Just think how much money I could have saved if Tomorrow Never Dies had been the first Bond film. The series would have been one film long and I wouldn't have spent over 25 years consuming and collecting 007.

But that is not so singular an indictment as it seems. The same could probably be said for any of the last 10 Bond films, replete with their sameness and lack of imagination.

I have nothing to criticize about TND, because the whole thing was so forgettable. Certainly I could scold the producers for including a scene where 007 indulges in silly word play with a moronic assassin straight out of Feldman's Casino Royale. And I could complain about the nonsensical plot of a media mogul amassing evil forces to accomplish . . what was he trying to accomplish? And I could ask when the villain's henchman in these films will cease to be a boy with a fashion haircut. But I've been asking that for years.

As for Pierce Brosnan, he can't be blamed much for the blandness of his Bond films. The franchise and its course is much bigger than he is. And each year only a few films are released that have good stories and screenplay. Why aren't they Bond films any more?

The error that is repeated in this Bond movie and so many others, is that of trying to progress 007 with the times. That invariably involves changing the character's style. 007 is all about a certain style. When you change that, you abandon the character and all that made it great.

Don't you recall the first Bond film you ever saw? If you're over 15, it would have been a Connery film or early Moore effort and the magic was intact. You'd come away feeling you'd been to a world that was not at all like yours. There was actual mystery in it. The style of each character was understated and fresh. And after those two hours you came away yearning to go there. After seeing TND, I yearned for the next 007 film -- hoping with the next they'll break out of this rut.

All of Dalton's and Brosnan's films were merely derivative. Half of Moore's efforts were as well. They take the Bond "formula" and treat it too much as one, following it entirely by rote. It comes across to me as a cynical way to make a film. And worse, forgettable.

Is it time to shutter the 007 film franchise? Probably. There will be nothing new under the sun. Neither Sony nor MGM nor any other party will make a Bond film without first looking at what is working that season in competing films, and wrapping James Bond around it. Plug-in filmmaking. That is not what made these films great. They led, not followed.

It is said that Frank Sinatra's late years should never have been played out on stage, but that we, the audience, wouldn't let him leave. Perhaps were are doing the same injustice to James Bond.

- B.C.