Pros:
No New-Moneypenny (from the Brosnan films - looks like a cut-rate, younger Judy Dench)
Grittier, not prettier

Cons:
Judy Dench's M
Blond?
Made me feel like I need to spend more time at the gym

I enjoyed this movie, never have expected a James Bond cinematograph to harmonize very well with the Ian Fleming texts. As to this Bond being a blunt instrument, I think I recall that term, also spoken by the character, M, in Die Another Day, as she briefs that double-agent female character who looks as if she's made of marshmallow fluff and cinnamon - I don't remember her name. The point is that Dench's M is consistently wrong about Bond, and that it makes no difference which actor plays which characterization of Bond.

The other thing I was thinking in regard to this film is that it faithfully presents one of the big truths about life on earth -
The world system, to the extent that human beings manage and arrange it, is managed and arranged by and for those of average to high average intelligence and interests, and, when those who fall within the average range of measured intelligence, ethos, and mores encounter someone who doesn't fit the categories with which they are familiar, and that they have contrived in such a way that their own sensibilities are flattered, instead of making a new category, tend to mislabel the one who comes from somewhere off their chart, and to misapply his or her aptitudes to suit the ends of the dominant mediocrity.

So, to sum up, this version of 007 is a lot like the famed Codemonkey from the soulful ballad of the same name.