Post by wdm0744 on Feb 6, 2008 15:28:29 GMT -5
I like to prepare for a movie, especially if it’s a sequel. I’ll read all the rumors and production details, I’ll take a look at the credits and cross reference using imdb.com to find out what other movies the cast and crew have worked on, and I’ll watch all the previous entries in the series in order to get the characters and the feel of the franchise fresh in my mind. Obviously, this endeavor takes on a whole new level of commitment when you’re talking about the 21st entry in a series that has spanned 40 years. But, I was determined to meet the challenge for Casino Royale and I was going to drag my wife along for the ride.
See, when I was growing up, TBS used to show “The Fifteen Days of Bond” sometime in November/December: two Bond movies a night on the week days and Bond all day and night on the weekends. Watching them, or at least having them on while I studied for finals, became a Christmas tradition. My friends and I would discuss the movies the next day at school – how hot were the Bond girls, how cool was the car chase, how cheesy was the villain, how old was Roger Moore? These two weeks a year filled with glossy sex and violence and the promise of Christmas vacation and presents just around the corner, contain some of my fondest memories. (How sad is that?)
Since I grew up and had to start paying the bills, I don’t have cable anymore. (Yeah, I have 100 channels, but why is nothing on?) I missed those marathons, so I decided to start having my own annual Bondfest. Over a year before the release of Casino Royale, I began to search ebay and Amazon for the Bond DVDs (the original collection was out of print, and the new collection that released with the 21st movie had yet to be announced). By October 2006, I had collected all 20 (official – don’t give me that Never Say Never crap) previous entries in the series. Thus began my own “Twenty Days of Bond”. Every night for 20 nights leading up to the November 16 release of Royale, James Bond occupied the evening. I told my wife she could pick the order, but there was no escaping my trip down memory lane. Ride as a passenger or be strapped to the hood like a deer. Don’t fight it.
Now, I tell you all this so you will not mistake my enthusiasm for hyperbole when I tell you that I truly believe that Casino Royale is the best Bond film ever made. Some fans will insist that there is no Bond but Connery and that the series has been going downhill since Goldfinger, but, let’s be honest – as great as Goldfinger is, the pacing of movie made in 1963 just doesn’t feel right today, and watching Sean spank grown women on film smacks of dirty. Bond movies have fluctuated wildly in tone from the Cold War thriller From Russia with Love, to the revenge tale, Licence to Kill, all the way to the silly comic book Moonraker, but Royale hits every note just right. This is Bond the way he was meant to be: an icy-hearted bastard who uses humor, high fashion, fine food, and luxurious amenities to shield himself from the cruel barbarity buried beneath the surface – a barbarity that he is too afraid to fully embrace or acknowledge. This is Bond as Alec Trevylan (Sean Bean in Goldenye) described him, asking, “Do the vodka martinis silence the screams of all the men you’ve killed and do you find forgiveness in the arms of all those willing women for all the dead ones you failed to protect?”
The idea of going back to character’s genesis, a sort of “Bond Begins” had been floating around EON (the family run production company who has made all of the 21 official Bond films) for a while, but Cubby Broccolli, the founder and patriarch, felt that audiences didn’t want to see Bond as a fallible amateur. Cubby’s step-son and daughter felt differently, and now, several years after his death, they have finally given the cinema the story of Bond’s first mission as a double-o. I hope it is not sacrilege to say that Cubby was wrong.
Daniel Craig is perfectly cast for this darker Bond (a Bond, who, incidentally, is much more appropriate for the post 9/11 cinema) and his athletic physique gives more credibility to the character. Eva Green as Vesper Lynd is simply stunning – both with her beauty and with her wit and grace. The scenes between her and Craig crackle with romance and a simple, subtle sexiness that is like nothing else in the series. Plus, I think my wife looks a lot like her – but, then again, I think my wife looks a lot like Kate from LOST and like both Kaylee and Inara from Firefly/Serenity, so yeah … basically any attractive brunette.
The action is fast paced and incredibly exciting (especially the opening scene in Madagascar ), the violence is appropriately brutal, the music is fresh and enhances the film in just the right way, the dialogue is smart, and the drama and emotion – both often lacking in other Bond films – is haunting. This is not just a good Bond film, but it is also one of the best films of the past decade. I loved everything about it – except for one small thing. Why do the script writers think that I have never picked up even the slightest knowledge of poker terms and rules? Why do they insist on having Giancarlo Giannini’s character give the most asinine play-by-play of the poker game to Vesper, and to us, the audience? I mean, I’m no river boat card shark, but I have enough common sense to follow the fortunes and failures of a card game even if I don’t know all the terminology. It was pure exposition, and it took me out of the movie. Little gripe, I know, but I have to say something negative or you will think me just a raving fanboy.
Bottom line: If you have been turned off by some aspect of the Bond films in the past, put that aside and give this one a chance. If you are one of those really annoying Bond fans who refuses to accept anyone but Connery or is still hung up on Craig’s unconventional looks, step down off your soap box and embrace the greatest Bond movie, and, dare I say, the greatest Bond ever.
See, when I was growing up, TBS used to show “The Fifteen Days of Bond” sometime in November/December: two Bond movies a night on the week days and Bond all day and night on the weekends. Watching them, or at least having them on while I studied for finals, became a Christmas tradition. My friends and I would discuss the movies the next day at school – how hot were the Bond girls, how cool was the car chase, how cheesy was the villain, how old was Roger Moore? These two weeks a year filled with glossy sex and violence and the promise of Christmas vacation and presents just around the corner, contain some of my fondest memories. (How sad is that?)
Since I grew up and had to start paying the bills, I don’t have cable anymore. (Yeah, I have 100 channels, but why is nothing on?) I missed those marathons, so I decided to start having my own annual Bondfest. Over a year before the release of Casino Royale, I began to search ebay and Amazon for the Bond DVDs (the original collection was out of print, and the new collection that released with the 21st movie had yet to be announced). By October 2006, I had collected all 20 (official – don’t give me that Never Say Never crap) previous entries in the series. Thus began my own “Twenty Days of Bond”. Every night for 20 nights leading up to the November 16 release of Royale, James Bond occupied the evening. I told my wife she could pick the order, but there was no escaping my trip down memory lane. Ride as a passenger or be strapped to the hood like a deer. Don’t fight it.
Now, I tell you all this so you will not mistake my enthusiasm for hyperbole when I tell you that I truly believe that Casino Royale is the best Bond film ever made. Some fans will insist that there is no Bond but Connery and that the series has been going downhill since Goldfinger, but, let’s be honest – as great as Goldfinger is, the pacing of movie made in 1963 just doesn’t feel right today, and watching Sean spank grown women on film smacks of dirty. Bond movies have fluctuated wildly in tone from the Cold War thriller From Russia with Love, to the revenge tale, Licence to Kill, all the way to the silly comic book Moonraker, but Royale hits every note just right. This is Bond the way he was meant to be: an icy-hearted bastard who uses humor, high fashion, fine food, and luxurious amenities to shield himself from the cruel barbarity buried beneath the surface – a barbarity that he is too afraid to fully embrace or acknowledge. This is Bond as Alec Trevylan (Sean Bean in Goldenye) described him, asking, “Do the vodka martinis silence the screams of all the men you’ve killed and do you find forgiveness in the arms of all those willing women for all the dead ones you failed to protect?”
The idea of going back to character’s genesis, a sort of “Bond Begins” had been floating around EON (the family run production company who has made all of the 21 official Bond films) for a while, but Cubby Broccolli, the founder and patriarch, felt that audiences didn’t want to see Bond as a fallible amateur. Cubby’s step-son and daughter felt differently, and now, several years after his death, they have finally given the cinema the story of Bond’s first mission as a double-o. I hope it is not sacrilege to say that Cubby was wrong.
Daniel Craig is perfectly cast for this darker Bond (a Bond, who, incidentally, is much more appropriate for the post 9/11 cinema) and his athletic physique gives more credibility to the character. Eva Green as Vesper Lynd is simply stunning – both with her beauty and with her wit and grace. The scenes between her and Craig crackle with romance and a simple, subtle sexiness that is like nothing else in the series. Plus, I think my wife looks a lot like her – but, then again, I think my wife looks a lot like Kate from LOST and like both Kaylee and Inara from Firefly/Serenity, so yeah … basically any attractive brunette.
The action is fast paced and incredibly exciting (especially the opening scene in Madagascar ), the violence is appropriately brutal, the music is fresh and enhances the film in just the right way, the dialogue is smart, and the drama and emotion – both often lacking in other Bond films – is haunting. This is not just a good Bond film, but it is also one of the best films of the past decade. I loved everything about it – except for one small thing. Why do the script writers think that I have never picked up even the slightest knowledge of poker terms and rules? Why do they insist on having Giancarlo Giannini’s character give the most asinine play-by-play of the poker game to Vesper, and to us, the audience? I mean, I’m no river boat card shark, but I have enough common sense to follow the fortunes and failures of a card game even if I don’t know all the terminology. It was pure exposition, and it took me out of the movie. Little gripe, I know, but I have to say something negative or you will think me just a raving fanboy.
Bottom line: If you have been turned off by some aspect of the Bond films in the past, put that aside and give this one a chance. If you are one of those really annoying Bond fans who refuses to accept anyone but Connery or is still hung up on Craig’s unconventional looks, step down off your soap box and embrace the greatest Bond movie, and, dare I say, the greatest Bond ever.
