Bond is good, Girls are hot, Gadget-free-Action-lite movie was good, but Plotline was predictable

Spoilers to follow, throughout the whole thing.

No criticism of Daniel Craig here, but I would really wish the producers would stop offing the BONDS girls so quickly. Three leading ladies gone (except for the d.a.m.e) and I am left wondering about the future plotline.

Back to the story first, Vesper as a possible (supposedly the) mole was pretty predictable and I caught the idea the moment she started punching in the secret password to the account number (Bond used her name, but anyone who was scrutinising the keypad when he was punching it in would have known), but I didn't have the exact reasoning (as some would have deduced the same time as Bond had, before he got captured; So nice of him to fill in the blank spot. Hint: I make a bad criminal detective, absolutely no deductive reasoning, just pure leaps of brilliance/enlightenment/realization).

Since someone leaked the secret to Le Chiffre, it was either Vesper or Mathis (then again, it could have been both, courtesy of Bond again). Despite Mathis being off screen most of the time, Vesper's on-screen tells were not very subtle either, so must have probably been the director dropping hints left, right, up, down, centre, here, there, anywhere, everywhere? (Note to d.i.r.e.c.t.o.r and producers: I hope you are planning to bring back something S.P.E.C.T.R.E-ish)

Let's see, how many hints did they drop about SPECTRE anyway.

• Mr White mentioned it at the terrorist camp.
• M mentioned it in her apartment.
• M hinted at it in her briefing of Bond in the Bahamas.
• Le Chiffre pleading for his life from Mr White. (note to self: please find the definition of Le Chiffre to see if it corresponds to any known colour. Same goes for Gattler? SPECTRE was numerically order, maybe the new one may be colour-coded?)
• Oh, and the climatic battle-destruction-carnage scene at the end when Le Chiffre has already died (by the way, whatever happened to the poor fellow pinned by the elevator when Bond went to rescue Vesper, there was absolutely no sign of him. But then again, I am myopic, so it may be my eyes. It must be my eyes)
• Mr White, walking off with the case of money (pretty easy for him to make a switch with Vesper before she met Gattler; or perhaps Gattler when they ran into the building. In case you thought he went through the rubble but no, he was not wet.)
• M in her debriefing of Bond (dropping hints of kidnapping, blackmail, extortion, murder, etc. Where have I heard this ranting before?)
• Bond not killing Mr White (why shoot him in the leg unless you want to interrogate him about the organization. But then again, maybe Daniel Craig may be the one to give Bond a sadistic streak. Hint: He enjoys pain and Bond-age somewhat)

So, anyone willing to offer odds on the revival of SPECTRE?

If they are, I do hope that they bring back better superiors (all of the original ones were too cheesy. Well, some of them were nice, just that they diedly cheesily).

And Jeffrey Wright is the #-what incarnation of Felix Leiter? (or is that an interchangeable alias for all CIA field agents and superiors?) So beware of anyone introducing himself as Felix Leiter.

If there is anything I like about this Bond movie, it was the inclusion of free running (a.k.a parkour). Thank you Sebastien Roche for one of the nicer (no-car) chase scene in any Bond movie.

And if you are wondering why I called this Bond movie Gadget-free, it was because the car had no machine guns-missile launchers-invisibility cloak-remote control driver-interchangeable license plate-whatchamacallitjig that most Bond movies had AND Bond's watch does nothing, absolutely nothing.
Same goes for the bug, I just don't get the timeline from the time Bond preps the thing until he tracks it down in Le Chiffre's room. Most directors will show Le Chiffre pockting his inhaler for crying out LOUD!
But if you want to talk about the defibrilitator, the antidote for digitalis, Bond tracking our hand phone SIM cards via Sony VIAO laptops (wonderful product placement, never missed it for a single second).
Now if they will only invent a handphone with a built-in EMP generator to fry my SIM card before I expired, I bet that a lot of terrorists will just die to acquire one of those, not to mention including the protocol in all future terrorist manual: REMEMBER - Always FRY your SIM card before you D(eliberately/) I(nadvertently) E(xpire)) etc.
If you still want to quibble, then fine; I will go as far as to call it Gadget-Lite.

Last words: I love the look on Daniel Craig face after the bomber realized he turned himself into a suicide bomber.

PS: IF you people were really kepoy about who I watched the movie with, it was with the staff at the hotel that I am working at. Yes I got the seat ALMOST (I emphasize ALMOST) under the screen but then again it was the PREMIERE theatre so I enjoyed it with a modest serving of caramel popcorn (badly covered, not enough caramel) and a smoothie (poorly made, the flavored water and fruity mush separated after leaving it lying around for thirty minutes).

Last, Last words:
Good Trailers: Eragon (too choppy though)
Bad Trailers: Deja Vu (lousy concept of the trailer, even lousier movie concept)
Ink Attack "Mo Gong" (not enough meat in the trailer)
Cicak Man (I no longer have any idea why people adore Saiful Apek)
Good Ads: Heineken (Unchanged since 1873, love the six-pack
Bad Ads: just about everything else!