Instead, we watch, in flashback, the story of how Bond first earned his “00” status - his license to kill.īut what it lacks in flash, it makes up for in film-school artsiness. Gone are the massive action set-pieces, the mind-boggling stunts, the beautiful women, the cars, the gadgets. After the conceptual bloat of the late Pierce Brosnan films, the coming of Daniel Craig was supposed to be a return to basics: a post-bubble austerity program for a franchise struggling with its longstanding reliance on subprime special effects and gimmicks.Īnd the intro sequence here is extremely basic.