The Timewarp Bond.
Written: Nov 20 '06 (Updated Nov 21 '06)
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Product Rating:
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| Bang For The Buck |
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Pros: Daniel Craig was good, the action scene in Africa was amazing.
Cons: Too long, poor love story development, boring at times.
The Bottom Line: It is a worthy Bond entry that takes the lightweight franchise into darker, more real waters.
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| casualsuede's Full Review: Casino Royale |
Everyone seemed to love Piers Brosnan as the last "new" bond.
I personally didn't. His "Bond" I felt was the mixing of Sean Connery's dashing looks and Roger Moore's cheekiness, which in my opinion clashed. Brosnan gave more one-liners after disposing an enemy since Freddy Kruger in his Nightmare on Elm Street movies in the mid 1980's.
So when they announced Daniel Craig as a darker, more intense Bond, I was very much interested. Craig cut an interesting role in Munich, the only movie I've ever seen him in and if portrayed Bond in the same way, it would make for an interesting movie.
As for the title of my review, the movie is sorta in a Timewarp. I've been told that Casino Royale was the first Bond book and hence there are many things that are in the movie that seem out of place, since 25 or so James Bond movies were made before that.
One is the fact that James Bond is not a "00" spy at the beginning of the movie (yet the building in the movie where he earns his ranks is a very new building). Another is how he acquired his famous 1964 Aston Martin that Sean Connery et al. got to use in their various Bond movies. Yet another is the fact that this James Bond has no preference for "shaken" vs "stirred" vodka martini.
The timewarp comes from the fact that the movie doesn't attempt to make the setting of the movie in anything other than modern times. So how could have Bond gotten the Aston Martin in this movie, when it has made an appearance in various Bond movies for the past 45 years?
Anyway, I'll let the Bond-o-philes sort that out because it doesn't really impact my review...
Casino Royale is the first assignment for Bond, fresh off the training grounds. He is tracking a terrorist cell that leads him from Africa, to the Bahamas, Miami and finally to a shady figure named "Le Chiffre" (which by the way stands for "The Figure" en francais). Le Chiffre is a international banker to terrorists and having need of raising money he desperately needs, he creates a high stakes poker tournament at the Casino Royale in Montenegro. Bond, who is in the tournament, is accompanied by Vesper Lynd, a treasury accountant, who makes sure that Bond is undercontrol and holds the money bag. The British government doesn't want "Le Chiffre" dead, they want him brought in so they can offer him a deal and protect him, especially from the terrorists whose money he lost.
Casino Royale is a movie that does not have many of the Bond elements and announces others.
For example,
Craig's Bond only loves married women, mainly because they don't want a relationship.
Q and Moneypenny are missing from the movie.
Bond actually refuses a woman after seducing here (!?)
There is no wild introductory scene of destruction. The intro is very muted and dark.
There is no real car chases, and since Q is not around, there are no gadgets.
Only one bond girl?
I preferred some of these changes, mainly because I felt that recent Bond movies (especially with Brosnan) cheapened the series. I don't like the overuse of gadgets because they were too convenient getting Bond out of situations.
However, I felt that the movie was too long. There are some peaks and valley's in Bond movies, but the valleys are often short lived because the writers are smart enough to know that the audience aren't here dialogue and development of character.
This one tries to buck the trend with a romance and I feel it failed. Vesper's transformation from feeling loathing for this playboy to feelings of love happen in one transition scene and even the context of this change felt phony in many regards.
The card tournaments is not very appealing and would only be so for those people who love watching WPT (World Poker Tournament) on TV.
I was really smitten by Eva Green, who plays the love interest and if women really did exist like that at the treasury, I wish I paid more attention in Accounting class.
But the problem is that she is not given that much to do, other than look pretty and play the damsel in distress.
Overall, I would say that this bond is probably worth more of a video rental than a full theatre experience. It is a promising start for Daniel Craig, who has an "golden era" cinematic face and plays Bond in more of a real world sense. I just hope they don't eventually turn Bond into a cliche driven pretty boy they did with Piers Brosnan.....Rating: C+
Recommended:
Yes
Movie Mood: Action Movie
Viewing Method: Other
Film Completeness: Looked complete to me.
Worst Part of this Film: Duration
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Epinions.com ID:
casualsuede
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Location: toronto
Reviews written: 159
Trusted by: 8 members
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