Casino Royale : Why The New Bond Is Better
5 weeks at the TOP of the US Boxoffice and as many at the Dubai cinemas and it's still going strong!
To be frank, I never truly got into the James Bond movies of yesterday. To me, they were silly, predictable, and in many ways, laughable. Sure, it's interesting to see a young, dashing Sean Connery, a kindly old uncle type. But the only other Bond I know is a Pierce Brosnan, who is a little prissy and who made for flimsy 007.
My feelings towards Bond changed when I saw the new movie, Casino Royale. The film tells the story of James Bond's origins and how he came to be involved in this continuous string of spy adventures. Daniel Craig's Bond is interesting in that he's less suave, less debonair, and more coarse than most of the other Bonds before him. He bumbles missions, makes mistakes, loses his footing, and lets his pride get in the way. He is smart and funny, but not all the time.
Particularly interesting is the interplay between Bond and his "handler" M, played but he ever- fantastic Judi Densch, which basically dismisses Bond's letter of resignation. I enjoyed relating to this Bond and feeling like it's a triumph for the "everyman'' when he does succeed. He is just like us, he falls in love and does dumb things and every once in a while throws out a zinger.
To be frank, I never truly got into the James Bond movies of yesterday. To me, they were silly, predictable, and in many ways, laughable. Sure, it's interesting to see a young, dashing Sean Connery, a kindly old uncle type. But the only other Bond I know is a Pierce Brosnan, who is a little prissy and who made for flimsy 007.
My feelings towards Bond changed when I saw the new movie, Casino Royale. The film tells the story of James Bond's origins and how he came to be involved in this continuous string of spy adventures. Daniel Craig's Bond is interesting in that he's less suave, less debonair, and more coarse than most of the other Bonds before him. He bumbles missions, makes mistakes, loses his footing, and lets his pride get in the way. He is smart and funny, but not all the time.
Particularly interesting is the interplay between Bond and his "handler" M, played but he ever- fantastic Judi Densch, which basically dismisses Bond's letter of resignation. I enjoyed relating to this Bond and feeling like it's a triumph for the "everyman'' when he does succeed. He is just like us, he falls in love and does dumb things and every once in a while throws out a zinger.
According to Entertainment Weekly (Link), the author of the Bond books, Ian Fleming, "never meant for Bond to be a hero. Said the author: "I intended him to be a sort of blunt instrument wielded by a government department". In this movie, you definitely get a sense of that.
The movie it self has a few flaws: It's rather on the longish side and a little more complicated than seems necessary. But the majority of the film is really interesting and enjoyable. It has a great balance of explosion-gunfire-beat-them-up scenes and quieter, calmer, or tension-filled scenes. The female characters are as usual either villains or victims. Having said that, however, the main Bond girl, Vesper Lynd ( Eva Green), is allowed a surprising degree of cleverness, wit sass, and sensitivity. She is neither utterly ruthless nor a nincompoop nor simple eye candy. In fact, as far as appearance go, she is in some ways an unlikely choice: pale and freckled, seemingly only a few years out of Britain's finest school for girls. I was consistently impressed with her ability to be sharp one moment and deeply vulnerable the next, and it's refreshing to see the writers/directors of a Bond movie allowing such trails in a GIRL!
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