The new 007

I'm not a big fan of the James Bond franchise, but Daniel Craig, the new face of Bond after Pierce Brosnan left the role, might make me change my mind...

The next Bond movie, the first for Craig, will be Casino Royale, an adaptation of author Ian Fleming's first James Bond novel, in which the spy was introduced as a more youthful and cold character than he has been portrayed on film.

"I certainly think it will be a little bit darker - that's not to say it won't have its sense of humour, of course it will have that," Mr Campbell [the director] said.

The 21^st Bond film would be "definitely darker, more character, less gadgets".

Well, darker worked for the latest Batman installment, so it might work here too. I would definitely welcome more character development than gadgetry, since the Bond movies started looking like video games a long time ago, to the detriment of plot depth, which is what differentiates a movie.

The producer, Michael G Wilson, has also revealed that work has already started on the 22^nd James Bond film, which would be Craig's second as 007.

Can you imagine? They have barely started his first and they're are already in pre-production for his second.