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Unlike many of the previous posters here, I've never been a huge Bond fan. The early Connery ones were okay as period pieces, but Roger Moore was too lightweight to play the role convincingly and Pierce Brosnan just plain too skinny. I did like Timothy Dalton because he seemed intelligent enough to pull things off, but overall I've only tolerated them for their opening stunts, chases and ridiculous gadgets. Despite having friends who are deep into Bond-age (something the movie-makers play with in this one), I've only seen half the movies, and for half of those I had to talk myself into watching them. That's why I didn't see "Casino Royale" till Christmas Day; I kept thinking I SHOULD go because everyone was saying it's great, but I just couldn't get myself up for it. I was finally talked into it by a buddy who's a Bondaholic and who wanted the excuse to see it for the third time. So I figured -- What they hey; I got nothing else going on.

Well...I was wrong to wait. This was one fan-friggin'-tastic movie! Not just a "James Bond" film, but a great action thriller that not only reinvents the whole notion of Bond as a blond but makes him seem realistic and human enough to empathize with. In a Bond film, you expect the action sequences to be brilliant -- and the chase in Uganda fit the bill, perfectly -- but they should also be SUSPENSEFUL, something the other movies had lost sight of. You have to really feel that Bond might just not make it...and there were a couple of moments where I wasn't sure he'd get to where he needed to be in time. It was magnificent.

The fact is, there's non-stop suspense in this film. And romance. And beauty. And CHARACTER! Bond's no longer just a machine with a Walther PPK, he's a man who hurts and bleeds and can easily die and knows it. And tries not to care...but can't quite achieve that last bit of remove from reality. And Daniel Craig -- with his ice-blue eyes and working- class-English looks and carefully pumped-up body -- fills the role to such a wonderful extent, you're left wondering who could have better filled the shoes of Ian Flemming's spy. I mean seriously, as we were leaving the theater, my buddy said he was almost as good as Sean Connery, and my first thought was, "Sean who?"

I cannot emphasize enough -- this is not just a Bond movie; this is a great story told by people at the top of their form that, for the first time, gives me an idea of what the allure of the whole 007 mythology is all about and helps me accept it. And want to see it, again. And that, alone, is worth making this a TEN.

The story of a man trying to do good and being so overwhelmed by feelings of futility, all he can do is numb himself. The story of an adolescent girl who's seen way to much in her 12 years to hold any beliefs, anymore...but still almost sort of hopes. The story of how maybe they might be able to help each other...and maybe they can't because the world is stacked against them.

This film is heartbreaking and bracing in a way that only fine storytelling can be. You get pitch perfect acting by Ryan Gosling, Shareeka Epps and Anthony Mackie that is so real, you forget they're acting. Supple camera-work by Andrij Parekh (the confrontation between Dan and Frank over Drey is elegant). Beautiful unobtrusive editing by Anna Boden (who co-wrote the script). A music score that fits without being obvious, obnoxious or saccharine. A subtle, deep, honest script, where nobody's perfectly good or bad but just human (co-written by Ryan Fleck). And Fleck's directing? Let's put it this way -- there was a moment near the end I saw coming. Anyone who knows anything about storytelling knows this moment is coming. Ryan Fleck doesn't even try to hide the fact that it's coming. But when it comes, you are so caught up in the characters and the situation, you're praying that moment doesn't come...and Fleck plays on that prayer. Uses it to emphasize the devastation it brings. I actually realized I was holding my breath through the whole thing just hoping and hurting and worrying and fearing and knowing...and shaking from the wish that it wouldn't be so. And then there it was. And it was handled with such gentle simplicity, I just sat there, numb.

This film also holds a drug message that isn't a message but still gets the message across. A political commentary on the state of not only the reality of day to day life for many black families living a bare existence and faced with impossible choices, but also a stunning example of the flat out moral bankruptcy and hypocrisy of "No Child Left Behind." But neither is an in-your-face "THIS IS WRONG" polemic; everything is just...there for you to take what you will from it.

Ryan Gosling and Shareeka Epps deserve Oscars for their work. Period. I'm hoping the Academy will honor this film all over the place, but I know that's also something that's probably not going to happen. It's not a "studio" film, nor is it handled by one of the so-called "Indies" that aren't really Indies, anymore. But one can still hope...and that at the end is the real message of "Half Nelson." Even when your life lies in ruins around you, you can still hope. And that is what makes this movie blessed perfection.