I’ve got a review of the new Bond film up on the Creative Loafing website. (Update: also now up on the Chicago Reader, which has a better headline and a comment or two.) Money quote, as they say:

Finally, though, the powers behind the franchise have figured out how to make Bond relevant again–by giving him a tragic backstory. In Casino Royale (2006), which introduced Daniel Craig in the role, Bond falls in love with Vesper Lynd (Eva Green), a British treasury agent who’s helping him investigate a shadowy terror organization. So smitten is Bond that he even decides to give up espionage for Lynd — only to discover that she’s double-crossed him and swindled the British government out of millions. Shortly after her betrayal, a guilt-stricken Lynd dies horribly in front of Bond’s eyes, and he learns she was forced into her treachery through blackmail. The betrayal and tragedy transform Bond from a vicious, sexy hunk into a vicious, sexy hunk with a revenge motive.