Director: Mark Forster
Cast: Daniel Craig, Olga Kurylenko, Mathieu Amalric, Judi Dench
Have I Seen it Before: Oh, sure.
Did I Like It: But I only think I’ve seen it once in the theater, and then again when I acquired the DVD*. That’s telling. It is a step down from the absolute transcendence that was Casino Royale, and it’s storyline is all afterthought material from that preceding film. The Bond films have quite rightly not needed to feed into material from the previous film, and even only occasionally tried to have any kind of continuity at all. The best Bond films are so fully themselves that the confidence of the filmmakers and the confidence of the main character fuse into one entity.
Also, the successor to Royale may have always been doomed to be a letdown simply because it follows what might very well be the best films of their series, see Star Trek III: The Search for Spock (1984), The Dark Knight Rises(2012), or Star Wars Episode VI: Return of the Jedi (1983) for other examples.
But, as with all of those perfectly fine films above, this film probably gets an objectively bad rap. The direction from Mark Forester, then most famous for Stranger Than Fiction (2006), brings a precise visual scheme to the proceedings makes this look like no other Bond film before or since. Also, while the story is beholden to another movie, it definitely taps into that pure Fleming essence that Craig has tapped into so thoroughly. And I love the opening titles and theme song. That alone can go a long way towards leading me to feel more favorable about a particular Bond outing.
Were this an entry in any other Bond actor tenure (including Sean Connery) it would have been one of the best Bond films of all time. Sadly, it must become Craig’s weak link. One movie would have to be, and if this is the nadir, Craig’s status as the greatest since Connery will stand for all time.
*You can tell (minus the weird exception of Diamonds are Forever (1971)) which Bond films I enjoy the most by which I own on blu-ray. Casino Royale (2006), Skyfall (2012), From Russia With Love (1963), A View To A Kill (1985). This one I only have on DVD.