Moosey
18-Nov-2006, 03:12 PM
Casino Royale
Reviewed by Moosey
Having seen Pierce Brosnan drag the bond franchise to a new low with his sleazy, charmless portrayal of Bond set amidst mindless strings of action scenes and glossy product placement, I had high hopes that Daniel Craig would be the man to bring 007 back to being a character that men want to be and women want to ...well...you know! And guess what - he did! Capturing Sean Connery's rugged charm and Timothy Dalton's steely-eyed ruthlessness while abandoning Roger Moore's pantomime Englishness, George Lazenby's slightly buffoonish air and Pierce Brosnan's slimy "American business executive" approach, Craig portrays a no-nonsense hard-ass Bond. Despite being built like a brick outhouse and proving himself a more than capable action hero, Craig also shines in the role of suave British spy. Avoiding Roger Moore's "dandyish" lady's-man character and Pierce Brosnan's creepy arrogance, Craig succeeds at the rough-and-ready charm at least equalling Sean Connery's earlier performances. On the whole though, Craig succeeds at making Bond seem dangerous again, and this is something the franchise very much needed.
Special mention should also go to Eva Green as this episode's Bond girl, Vesper Lynd. While the stereotypical Bond girl is either helpless dumb blonde or PC-pleasing action heroine, Green manages to be human, charming and entirely believable. The fact that she's very attractive doesn't hurt either! :D
Sadly the plotting and production of the film doesn't live up to the two stars' great performances. The "plot" is not so much a plot as a series of things that happen. While this is pretty much par for the course in a Bond movie, it would have been nice for them to acknowledge the quality of the actors and give them a tightly-plotted thriller to star in. The overly-glossy camerawork (shiny cars and shiny modern architecture all around) and unneccesary use of technology does detract slightly from the gritty edge that the actors all seemed to be trying to portray. All credit to the director for the action scenes though, which were generally well handled if a little choppily edited (Hollywood directors take note: let action scenes speak for themselved! constant closeups and angle changes are irritating, not exciting).
On the whole though (and with the possible exception of The Living Daylights) this is possibly the best Bond movie since From Russia With Love. It still doesn't recapture the feeling of a cold war spy thriller, but the portrayal of Bond as unstoppable military axe-man and Lynd as a believable love interest carries the film through its technical flaws.
Rating: 3/4 Stars
Reviewed by Moosey
Having seen Pierce Brosnan drag the bond franchise to a new low with his sleazy, charmless portrayal of Bond set amidst mindless strings of action scenes and glossy product placement, I had high hopes that Daniel Craig would be the man to bring 007 back to being a character that men want to be and women want to ...well...you know! And guess what - he did! Capturing Sean Connery's rugged charm and Timothy Dalton's steely-eyed ruthlessness while abandoning Roger Moore's pantomime Englishness, George Lazenby's slightly buffoonish air and Pierce Brosnan's slimy "American business executive" approach, Craig portrays a no-nonsense hard-ass Bond. Despite being built like a brick outhouse and proving himself a more than capable action hero, Craig also shines in the role of suave British spy. Avoiding Roger Moore's "dandyish" lady's-man character and Pierce Brosnan's creepy arrogance, Craig succeeds at the rough-and-ready charm at least equalling Sean Connery's earlier performances. On the whole though, Craig succeeds at making Bond seem dangerous again, and this is something the franchise very much needed.
Special mention should also go to Eva Green as this episode's Bond girl, Vesper Lynd. While the stereotypical Bond girl is either helpless dumb blonde or PC-pleasing action heroine, Green manages to be human, charming and entirely believable. The fact that she's very attractive doesn't hurt either! :D
Sadly the plotting and production of the film doesn't live up to the two stars' great performances. The "plot" is not so much a plot as a series of things that happen. While this is pretty much par for the course in a Bond movie, it would have been nice for them to acknowledge the quality of the actors and give them a tightly-plotted thriller to star in. The overly-glossy camerawork (shiny cars and shiny modern architecture all around) and unneccesary use of technology does detract slightly from the gritty edge that the actors all seemed to be trying to portray. All credit to the director for the action scenes though, which were generally well handled if a little choppily edited (Hollywood directors take note: let action scenes speak for themselved! constant closeups and angle changes are irritating, not exciting).
On the whole though (and with the possible exception of The Living Daylights) this is possibly the best Bond movie since From Russia With Love. It still doesn't recapture the feeling of a cold war spy thriller, but the portrayal of Bond as unstoppable military axe-man and Lynd as a believable love interest carries the film through its technical flaws.
Rating: 3/4 Stars