From Andy Myers

When to see it on Friday. Booked the tickets a couple of weeks ago and then went and joined the queue. It really is excellent, although with a few reservations.

Don’t expect to see a Bond film of the past with silly gadgets and double entendres galore. Imagine that Ian Fleming had been born 50 years later and the Bond franchise didn’t exist beyond the last film Casino Royale. What you have is a Bond who is true to the character in the books.

What Casino Royale and the sequel Quantum of Solace have done is set the scene. They have developed Bond’s character and explained why he is and how he is. It develops his relationship with ‘M’ and rids itself of the clown image that Roger Moore brought to it.

It’s funny, when we got back I turned the TV on and Pierce Brosnan was on in Die Another Day. I watched the pre-title sequence and as Bonds go I quite liked Brosnan. As soon as he jumped on to the rope of a bell ringer to save his life and then jumped to the ground saying “Saved by the bell” with a shrug of his shoulders, I switched off and just couldn’t watch it. I realised just how lame it had all become up to Daniel Craig.

The things I didn’t like were the editing and photography of the action scenes. Too much chop and changing and too frenetic. I also didn’t like the title song and whilst David Arnold didn’t really disappoint with the score of the film I wanted to hear more of the traditional 007 theme in the action scenes. The gun barrel sequence now comes at the end of the film instead of the beginning. I didn’t like that at first but the more I think of it the more I don’t mind. That is followed by the full 007 theme tune. He doesn’t say Bond, James Bond but I don’t mind that either as to include it in the script would seem forced. There’s also precedent for it too as Bond doesn’t say it in quite a few other films either.

The Vodka Martini is there, shaken not stirred although he doesn’t ask for it. The barman explains it to another passenger on the flight he’s on as Bond is clearly inebriated.

The Walther PPK is back too. A nice touch and a nod to the old films. If they do it right it will also give them the opportunity to introduce Major Boothroyd “Q” into the next film as he can upgrade Bonds PPK to the more modern Walther PPS.

The humour is there too, it’s subtle and a little sarcastic but it amused me. There are gadgets in the film and Bond also has a gadget which is real although its abilities are far enhanced.

All in all it’s a good film. Some people won’t like the way the franchise is going but I do. They’ve finally created a Bond that is a believable character and they’ve found an actor in Daniel Craig who can handle a pistol properly instead of dancing with it like Brosnan did and being frightened of the bang like Moore.