Casino Royale

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It’s official. I’m happy to report that Casino Royale is the most exhilarating action blockbuster of 2006. It also sees the resurrection of a Bond franchise that was increasingly becoming a silly exercise bloated with stupid world domination plans, product placements, crap CGI effects and Halle Berry – as you may have guessed, I was not a fan of Die Another Day.

What I was a fan of (and I was in a minority for years) was Timothy Dalton’s Bond films, in which Bond was less a debonair playboy and more a sleek killing machine, functioning in a world in which blood flowed freely and technological gadgetry was kept to a realistic minimum.

Casino Royale fits more into this tradition of Bond films. The film’s villains have no megalomaniac desire to take over the world; rather they are motivated by a desire for money, and as one scene proves, are just as vulnerable to threats as Bond.


Speaking of Bond, Daniel Craig’s 007 is a master combatant (in one scene he kills a man with a rear naked choke), but he’s still human, and shows the extensive damage he takes. This is unlike Brosnan’s Bond, who crashed onto the Millennium Dome in The World Is Not Enough and just dislocated his shoulder.

Craig is a fantastic Bond, with just the right mix of arrogant disinterest and underlying concern (for himself and others), and he interacts wonderfully with the film’s three very different leading ladies, Vesper Lynd (Eva Green), Solange (Caterina Murino) and M (Judi Dench). These relationships are the most ‘real’ they’ve ever been, with a wonderful zing to the dialogue between Vesper and James, especially, and M demonstrating a greater concern and affection than usual for 007.




I can’t fault the beautifully stylised, casino-themed opening credit sequence which is a refreshing change after decades of gyrating female silhouettes. And the Chris Cornell song continues to grow on me.

As for the other Bond franchise essential, glorious action and stunt work, Casino Royale is crammed full of engaging sequences. I was especially fond of the first chase sequence in Madagascar, where one character’s wall-climbing acrobatics would put Spider-Man to shame.

Casino Royale isn’t perfect. At 2 hours 24 mins, it runs a tad long, with an extended, tacked-on epilogue section after all the main events have been resolved. But regardless, Casino Royale is one of today’s rare must-see movies. I’m just curious now about what direction the franchise will be taken in the future – whether film makers can resist the urge to return to the gadgetry and world domination schemes, and keep things refreshingly stripped-down.

Comments

Unknown said…
The bastards cut the ocean scene short! Nooooo!

Give me Daniel Craig nekkid any day. Droool.

The movie was cool too. Beeeyootiful car. (well, it was..)
8:58 AM
Anonymous said…
i thought craig would be okay.. i wasn't wrong :)..
5:30 AM
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