The first half of the movie is fantastic; one of the best Bonds ever. The credit sequence, taking the unusual step of continuing the action of the film, nicely captures the fevered, hallucinogenic state of Bond's mind as he's tortured. The godawful Madonna theme song is an unwelcome distraction, though: although it *starts* really well, with nicely dramatic staccato cellos, it then just wibbles off into techno absurdity, with bloody Madonna saying things like "Sigmund Freud" for no good reason...

There are plenty of visual and musical cues for the dedicated Bond fan to pick up on; the most obvious being the old storeroom full of Q-Branch gadgets. It's a touching moment, made doubly affecting by the absence of Desmond Llewelyn as Q. The film's locations in the first half of the movie are interesting; Cuba, Hong Kong, North Korea and an old London Underground station where Bond is debriefed by M.

The much-maligned CGI surfing sequence is fun when you watch it (ignoring the ropy CGI), but it clearly shows the direction this film's going in, and sad to say, it's Moonraker. Goldeneye's tank chase was at least reasonably plausible; this just stretches credibilty that little bit too far. As does the invisible Aston Martin. And the fact that the *baddys* car has gadgets just like Bond's; that sort of takes the fun out of it. Everything about the film suggests that they were upping the ante, more gadget-laden cars, *more* super-villainous threats, and so on. Like Moonraker. I wouldn't be surprised if the next film was a "return to basics" like For Your Eyes Only or License To Kill...

But my real problem with this film was Halle Berry's Jinx. Given that it's Bond's anniversary film, the focus should've been on him throughout; instead, every other scene we cut away to the antics of this halfwitted American "action-woman" cliche. It seems that the producers were so overjoyed at casting her, they forgot that the focus is meant to be on *Bond*. She chewed up the screentime Fundamentally, I didn't give a toss what happened to this character; she had all the sexual appeal of a wet dishrag, and as a character, she just wasn't as interesting as Bond. As an example, just picture what the final battle on the aeroplane would've been like *without* her; Bond would've had to face off against *two* professional fencers (and one trained martial artist). Instead we cut between two fight sequences, and both suffered for it.