A deranged media mogul is staging international incidents to pit the world's superpowers against each other. Now 007 must take on this evil mastermind in an adrenaline-charged battle to end his reign of terror and prevent global pandemonium.
There's a high gloss and some nice payoffs, but not quite as much humor as usual; Bond seems to be straying from his tongue-in-cheek origins into the realm of conventional techno-thrillers.
Veteran director Roger Spottiswoode has tried to pep the old warhorse up, but the combined inertia of all those pictures over 35 years proves hard to budge.