Guys, this is fine. I know some of you have made a point of resisting it, even walking out on it, and that's acceptable. But ass-kickers that not only deliver the goods but don't do much else but ass-kicking don't come around every day, or every year, or every decade. There's some backstabbing and a SHOCKING revelation or two, but it's never pointlessly byzantine, and it's really all about getting from one smackdown -- usually with the aid of objects,…

I've watched this enough times to no longer really care about the occasional deficiency (e.g., the increasingly desperate attempts to spice up a middle section devoted to boring Texas Hold 'Em by having Bond get into fights, then get poisoned, etc.). Better than Skyfall, too, not only in balancing characterization with ass-kickery, but in humanizing Bond. Casino Royale hints at a backstory but defines him by his actions in the present day. And as much as I love On Her…