Ratings for reviews will appear above the fold, while the review itself will appear below the fold to avoid spoilers for anyone that wants to go into it with a blank slate even though I’ll try to keep the spoilers to what can be seen in the trailers.

Jean-Paul’s rating: 3/5 stars

Revenge is a dish best served with an opening chase sequence, some political infighting, a trip to an exotic location to track down an assassin, following a clue to another exotic location, following a hot chick to an evil lair, a just in time rescue, an unlikely escape, an improbable assassination plan, and a last stand in a remote chateau that I would really like to own.

Daniel Craig is my favorite Bond.  He has the rugged good looks and dispassionate stare that scream amoral ass.  That, to me, is what an agent with a license to kill should be.  Unfortunately, Mr. Craig has now starred in two duds and one hit.

Anyone who likes Bond films will like this one as well.  The action is taut, the Bond girls are gorgeous, and the villain is, er, villainous.  There are also some back story surprises for the fans of Bond lore as well as the reinvention of a few favorite Bond characters.

Where does this one go wrong then?  Transitions.  Scenes seemed thrown together with little thought to how they would flow.  This is not normally a problem with Bond films, but the leads in this one seemed weaker than usual and the evil master plan less evil and more ridiculous.

Oh, and Javier Bardem as the Bond villain, Silva?  Awesome!  Nobody does creepy like Javier Bardem.  This film needed more Silva.  Instead of the traditional James Bond chase scene, this film would have been better served with an all Silva opening.  As it is, we don’t get to see Silva until around 45 minutes into the movie.  Our loss.