Categories: Top ::

Cinema: Casino Royale With (not much) Cheese
Mon, 20 Nov 2006

We just got back from the latest Bond film and let me cut to the chase -- fantastic. Excellent. Fun. Not Jackie Chan fun, but classy. Sure, the new lead is blonde but I'm not one for details .. this was in the classic action spy form though a little less playboy than with former greats like Connery and Moore but also tougher. Noir even. I'm sure the ladies will be pleased too, since this isn't some pretty boy actor - this guy with hard blue eyes was chiseled, I'm told.

Personally I found the last few Bonds a bore (and passed the last one altogether.. a wise decision I'm told.) No shade against Pierce Brosnan but the writing wasn't there, instead relying on gadgets and Hollywood-sized explosions instead of intrigue, characters or class. Goldeneye was fun, but I still missed the by-gone adventures where an entire 30 minutes wasn't devoted to driving a car with a cellphone.. bleh. We've missed supervillains and even superhenchmen -- who can forget Jaws or Dr. No? Or competing Russian agents? Can you remember what License to Kill was even about?

In this latest outing we see a supposedly younger head-strong Bond, new to the agency and getting under everyones fingernails with some high profile errors. Still, he's effective and cold, already a killer with his emotions tucked away. There wasn't so much intrigue as I'd have liked, but the plot definately kept things moving though a lot of the movie hung around the namesake - a trip to a high-stakes casino near the end of the film pitting Bond versus the villain. The scene really could have been omitted -- just pick up the bad guy would you -- but thats part of what gave the film its Bond charm. You can't pick up the bad guy unless you can beat him at cards first, right?

Thankfully they did away with much of the technology this round.. in this world where we carry PDAs and cellphones, and white-toothed salesguys have GPS navigators in their cars.. a spy movie should rely on sneaking and politics more than its gadgetry. Toss in some cool explosions and building collapses and we're good. Of course the obligatory crazy automobile appeared, since you have to have some neat Bond-stuff, but no electronics took the fore. They really tried to rejuvenate the franchise. All the cards were out, if I can get away with that. And only a few product-placements.. nothing so terrible as iRobots excuse for a commercial.

Big points here; great movie, fast moving, a little Bond flare, and introducing a new lead. It doesn't have the smooth charm of the previous Bonds nor the world-shattering supervillain, but thats okay -- we expect that'll be back next time. Theres already 3 or 4 new films planned and I'm happy to say they might even be in good hands. Whew.

[ Category: / entertainment / cinema ] [link] [Comments]