Strong but problematic. The movie is broken-backed, with lots of action scenes frontloaded onto a remainder that adapts Ian Fleming’s noirish novel. The book is composed of three set-pieces which the film includes but fluffs: the big card game, where poker is substituted for baccarat, despite the latter being easily explainable and more cinematic; the torture scene, which lessened by added jokes and the absence of blood; and the concluding scenes with Vesper, which get lost in the added action. Even so, what’s left is still exciting, and Daniel Craig has the sort of animal charisma that’s been lacking since Connery.