Pierce Brosnan is great as James Bond, Judi Dench is great as 'M'....and John Cleese is great as 'Q' ,but I don't think the film as a whole is as good as the previous Brosnan outings.I think it tries to emulate hi-energy films like The Matrix and keep a fast moving pace, but ends up trying too hard too often, with very little mystery, no real unravelling of subterfuge and a bad guy who is unmasked too easily and too soon.Hallé Berry?..... well, she is an ok_ sidekick/accomplice, and very glamourous etc. blah blah Ursula Andress swimsuit scene yadda yadda.. but you don't really _believe she's nails (like you did when it was Michelle Yeoh), and the dialogue between her and Brosnan is like Finbarr Saunders b-sides.I thought Bond had moved on from that...evidently not. The gadgets are a little too abundant, and while the more Clarkson-inclined might be thrown into multiple orgasms, it was close to leading the film into the realms of parody.Toby Stephens should have studied Ben Kingsley in 'Sexy Beast' before trying to play a hyperactive bad guy. Kingsley got the balance perfect, hyperactivity that seemed real, while Stephens always appears to be acting. It's a shame that a film which began very well descended into normality. Visual gimmicks like fast motion stuttering shots are all very well, but meant nothing when the plot and the script had no flesh on them... pop video fodder, then. Reasonably entertaining... you know what you're getting, the stunts were great, the action sequences often great... and there's probably no point in going on about how much better the last two films were... I mean who goes to see James Bond films for the plot and characterisation?

Some things cannot remain unsaid.... ...While I thought 'Music' was a good album, Mirvais and Madonna's Bond theme is bollocks. Exactly the same disease as the film as a whole... Using UK Garage Autotune effects and 2002 dance production means nothing when the song that lies beneath represents 1/4 of an idea. This has about as much gravitas as a drop of weak piss in a thunderstorm. Sorry Maddie... while they were all trying TOO hard, you should have tried a LOT harder, for fame, celebrity and fortune doth not a Bond Theme make. Shirley Bassey would have you for breakfast, love!

This rant will self destruct in fifteen seconds....fourteen...thirteen....