Not been on here for a long while - got some catching up to do...!
Not been on here for a long while - got some catching up to do...!
Member since:01.09.2004
Reviews:201
Members who trust:52
Bond is back, and he's starting all over again. In the recent dearth of new ideas from movie makers, even Bond is having a 'James Bond Revisited' moment with the latest Bond movie, Casino Royale, taking us back to the start of Ian Fleming's epic and notorious special agent's career.
This time, however, it's done with twenty-first century gusto and special effects and we're introduced to a Bond who's a little grittier, a little darker, and a little more mysterious than anything Sean Connery, Roger Moore, Timothy Dalton, Pierce Brosnan or, indeed, the original Casino Royale James Bond, Peter Sellers, ever gave us.
The opening sequences give us a glimpse into the fortitude that Daniel Craig, the new Bond, brings to the character as he quickly dispatches two bad guys in succession and achieves his double-O status. From here, Bond is sent off on his first
mission and into the dark world of Le Chiffre, a banker for terrorist clients who has gambled their money - and lost it.
Threatened with death, Le Chiffre manages to buy himself enough time to return the terrorists money and sets up a high-stakes Poker game to win back the money he needs to save his life.
What he didn't bank on, however, was James Bond. Partnered with the beautiful Eva Green, who plays Vesper Lynd, a government financier who is in charge of the ten million dollars Bond needs to enter the game, the Special Agent sets about making life difficult for Le Chiffre, as only Bond can.
This time, though, Daniel Craig's Bond is a little more blunt, a little more aggressive, and he has intensity in his eyes that you would expect a Special Agent to have. He is as suave and sophisticated as a Connery Bond and as slick as a Roger Moore depiction of the hero, but Craig brings a roughness to the character that has been missing throughout all Bond movies. Unlike previous Bonds, Craig's character gets hurt, is often seen sweating and out of breath, and the scars stick around into the next scene. There's none of the campness of earlier Bonds where, after a street-breaking explosion, the hero stands up, brushes dust off his suit and walks away without a mark on him looking as if he's just left the tailor's. All of that has gone out of the window and a chase scene early in the movie leaves you wondering whether Bond will actually catch the bad guy he's chasing or not while a car chase later in the film ends in a spectacular crash that really does nearly kill our hero…
This version of Casino Royale sticks loosely to the plot of the 1967 original, but while the first one shows Bond as a retired Special Agent dragged back in to service to topple Le Chiffre's Baccarat ring, this one shows Bond as a new recruit. The characters are loosely similar, sharing names and so on, but the background story and twist in the tale towards the end are different.
In all, I think this is probably one of the best Bond's ever, certainly the best in a long time. Craig has made Bond his own, has added a shade that we've never seen in the character that we've never seen before, and he's made us think that Bond isn't necessarily always unbeatable, that he might, in fact, be mortal.
On the silver screen it would have been a blast to watch but I saw this on the 2-Disc Collector's Edition DVD, which includes the Chris Cornell music video to the film, how the Bond movie was put together and how Daniel Craig became the man himself, and a feature on the Bond Girls.
It's a worthwhile film to watch even if you're not a Bond fan, simply because of the integrity that's put in to this new Bond, and if you are a fan of the Ian Fleming series then it's a must for your DVD shelf regardless.
Personally, I think Judi Dench makes a great 'M' and Daniel Craig a fantastic Bond and, although there are some cringe worthy clichés that hark back to the older films, it's refreshing to see that there were no sexual innuendos forced in the direction of somebody awkwardly called Moneypenny and Vesper Lynd was as evocative as the names got for Bond's leading lady.
I, for one, can't wait to see the next Daniel Craig instalment of Bond, but surely this can't be the end of Pussy Galore for James Bond?
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Production Year: 1964 - Action/Adventure - Director: Cyril Endfield - Original Language: English - Classification: Parental Guidance - Starring:Stanley Baker, Jack Hawkins, Ulla Jacobsson, James Booth, Michael Caine, Nigel Green
Production Year: 2002 - Action/Adventure - Director: Vincenzo Natali - Original Language: English - Classification: 15 years and over - Starring:Lucy Liu, David Hewlett, Anne Marie Scheffler, Joseph Scoren, Matthew Sharp, Jeremy Northam
Great Review! I take my hat off to you :D. Craig :♥D
Seresecros 22.04.2007 22:07
I stand by my belief the greatest Bond was Nicholas Parson. Whattaguy.
n13roy 20.04.2007 00:25
I quite enjoyed this one in the Cinema, especially after all the hype surrounding it. It was much better than I expected in fact, not sure how I would feel about watching it again on DVD though...........Roy......
Casino Royale introduces James Bond before he holds his license to kill. But Bond is no ... more
less dangerous, and with two professional assassinations in quick succession, he is elevated to 00 status. M (Judi Dench), head of the British Secret Service, sends...
![Casino Royale [2006]](http://picnica.ciao.com/uk/103256754.jpg "Casino Royale [2006]")
Apr 13th, 2007
very helpful by (100%):
