Sunday, August 19, 2007

Casino Royale

There wasn't anything I wanted to see in the theaters this weekend that I had to see, so I rented Casino Royale, the latest James Bond movie released last year staring Daniel Craig as the latest Bond figure. The reason I didn't see it in the theaters was my predetermination that this was just another JB film with all the gadgets and nonsense that has turned me off to these films since the Timothy Dalton days. I was just tired of the same old thing. The few I did see was because John Cleese played Q.

My idea of a good James Bond movie was like From Russia With Love, my all time favorite Bond film because the plot was believable and the gadgets were believable. Goldfinger was good, but they went steadily downhill after that. But, I guess my taste in movies matured also.


The first thing that was noticed about the film was "where is the James Bond Theme music?" But, after all, it was a new Bond and this was really supposed to be the initial episode in James' career, but still I was pleasantly surprised at Casino Royale. It tried to stay true to the Ian Flemming story and got back to the basics of a good spy story without the need for all the extra gadgets. There was more action in this film without the gadgets than most films had with them. I especially liked the chase scene in the beginning of the movie that was all done on foot and totally believable except that no one could have that much energy!! But, it was great! Daniel Criag makes a good Bond, a little stiff for a Bond, but, after all, this was an immature Bond: Bond, The Early days!

I also liked the fun the writers had with the little "flash-aheads" and jokes pertaining to future Bond events, like the Aston Martin DB5 and an obvious joke to Moneypenny. The overall story was well written and the plot kept you guessing, even when you knew the outcome, you still had to figure out who, how and why. I don't want to give away any of the plot. Enjoyit yourself. This one is worth seeing a second time. I give it a 8 out of 10.

2 comments:

Donna M said...

Yes - I agree - 'twas a good flick!

Unknown said...

yo, uncle wes, 's laura- bwahaha, i found your site! so far, agree with most of your comments a d am now quite displeased with my roommates choice to rent Children of Men to watch over the weekend - mayhaps I'll skip it now... :-)

although i must say that i found spidey three preachy moralistic - not that a movie can't have a moral (spidey 2 did it extremely well) but i felt like i was being intructed by the writers. ah well. and although i agree with the basics of your pirates 3 review (much better than the 2nd, worse than the first) i do think that kiera knightley and poor orlando bloom performed much more admirably then they had before. :-D

can't wait to see what else you post up! hey, ever seen the Incredible English Patient? i heard it was so perfect, so wonderful, so amazing, and it won 9 oscars... watched it last night and was bored to tears... is it just my modern sensibilities and it's really wonderful, or is it overrated? (i can't be TOO modern... butch cassidy is still one of my favorites..)

well, this turned into a letter, but ah well. see ya around - laura