After the knock-out début of Daniel Craig as James Bond in “Casino Royale”, it’s hard to image the follow-up repeating the same perfection. To an extent that’s true, it doesn’t, except this latest 007 flick is not so much a follow-up as direct continuation of the previous film. Picking up twenty minutes after the previous film ends, Bond is once again in revenge mode out to stop those that killed lover Vesper Lynn and whatever other nefarious plans they have in store for the world; while in detective mode, he discovers clues to Dominic Greene’s plans to control Bolivia’s water supply; cause a few droughts until the pay up. Fairly sane for a Bond villain, I know. This leads 007 to the sexy but treacherous Camille (Olga Kurylenko). She in turn, brings him to Greene who is, of course, is happy to finally make Bond’s acquaintance giving him the usual baddie speech before attempting to kill 007. Having pissed off his superiors, M is pressured into reining Bond in. She quickly believes Bond is on to something and drags her feet in an attempt to apprehending him.
The title is taken from an Ian Fleming short, but content wise is an original story. Having used all of Fleming’s story ideas, screenwriters Paul Haggis, Robert Wade and Neal Pervis create a Bond unlike any other. Sure, we’ve seen Bond in revenge mode, but not like this, pardon the pun- this time, it’s personal. “License to Kill” had Bond risking everything to go on a personal vendetta when his best friend, Felix Lieter was maimed by thugs and his wife murdered on their wedding day. Dalton did an ample job even when the screenplay felt more like a high gloss, Charles Bronson “Death Wish” sequel, his rage was a little too intense in some parts and not intense enough in others. The movie’s lack of box-office power proved audiences weren’t ready for a fleshed out Bond; three-dimensions are not always a good thing and to have a 007 with emotions other than lust and humor was a bit jarring. I will echo the sentiment that Craig is the best Bond to date; he even out cools Sir Sean Connery. The charisma, the physical presence and especially his performance are all still amazing. He's not always likeable here, stubborn at times, which makes the character new, without being totally unfamiliar.
His sense of humor is still intact, the film has a running gag of Bond running like hell to track down his suspects, beating the shit out of them and unintentionally killing them, it happens three times with M getting the film’s best punch line. Craig takes the revenge angle and plays it far better than imagined- his performance continues to electrify as he’s, once again, a running fool, chasing bad guys on roof tops, falling through sky lights, nearly decapitated by falling glass, jumping out of a rogue cargo plan…Never could I have imagined any of the previous Bonds attempting such insane stunts. I know computer trickery is involved to make Craig look good, but still the man is a running fool and is ripped like an ape on steroids. All of the supporting performances are excellent; Judi Dench is still the stern, but reasonable taskmaster, and Mathieu Amalric, as baddie Dominic Greene is acceptably oily. One of his murder victims ends up as a great homage to Shirley Eaton in “Goldfinger.” Craig’s chemistry with Bond girl, Olga Kurylenko, is the films best asset she is as smart, capable as she is beautiful and reminded me of some of Bond’s best female co-stars, like Ursula Andress, Dianna Rigg and Carol Bouquet. Pierce Brosnan had a string of deadly dullards as his Bond girls, but Craig’s been graced with two that were just as intense and interesting as he and let’s hope we see more of Kurylenko in future installments. The action still brings the house down with one great set-piece after another; the opening car chase, boat chase and the escape from the cargo plane are the standouts. Director Mark Forester does a fine job, although he still needs to learn to keep the camera still at key moments. This shaky cam stuff is getting annoying, why waste time and money on staging an elaborate shot only to have it look like hell in the finished film? (“I’m talking to YOU Paul Greengrass of the awful Jason Bourne movies!”) Thankfully not a lot of the film is poisoned with said shots. He keeps the action moving and even though he’s not known for action flicks; he makes an impressive introduction by keeping the action coherent, logical and well-paced. Even when it borders on the absurd, the airplane escape for instance, things still remain fairly sane, but not too much-this is a Bond flick after all. The movie’s running time is a breezy 1:58, the shortest Bond flick to date, which is a good thing as the action never feels drawn out as it has in the last three previous flicks. One of the film’s best contribution is this mysterious SPECTRE-like organization that could be used in future installments is very clever. I hope we get a Blofeld-like villain that could be spread out over two or three more Bond pictures. Composer David Arnold returns for his fifth Bond and does a fine job; he even slips the iconic James Bond theme into several opening cues. If there’s one complaint it’s that I am missing gadget-master “Q”, a role I’m surprised hasn’t been offered to Ricky Gervais or Simon Pegg and Secretary “Moneypenny.” I’m digging Craig’s run so far, the universe he’s helped create is fascinating and exciting, but it still feels incomplete, let’s hope the next installment sees the characters reintroductions.