Casino Royale
If you had asked me about Daniel Craig in the pre-James Bond era I would have said something about a nasty little chap in Road to Perdition.
At the risk of offending his fans, I agreed with those who said that Craig was too rough to be Bond. However, since at this point in his career (Bond not Craig), just becomes a 00 and Ian Fleming had described him as gritty and lacking in polish, I must say Craig is brilliant.
Craig does not have Sean Connery's famous swagger, Roger Moore's old-world British demeanor (never mind good ol' Timothy Dalton), or the spiffy side of Pierce Brosnan. What he has is intensity and in copious amounts.
If you like your James Bond smooth and stylish then you are likely to find faults in Casino Royale but if you want the man as he was intended to be (at least by Ian Fleming) then Bond's received the best shot of realism yet.
As for Eva Green, sigh, a beautiful woman and a good actor but ... those eyes of hers are totally wasted here. The only time I wanted to look at her is when Bond is tying the bow knot and she laughs at him.
M (Judi Dench) was still there doing her best, as always, but there was no Q and no fancy gadgets, no gimmicks, no out of control megalomaniacs wanting to change the world. The story is just another action staple but it works.
The trademark Bond-seen-walking-through-the-gun-barrel is missing at the start along with the trademark Bond-score but these only highlight the fact that - at least I hope - marks a different and better route for the James Bond franchise.
With the 21st movie in the series James Bond has been rebooted, so to speak, let's hope we do not end up with a Hollywood version of the Blue Screen of Death.
0 comments:
Post a Comment