Rating: 2.25 of 5  

I know nothing about Bond. But for the uninitiated this was pleasant. Which, I know, is an odd adjective to apply to Bond but it works for me.

You have to understand, though, however much the action is fast or exciting and there’s chases of several different varieties and pretty girls, whatever – I don’t like James Bond.

I am the exact opposite of the target demographic for this movie. So the fact that I didn’t hate it, says something.

Why don’t I like James Bond? Partly because guys love him so much.
My theory on Bond is that guys like him because they want to be him – that cool and wildly competent and attractive to every single girls that every man wants to be. The flaw in that theory is that every girl (in real life) does not want James Bond. I sort of despise him, in fact. So, the whole idea of him is a lie.

The girls in the movies – the ones that are attracted to this guy aren’t real at all. They’re just some guy’s idea of what a woman should be or who she should want or how she should behave. So I was mostly uninterested.

Which is why I was so surprised I didn’t hate this movie. It’s fast and effecient and grasps for depth, even though it never really gets there. I think, if I were to watch a James Bond movie again (and I have seen others before but was even less impressed) I’d want to see the one with Eva Green because I like her and imagine she would be a real person, or at least a James Bond approximation of a real woman and she would be interesting.

Daniel Craig, as Bond, is what made it such a bearable movie for me. His Bond is unshakable, steady and determined but nearly everything he does has an undercurrent of interesting emotions. Which is very likable and also comforting. Maybe it’s the self-control necessary to maintain that effeciency that makes it comforting, I don’t know. but I liked it.

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