Posted on 11/04/2012 6:46:36 AM PST by Perdogg
Like most origin stories, “Casino Royale” makes for great storytelling. Unlike most origin stories, however, it is executed with near perfection.
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There has been no “Bond” since Sean Connery.................
Reading Ian Fleming’s books in the early ‘60’s, Sean Connery turned out to be the exact “eye’s image” of Bond from the books....
Daniel Craig is an awesome Bond.
I think this movie was okay, of course the Flemingesque elements were there. I had problems with this movie:
1. Endless chase scenes. The first one was okay but the one at MIA was silly and the last one in Venice was downright stupid.
2. Le Chiffre did not translate well to the modern adaptation. He appeared to be weaker and effete than he should have been.
3. Craig sort of grunted his lines.
4. The fact that this movie came after “Die Another Day” made it seem better than it really was.
For those that collect the Blu-ray movies a heads up at Walmart, they sell a budget version of Casino Royale that ONLY has Thai subtitles. The voices have English and French but no subtitles in English.
I agree about the chase scenes. I don’t know if it is just me, but I had trouble hearing some of the lines, as if the audio was not done well at times.
With Casino and QS, you can’t miss a minute or two because you will stand the chance of being lost with the rest of the film. They both require your complete attention.
re: “Daniel Craig is an awesome Bond.”
Hear! Hear! Totally agree. I also like the fact that every single woman in the scene does not fawn over Craig, like they did with Connery.
I loved Sean as Bond, but I think I like Craig a bit more. I also like that the films aren’t quite so “gatchety”. The plots are much better as well.
As to the chase scenes, I mean, come on, it’s an action film . It’s supposed to have chase scenes - it’s not exactly reality - right? That’s why seeing the film is an “escape” for a couple of hours.
Bond doesn’t play Texas hold’em poker.
My favorite James Bond movie is the 1954 version of “Casino Royale,” a TV movie in which Barry Nelson plays James Bond, an agent of the CIA (”Combined Intelligence Agency”). My least favorite James Bond movie is the 1967 version of “Casino Royale,” which I considered at the time to have been the worst movie I had ever seen.
That was a conscious choice by the director because Baccarat is a deathly dull game on film.
It was played in Dr No and On Her majesty’s Secret Service.
I agree 100% my favorite Bond movie.
Like some of the latter ones, I’ve only watched it once or twice. Perhaps as a stand-alone film without 50 years of a franchise, it might be OK, but too much of the old-time class and style just isn’t there.
I’ve commented before that the male villains since the ‘90s have been consistently weak and largely forgettable. I don’t know whether it is the actors, the writing, or perhaps both. I think the last remotely effective and memorable villain was probably Robert Davi’s Franz Sanchez in “Licence to Kill.”
It’s the one thing I always appreciated from the Connery-to-Dalton era: nearly all had effective male villains, with perhaps the low point being Curd Jürgens in “The Spy Who Loved Me.” Not that he was a bad actor, I just thought the character wasn’t strong enough. The worst thing you can have in an action/adventure film is a villain who is just outright boring, and this has been a consistent problem in the Brosnan-Craig era.
Even worse is when you have good actors, such as Jonathan Pryce, but the characters they play are more of a political statement than an attempt at entertainment (with Pryce “satirizing” Rupert Murdoch, which seemed more offensive than anything else). Pryce CAN play a helluva a villain (watch him in the criminally underaired “Something Wicked This Way Comes”), but this was just pathetic. I wonder if this same fate will befall Javier Bardem in the new JB film.
Count me as one who actually preferred the comedic “Casino Royale” of the late ‘60s, even if it overdosed too much on silliness and unevenness (borne of having too many directors and contributors). I’m also partial to the Herb Alpert theme. Perhaps also it is because Bond seems more at home in that ‘60s era than he does today in this less-than-stylish era. Le Chiffre was played in that film by Orson Welles, and he was so breezy in it. I don’t even know the name of the actor in the recent one, Mads Something ? Just didn’t seem like there was anything there. Male model with no depth.
Without rehashing my avalanche of complaints about Daniel Craig, except to cite a few... his basically being the wrong type for the part. I’m a soap opera fan, though the production values and quality of actors have been diminishing for some time now. Craig reminds me so much of the automaton Jason Morgan on “General Hospital.” A child of privilege on his way to becoming a doctor, gets into a near-fatal car accident, incurring a severe brain injury, and turns into a joyless hitman/mob enforcer for Sonny Corinthos. Craig’s JB is like Morgan. These guys should be working for SPECTRE, alongside Red Grant (and Grant had a lot more charm and panache).
For those whom are fans of Craig, most don’t even understand that he’s miscast in the role. I simply think he’s too remote, too cold. When Connery was JB, a lot of men wanted to emulate him. Does anybody seriously want to emulate Craig ? The last Bond I wanted to emulate was the charming and classy Timothy Dalton. Hopefully the next actor will be closer to that model.
And he doesn't drink Heineken.
"I'll have a Heineken, shaken; not stirred."
only red stripe when he drinks beer.
Sean Connery was drawn as James Bond for the comic strips 10 years before the movies..... best book- You Only Live Twice. Wish they had stuck to the story when making that movie.
Look up John McLusky, his Bond is Connery.
Real men don’t “emulate” other men. A man isn’t really a man until he becomes himself.
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