It was by far the best Bond movie ever. It was most true to the character of the novels. While I like the stylishness of Sean Connery's Bond, the Bond of the movies was awfully cartoonish. The Bond of the Casino Royale remake is an ass-kicker.
Other things I liked about it:
- more realistic pacing
- much more realistic action (in the older movies, Bond is constantly relying on unrealistic cliffhanger-type saves but doesn't actually fight very well)
- less hammy acting (no de rigeur death quips etc.)
- Daniel Craig (plenty of charisma, and much more physically believable than any other Bond, especially Roger Moore)
- good storytelling, without heavy reliance on hokey gadgetry
- the bad guy doesn't intentionally leave Bond in a situation he can easily escape from
- top-notch supporting actors across the board
I could go on.