This is the worst Bond movie in the series. The villain is bland and boring (save the scene when he touched Bond's knees). The fight scenes were uninspiring save the motor bikes chase scenes in the beginning. There were no funny puns or humorous quipping. The relationship portrayed between M and Bond is superficial. Most people know Bond is a fantasy film and they're trying to make it more "realistic". This is just not fun. I'd rather watch Tomorrow Never Dies over and over than watching this bore.

@1. Have you ever actually read any of the original Bond books? He wasn't a quip-spouting, techno-gadget wielding super spy. He was a competent agent who was 2/3 blunt object and 1/3 debonaire gentleman. And as written, he was human. He was a mere mortal, sometimes scared, uncomfortable, and he even occasionally hated his job (see: The Living Daylights), but he was dedicated and loyal, but mostly he was human. The movie that got closest to this Bond was Casino Royale (which had no real fancy gadgets and only a few big action setpieces; for heaven's sake the climax, in many ways, was a card game.) The more Pierce Brosnan Bond gets, the less I like him.

Actually, this is the best Bond film since GoldenEye, and it makes a good case for being in the top five of 23.

Wow, Paul. Have you been reading my twitter stream? Just, this is exactly the discussion/opinions we had after seeing the film. It was no surprise that Bardem was great, but he made so many unexpected character choices that each scene had us magnetized, never quite knowing where he was going to go next. Lovely, fun, with some touching human moments. It was a blast!

The first half was fantasic, but the second half was nearly a complete letdown. Bardem's character was so smart, and planned everything so well early in on, then (after he escaped from custody) he became an impulsive, vengeful thug. It was like he though, 'Well, I've carefully planned how to get close to M, now I think I'll just try to shoot her in a courtroom! Fuck, that didn't work, and now they're in an old house in the Scotland boonies. I think I'll just get a chopper and some hired goons to shoot or blow her up! Yeah, that will work!'. In a film like this, when the villain is inconsistent, it ruins everything. I actually wanted Silva to succeed in killing M and Bond, and to fly off into the sunset, happy as can be. Thoroughly disappointing.