I Hate to be the Bearer of Bad News but…

The new James Bond movie is thoroughly disappointing. I’m not quite sure what went wrong. While the directors changed, the writers are the same (and as a writer I tend to blame them for everything.) The first one was tight, sexy thriller with genuine romance this one is almost like a parody of a Bond movie. The number of exotic locals is gratuitous and the women are empty shells. There is one visual reference to Goldfinger that I alone found hysterical. But other than that it is a grim, joyless, incomprehensible thriller that really has no tie to Casino Royal aside from mentioning Vesper Lynd all the time (which on the 8th mention of her name I realized is a pun for West Berlin). The action scenes are shot in dizzying close up and there is no real sense of danger. The new Bond girl is lovely but she and Daniel Craig have no chemistry and her arc is boring. Of course Judi Dench is fabulous and the movie picks up whenever she is on screen.
Rewatch Casino Royal, and skip Quantum of Solace. The action is better, the story makes more sense, and there is Eva Green.