Second, I’ve changed my mind about not liking Pierce Brosnan as James Bond. When I think of 007, the first thing that comes to mind is the potential he has to beat the heck outta somebody. That’s what I want an international badass to do – kick somebody’s butt. With Brosnan, that wasn’t the case. My gut reaction was always that James Bond has cool toys, he’s handsome, and that he probably spends too much of his down time coming up with witty shit to say. Ass-kicking seemed to be secondary, even happenstance. That’s not hot. International intelligence dudes should be judged by how much ass they can kick, not how much they get. I love this new Bond with his slight little body and weird face and propensity toward getting dirty and nasty-lookin’. I like the Bond who empties out his homeboy’s wallet then tosses him in the trash. This is a good start.

I prefer the more illustrative Pose fu myself, but either can be handled well. Rapid fu fit better with the mood of QS, and was implemented well though I don’t prefer the style.

I tend view Craig as more masculine, not less. The difference to me is that all “classic” Bonds have made priority of affecting elegance and style in the manner of GQ man-whores everywhere, whereas Craig is hardened, weatherbeaten and intense causing even the times he wears a tux to seem less an affectation and more a temporary vestment, much the way he seems to regard everything else in his life. Though with Vesper we have seen that this is out of necessity rather than preference. The aggressive pragmatism he practices gives Craig greater apparent testosterone levels in my estimation.

His improvisational skills reminds me of why I enjoyed MacGuyver so much. The notion of loading Bond down with gadgets while it had its place, seemed to create a checklist the plot was restricted to fill “well, he hasn’t used the laser watch yet, we’ll need to write something for that…” this way, we get a Bond that is much more resourceful and faster on his feet which seems to heighten pacing.

I like how the last two films have played with convention, namely with Bond’s drink of choice.
“Does it look like I care?”
“What was I drinking?”

Felix, Bond’s “brother from Langley” has for the first time, become an interesting and developed individual.

If I understand you correctly, then I have to disagree with you about the action, not with how the sequences were choreographed, but with how they were shot. While not as nausea inducing as Borne, it left me feeling just as cheated as closeups and motion blurs made a strong effort not to show me the anything. The difference between Casino and Quantum is not unlike the difference between action in Blade 1 and Blade 2. Craig, like snipes kicks ass on screen — let me see it!