In this 20th installment of the Bond franchise, director Lee Tamahori starts out strong. The opening thrill ride — a prolonged, three-man surfing sequence — is lushly kinetic (though it ends with a titter as one man strips off his headgear to reveal, with utter unbelievability, our never-less-than-patrician hero, Pierce Brosnan). We stay locked in for most of the mandatory, balls-out action set-piece, in which we meet Rick Yune's villainous Zao, a corrupt North Korean militiaman, and his demonic brother, Colonel Moon. But the hovercraft chase that caps the prologue action begins to feel like a long day at the theme park, and only after it finishes do we reach the title sequence, with Madonna's jittery title song setting the pace for a crafty blending of exposition and pure, glittering stylization.

From there, through numerous gags that pay homage to the series' higher points (Q's workshop holds From Russia With Love's stiletto-toed shoe), the results are often leaden and even campy (intentionally and otherwise — sometimes, as when we're told the locale is heading to "a strange clinic" in Cuba, there's no telling which). We do meet Halle Berry on that embargoed island, and her Jinx and Brosnan's Bond immediately begin spouting horny, oversold innuendo on their way to a quick, meaningless boinking. Jinx will end up in a fine catfight with newcomer Rosamund Pike, who shows real animal magnetism amidst the rote scenario; Bond, who succumbs to self-doubt as he chases bad guys across bad matte paintings and conspicuously phony CG effects, will literally cross swords with bad rich boy Gustav Graves — English actor Toby Stephens, quietly munching scenery. In the end, we're left with a mouthful of musty franchise.

— Fred Schruers