Bond to fit into the new century. He delivered a powerhouse of a performance that only he can do. The fight and chase sequences were well choreographed. I was on the edge of my seat throughout most of the film. Unfortunately, there were some areas that I felt it dragged on, but luckily there were not a lot of those. Daniel Craig had been in three Bond films so far, and he has executed them perfectly. It’s refreshing to see an old dog learn new tricks, not saying that Daniel is an old dog, but his character has been around for a very long time. This movie has heart and soul; it has sex, intrigue, violence, and cool cars. Out of the entire Bond films that I have watched, this was probably one of the most intensely dark stories. It seemed like they went all out in this film. With his usual no holds barred fights and action sequences, to his ultra-sex appeal toward the women, Daniel Craig was eye candy for both the testosterone and estrogen level audience members.
As any Bond film goes, the key ingredients to make a great movie is finding the right person to play the bad guy. You want to give him or her a complex backstory to feed upon so that they can use it wreak havoc on the hero. A villain can make or break the film. You need a special kind of person to bring out a Bond villain. Javier Bardem was the perfect choice for a Bond villain. With “No Country for Old Men” under his belt portraying a hit man, he is no stranger getting his hands dirty and malevolent. Watching him made my skin crawl and felt uneasy, but yet I couldn’t turn away. He was playful, maniacal, and pathetic all at the same time. However, it was kind of weird seeing him in blond hair, it was kind of distracting. Just like the character of James Bond, the villain can make a profound impact in the film as well. With every hero, you need an equal or better adversary, to challenge him or her. Javiar Bardem played the character of this particular villain with intelligence and cunning to give Bond a major headache.
Just like the villain, a typical Bond film has to have great female leads. These women are not your typical female roles, they have to be beautiful, intelligent, able to kick ass, and generate enough sex-appeal to light up Manhattan for a year. Several actresses in this film definitely delivered wonderful performances, Naomi Harris (Pirates of the Caribbean) plays Eve, a MI-6 agent who teams up with Bond, who is definitely a great addition to this film. She played her role with intelligence and sex appeal. Another female actor who also sizzled on the screen was the french actress Berence Marlohe. In my opinion, she reminded me of the old typical Bond girl back when Connery filled the shoes of Bond. She just oozes sex-appeal that made her enjoyable to watch. My favorite female lead actress was Dame Judi Dench who plays M, Bond’s superior and surrogate mother (she respects him, but applies a tough love method to his madness and antics.) Although she is in her sixties or seventies, her wit and quick tongue can out talk anybody that tries to challenge her. I’ve always loved her as M ever since she made her big sreen debut in Goldeneye. Judi took the character and made it her own. In every Bond film, her involvement within Bond’s life has increase to a point where there relationship has evolved to somewhat of a matriarchal relationship with a “take no crap” attitude from the super British spy. I recommend this movie to anybody who wants to see a great action film with sex, violence, great bud guys, and a whole lot of blowing stuff up! It’s been a while since I left satisfied from a theater. Of course there will be another Bond film, with fast cars and sexy women, but right now let’s enjoy the splendors of this one first. They definitely raised the bar on this one being that it is “50 Years of Bond”, so it will be hard to top this one, but they are gonna keep trying, and I can’t wait!
~TheTruthSayer
