I have never been a great James Bond fan. I loved the films when I was a child though and watched them on TV in the 1970s. My favourites were Diamonds Are Forever (1971) and Goldfinger (1964), both starring Sean Connery. I enjoyed Roger Moore in the role too.
The only time I saw a Bond film in the cinema was in 1983 with Octopussy, which I was interested in, because Suzanne Dando and other British gymnasts were in it. I lost interest after Moore quit. I was unimpressed by the suave, smug Bonds of Dalton and Brosnan.
But then in 2006, Daniel Craig became the new James Bond and my interest was reawakened. Not – as some may think – because of his looks (I don’t find him particularly attractive myself.), but because he seemed to be a different kind of Bond than his predecessors.
For the first time in over twenty years, I wanted to see a James Bond film in the cinema – but somehow we never got round to it. Finally, my teenage son bought the DVD and we watched it last night.
So what did I think to it? Was it worth the wait?
FILM REVIEW
The plot of Casino Royale is a bit weak really. James Bond is fighting terrorism – the scourge of the 2000s! He has to win a poker game worth millions, to stop the bad guy Le Chiffre from winning the cash and using it to fund international terrorism. The poker game is to be held at the Casino Royale in Montenegro.
That’s
about all you need to know really. I spent quite a bit of the film not particularly following the sub-plots, but enjoying it all nonetheless. It is all very fast-moving and there are long action sequences with virtually no dialogue.
You expect certain things from a Bond film – amazing stunts, cartoon-like baddies, sexy women, glamorous locations, explosions, car chases, high-tech gadgetry and more guns that your average American household keeps in their bedrooms! Casino Royale delivers all of this. The car’s there too and the drink, of course, plus the classic way of saying his name. The purists must have been very happy.
I was impressed by the script. There were lots of very clever lines, some of which made me laugh out loud. The quick-fire wit and humour contrasted well with the long action sequences.
The cast was very good throughout. Personally, I had only heard of two of them – Daniel Craig and Dame Judi Dench – but the others impressed me. I thought the Danish actor Mads Mikkelsen was a very good villain as Le Chiffre, with that quiet menace and presence. Eva Green was excellent as the love interest, Vesper Lynd too and it was good to see a Bond girl with brains who wasn’t always wearing a bikini!
The stand-outs for me in the supporting cast were Giancarlo Giannini as Mathis and Jeffrey Wright as Felix Leiter. Even though they had smaller roles, I felt they were memorable and held my interest.
Dame Judi was perfect as M and the way she holds herself and moves shows her dignity and high ranking. Therefore, Craig’s Bond comes across as almost insolent, as he breaks into her house and refuses to give her the respect she deserves. The relationship between the two will be interesting to follow in future films.
The film moves from location to location, featuring such diverse settings as the Bahamas, Italy, Czech Republic, the UK and the former Yugoslavian republic of Montenegro. There are certainly plenty of stunning views and interesting cities. The cast must have enjoyed a very long tour of exotic locations while filming this.
As well as being a visually beautiful film for location work, the effects are brilliant. While James Bond will forever be associated with teenage boys and young men, I also got into it and found it just as exciting. There were some real edge-of-the-seat moments and the action sequences were often long, but never boring.
I found it did help watching the film with a teenage boy though. He could answer dumb Mum questions like “How fast does that car go?” and provided a running commentary on the varieties of weapons used, the abilities of mobile phones and various snippets of information. (He’s available for hire. He even cooks!)
Overall, I really enjoyed the film. It was exciting, funny, and tense and held my interest. But it wasn’t perfect. I felt the love angle was overdone and seemed unrealistic. We all got rather bored during some of the longer clinches, but we used the time productively to make cups of tea and eat homemade Marmite whirls.
It also annoyed me that Daniel Craig had to get his chest out at every available opportunity. While I’m sure his fans were thrilled, it did nothing for me and just seemed rather gratuitous. I was soon groaning “Oh no, not the chest again!”
Having said that, I was impressed at how family friendly the film was. Rated a 12 in the UK, I was happy letting my eleven year old daughter watch it. There wasn’t any swearing, the sex scenes were very tastefully edited and much of the violence had that unrealistic cartoony feel to it.
Another negative point though was that the movie was slightly long at 138 minutes. I don’t mind long films, but they have to merit the extra time. There was a part in Casino Royale where it felt like the loose ends had been tied up and it was finishing – but no, there was still half an hour to go. This felt as though the film had been concluded, only for someone to go “Whoops! Boss says we need another half an hour of footage!”
Mind you, this final section does include my favourite effect of the whole film, when an entire house collapses into the water of Venice. Beautifully shot, enough for me to audibly gasp at times.
So, I would recommend it. It is not a perfect film, but I really enjoyed watching it and so did my kids. Daniel Craig is a great James Bond and I will make a point of seeing the next one he is in.
INFORMATION
My son bought the Collector’s Edition DVD for £13.48 from Amazon. Sadly, there isn’t a commentary, but the special features are –
o Becoming Bond featurette o James Bond For Real featurette o Bond Girls Are Forever featurette o Chris Cornell music video
How helpful would this review be to a person making a buying decision? Rating guidelines
Comedy - Director: Richard Boden, Mandie Fletcher, Martin Shardlow - Original Language: English - Classification: 15 years and over - Starring: Hugh Laurie, Miranda Richardson, Stephen Fry, Brian Blessed, Tim McInnerny, Tony Robinson, Rowan Atkinson
Comedy - Original Language: English - Classification: 12 years and over - Starring: Tessa Peake-Jones, Buster Merryfield, David Jason, Nicholas Lyndhurst
John Huston was only one of five directors onCasino Royale, the expensive, all-star 1967 ... more
spoof of Ian Fleming's 007 lore. David Niven is the aging Sir James Bond, called out of retirement to take on the organised threat of SMERSH and pass on the secret...
Postage & Packaging: £1.21 Availability: Usually dispatched within 1-2 business days...
![Casino Royale (2 Disc Collector's Edition) [2006] [DVD]](http://picnica.ciao.com/uk/78123892.jpg "Casino Royale (2 Disc Collector's Edition) [2006] [DVD]")
![Casino Royale [DVD] [1967]](http://picnica.ciao.com/uk/78531290.jpg "Casino Royale [DVD] [1967]")
exceptional by (2%):
very helpful by (96%):
helpful by (2%):
