Winters_Sorrow
Well-Known Member
Casino Royale
Director: Martin Campbell
Starring: Daniel Craig, Eva Green, Mads Mikkelsen, Judi Dench & Giancarlo Giannini
Plot Synopsis:
James Bond, newly promoted to "00" status by MI6, is sent to Montenegro to participate in a high stakes poker game and to monitor "Le Chiffre", a french banker known to fund an unnamed terrorist organisation. Le Chiffre is under pressure to win the £150M prize fund to recoup his losses on an earlier failed venture and James Bond's mission is to beat Le Chiffre and pressurise him to defect to MI6 and provide information on the terrorist organisation in exchange for sanctuary.
Review:
"James Bond Begins" could have well been an alternative title for this movie, as the Bond franchise turns full circle to Ian Fleming's first Bond novel.
For those who's first experience with Bond is the Brosnan years, this will come as a shock to the system as Casino Royale's opening sequence is fairly low-key compared to previous instalments. Daniel Craig makes for a somewhat less suave, polished Bond and this is shown in his crude, physical approach and lack of witty quips when faced with danger. This is a rougher, more violent Bond used to getting the job done quick and getting out.
After being chosen by M to go to Montenegro to stop Le Chiffre, Bond is accompanied by local contact Mathis (Giancarlo Giannini) and Vesper Lynd (Eva Green) from HM Treasury, ostensibly to keep a watchful eye over the £10M stake provided to Bond to compete in the poker tournament. Of course things are never that straight forward in a Bond movie and things duly go horribly wrong and leave Bond captured & at the mercy (or lack thereof) of Le Chiffre. Bravely, the torture scene is played out in all it's uncomfortable glory before the action finale shifts to Venice and the "happy ever after" ending?
My thoughts:
Well I must admit I approached this movie with a sense of dread, not having enjoyed the last few completely overblown Brosnan movies at all, but was pleasantly surprised as it mostly lacked the "bungee-jumping from a dam" or "skiing off a cliff" opening sequences. Daniel Craig's Bond starts as not much more than a cold-hearted thug use to using violence to resolve his problems. Once recruited into MI6, Judi Dench's M openly questions her decision to bring him into the 00 fold and their relationship remains frosty throughout the film.
Mads Mikkelsen is, somewhat appropriately, an enigma for most of the film and for me is one of the characters who could possibly do with a bit more fleshing out as I never got the feeling he was that good at investing the money of SMERSH. Still having a villain who posed no physical threat to Bond was refreshing and the battle between them was a battle of wits in which Bond actually initially loses (as explained above, he starts off relying on his fists/gun rather than his brains) before being given the chance to try again.
Although this movie does have a few flaws; a stop/start flow to it, prominent product placement (for 15 minutes, the film feels like an Aston Martin/Sony Eriksson advert), a somewhat ludicrous premise (beating terrorists by playing cards) and feels a bit padded in parts, it is brave in the somewhat downbeat "Lazenby" ending, the removal of Q department and the resulting lack of laser watches, missile-wielding cars or x-ray glasses.
Overall Rating:
8/10 - watchable reworking of the James Bond franchise, ditching gadgets for guile and volcanic lairs & lasers for electronic money transfers and handguns.
Oh, and if you're female you can probably add another point as Daniel Craig spends more time in swimwear/stripped to the waist than his co-stars for a change
Director: Martin Campbell
Starring: Daniel Craig, Eva Green, Mads Mikkelsen, Judi Dench & Giancarlo Giannini
Plot Synopsis:
James Bond, newly promoted to "00" status by MI6, is sent to Montenegro to participate in a high stakes poker game and to monitor "Le Chiffre", a french banker known to fund an unnamed terrorist organisation. Le Chiffre is under pressure to win the £150M prize fund to recoup his losses on an earlier failed venture and James Bond's mission is to beat Le Chiffre and pressurise him to defect to MI6 and provide information on the terrorist organisation in exchange for sanctuary.
Review:
"James Bond Begins" could have well been an alternative title for this movie, as the Bond franchise turns full circle to Ian Fleming's first Bond novel.
For those who's first experience with Bond is the Brosnan years, this will come as a shock to the system as Casino Royale's opening sequence is fairly low-key compared to previous instalments. Daniel Craig makes for a somewhat less suave, polished Bond and this is shown in his crude, physical approach and lack of witty quips when faced with danger. This is a rougher, more violent Bond used to getting the job done quick and getting out.
After being chosen by M to go to Montenegro to stop Le Chiffre, Bond is accompanied by local contact Mathis (Giancarlo Giannini) and Vesper Lynd (Eva Green) from HM Treasury, ostensibly to keep a watchful eye over the £10M stake provided to Bond to compete in the poker tournament. Of course things are never that straight forward in a Bond movie and things duly go horribly wrong and leave Bond captured & at the mercy (or lack thereof) of Le Chiffre. Bravely, the torture scene is played out in all it's uncomfortable glory before the action finale shifts to Venice and the "happy ever after" ending?
My thoughts:
Well I must admit I approached this movie with a sense of dread, not having enjoyed the last few completely overblown Brosnan movies at all, but was pleasantly surprised as it mostly lacked the "bungee-jumping from a dam" or "skiing off a cliff" opening sequences. Daniel Craig's Bond starts as not much more than a cold-hearted thug use to using violence to resolve his problems. Once recruited into MI6, Judi Dench's M openly questions her decision to bring him into the 00 fold and their relationship remains frosty throughout the film.
Mads Mikkelsen is, somewhat appropriately, an enigma for most of the film and for me is one of the characters who could possibly do with a bit more fleshing out as I never got the feeling he was that good at investing the money of SMERSH. Still having a villain who posed no physical threat to Bond was refreshing and the battle between them was a battle of wits in which Bond actually initially loses (as explained above, he starts off relying on his fists/gun rather than his brains) before being given the chance to try again.
Although this movie does have a few flaws; a stop/start flow to it, prominent product placement (for 15 minutes, the film feels like an Aston Martin/Sony Eriksson advert), a somewhat ludicrous premise (beating terrorists by playing cards) and feels a bit padded in parts, it is brave in the somewhat downbeat "Lazenby" ending, the removal of Q department and the resulting lack of laser watches, missile-wielding cars or x-ray glasses.
Overall Rating:
8/10 - watchable reworking of the James Bond franchise, ditching gadgets for guile and volcanic lairs & lasers for electronic money transfers and handguns.
Oh, and if you're female you can probably add another point as Daniel Craig spends more time in swimwear/stripped to the waist than his co-stars for a change
