Post by JamesMFan on Nov 18, 2006 15:38:29 GMT -5
Now, just to start of with - I don't generally like James Bond. I had a phase of watching it when it was on every week on ITV1 but the more I watched the more I found to dislike.
The basic concept is a good one. Secret Agent. English Secret Agent (the English part adds on 10 cool points
). But it tended to get a bit farcical at points. And his one-liners got camper and camper. And then there were the Bond girls. Now I'm a hardcore fem...inist. So, I wasn't down wit that brutha. He was a chauvinist b*arstard.HOWEVER.
I decided to give Casino Royale a chance.
And ya know what?
It was good.
I might even say it was great. A bit long, but still.
The reason it was good? They stripped it down. Figuratively and literally (wahey).
It starts off with Bond earning his 00 status. And it goes from there. We get to see his first real case as 007 and we get to see how he started off trusting too many people and getting burnt because of that. We see how he got his Aston. We see how he first came up with his weird taste in Martini. And we find out how he first got started with suave tailored tuxedos
But I won't ruin all that for you.
A few things about this film in general -
- the fight scenes are realistic. Well, as realistic as fight scenes can get. By that I mean Bond get's hurt. He bleeds. He runs out of bullets. He chases after bad guys and falls off roofs through clumsiness. He gets seriously hurt. Which is always wonderful.
- his kills are messy. It's no longer standard killing with a silencer-gun (although there is some of that). It's hands on. It's a bit brutal to be honest. And we see it take it's toll on him.
- the main "Bond girl" (the only one really) is actually kind of great. She has a lot of the best lines, she's shown all glamourously and such as usual but we also see her without makeup
And she brings out the best in Daniel Craig. They make magnificent sparring partners but there's also a couple of scenes where there is some rather deep emotion shown. One in particular is quite un-Bond. I liked it. - the villains of the film aren't very arch. This is a good thing.
- The torture scene. HA. I shouldn't really laugh when mentioning torture should I? It's very simple and far more believable. And there's a couple of jump-out-of-your-seat moments throughout the film.
- A lot of scepticism surrounded Daniel Craig. He's damn good. He can do cold, angry, and all the fight scenes very well. But perhaps more surprising is the charm. There aren't many moments in this film where Bond uses the charm - since this is an altogether more serious film - but when he does, he really does. And he can do comedy! SHOCK!
This Bond isn't classically handsome but that doesn't matter. I found myself thinking he was more of a "man's man!" than a pretty-boy that girly's like. But I wouldn't say no
Also M get's a few good lines and her irritation at Bond ignoring her orders is funny.
The Chris Cornell theme tune is a bit of departure from the traditional but he's so damn lovely I like it!
Oh the whole poker thing? I didn't get it. But who cares, eh?
