Boy is Daniel Craig giving Sean Connery’s 007 a run for his money. I said I was impressed with the Parkour sequence at the beginning of Casino Royale, and wasn’t dissappointed with the opening car chase and the unexpected twists (no spoilers here!).

I had a lot of hope for the theme song as the reputation of the singers has to be world class. I was delighted that Alicia Keys with her soulfully dynamic vocal power from such songs as No One and the more recent Superwoman, was going to be singing.

When I heard the first bars of Another way to Die (yeah I couldn’t rhyme Quantum of Solace either!) the grungy sound was interesting but not in the same league as Shirley Bassey’s Goldfinger or Diamonds are Forever. It progressed and Jack White (of the White Stripes) was quite clearly performing a reworking of The Denial Twist. And for some reason Alicia must have been confined to coffee breaks to sing.

It sounds almost like she is a backing singer, not of one the Superwoman normally singing Bond Theme songs.

This was a downer, and the video didn’t help at all. It was clever and arty, but I have still no idea what the lyrics were about.

So, eventually I got to see the film and Daniel Craig manage to pull of his sexy charm in the 4 days following the end of the story of the first film.

The thing about Bond’s music is the mmm da mmm da mmm da dun da da da da dum dum dum … you know that’s his theme. And when finally the trumpets come in Tata ta ta tadada you know that the ‘bad guy’ has had it. Probably the only other music to have such powerful associations with a character is Norman from Hitchcock‘s Psycho in the shower sequence.

Thankfully there is a Bond that looks like he can do what is says on the tin. That is not even mentioning his beachwear .

Can’t wait until the next one!

Technorati Tags: 007, Alicia Keys, Daniel Craig, Hitchcock, Jack White, James Bond, Psycho, Quantum of Solace, Sean Connery, Superwoman, The White Stripes, theme song