I know that there are die hard Sean Connery fans and I am all for that; the Bonds over the years have been great to watch. It's been interesting to see how each new actor has inhabited the role. Daniel Craig, though, brings something completely new and unique to the role and, in this film, it is particularly refreshing to see this HUMAN Bond. They've all been so suave and so sexy - but this one is so conflicted and raw. We see his flaws, we see how the 007 we already know was created. The birth of the look of him, the introduction of the Aston Martin into his life, the way he is made hard and impenetrable. It's a Bond for the times.
The supporting cast is excellent, as always, beginning with Judi Dench as the best M of all time and ending with the Jeffrey Wright as Felix Lighter (wonderful!). The women are stunning, starting with Catarina Murino (stunning in every scene) and shifting to Eva Green (perfection). The cameos by Macolm Sinclair and Tsai Chin are fun and Mr Giancarlo Giannini is superb. Add to that all the European scenery, extraordinary action sequences and a score by David Arnold that fits, perfectly, the tradition of James Bond movie scores - Arnold even pays perfect homage to the legendary John Barry who scored most of the earlier Bond films.
Speaking of homage, be sure to notice as the filmmaker tips his hat to the famed image of Ursula Andress, rising out of the sea in DR NO - only this time, it is Bond rising out of the sea in a swimsuit that looks amazingly like the male version of the one worn by Honey Ryder...
What I really and truly love about this Bond is that he is a 007 who does it all on his own. Missing are all the gadgets and gizmos from the past Bond films - he does it all himself, on the merit of his brains and brawn. Well... there are some hidden things in his car - like a heart defibrulator - but no shoe phones! Oops. That's a different secret agent.
This is the REAL secret agent man.