From the Ace of Spades Casino Royale review...

this sums up my feelings perfectly:

It all starts crackling good, then goes off the rails in an ending so anti-climactic and interminable you'll wish you were back watching nine hours of goodbyes in The Return of the King.

For about two thirds of its running length, this is one of the best Bond movies ever. Then a curious combination of over-fidelity to the book, coupled with a contradictory impulse to change the ending of the book, leads to a meandering denoument that largely makes you forget how good everything was before the ill-advised Act Four. (There's a reason movies have three, not four, acts, and Casino Royale will be cited in future sceenwriting classes as an example of what happens when you add that superfluous fourth act.)

It's only remembering the movie later you again realize, "Hey, the first two thirds were terrific!"

chatted with RTO about it.... read the Dallas Morning News review. They gave it a B+, which i would agree with. RTO was kinda surprised by that, but then i was thinking.... really it wasn't that bad, i was just so annoyed by the end of it. the last half hour or so could have used less talking and more explosions, IMHO. seriously, it took some willpower to keep myself from screaming, "SHUT UP AND DO SOMETHING!!!! #$(%$*%^$ BLOW SOMETHING UP!!!!" also Ace mentions that they don't use the "James Bond theme music" until the end, it's something I noticed, but had forgotten about. so i have high hopes for the next one. really. i do.