November 20, 2006
Che Casino
Bond, as they insist on saying every time, is back; and this time he's crumpet. In what everyone and his dog insists on describing as a reboot of the franchise, longtime hottie Daniel Craig puts in a sterling turn as MI6's favourite thug, buff beyond recognition and frequently shirtless -- and a good job too because there'd be little reason to see the movie otherwise. Oh, it starts out well enough with our hero's monochrome blooding and some superfluous but energetic parkour, but things get rather bogged down in the high-rolling middle act (Texas Hold-Em? Excuse me? Whatever happened to good old Baccarat?) and from then on it's hard not be distracted by the rising sense of authorial panic.
When you're stuck, bring in a man with a gun.
Having lost the plot entirely by what dismayingly turns out to be only the halfway mark, the filmmakers resort to so many escalatingly-stupid diversionary tactics that by the end you'll swear you can hear them shouting "Pay no attention to the man behind the curtain!" Or possibly "Stop the film, I want to get off!" -- an urge likely shared by much of the audience.
Good to see you back, Mr Bond. I hope we're going to see some gratuitous sex and violence.
Now, nobody goes to a James Bond flick expecting anything other than total tripe, and this one certainly delivers on that front; but usually it's entertaining tripe, replete with quips and gadgetry and evil masterminds bent on world domination. Notwithstanding a few amusing scenes and an absurdly sexy lead, Casino Royale is a disappointingly glum affair, brutal without being edgy, mundane without any kind of plausibility. It's an inauspicious start to the Craig tenure; let's just hope he sticks around long enough for things to improve...
Posted by matt at November 20, 2006 07:08 PM
Comments
Oh, drat. Everybody's been saying such good things about it, too. I suppose it's just as well I'll go in with lowered expectations.
Posted by: Faustus, M.D. at November 21, 2006 11:47 AM
Sadly I fear that Bond was much happier existing in a simpler more innocent world where much of his audience had never even traveled abroad, let alone visited the exotic backdrops for his antics. A time when most people had never skied or visited a casinο and certainly didn't own a cocktail shaker. A place where villains bent on world domination were crazed geniuses with exotic pets rather than media tycoons, and where Bond's gadgets could only be found in high end military research labs or were simply far off dreams of a high tech future, definitely not available to purchase at all good electrical retailers on the way home from the theatre. But most importantly of all, a world where Bond film scores were composed by John Barry.
By the way, it's a bit awkward trying to write about Casinο Royale when your comment filter doesn't like the word "casinο" ;-)
Posted by: Shyboy at November 22, 2006 10:21 AM
You went to see it at the cinema??!? Bond is meant to be viewed on Boxing day TV and I will wait for this one to turn up then...
My favorite Bond is the one where he teams up with Bin Laden to fight the Russians.
Posted by: James Fryer at November 23, 2006 09:27 AM
Oh, the good old days.
Posted by: matt at November 24, 2006 12:02 PM
Just got back from seeing Bond.. loved it!
Posted by: Ryan at November 26, 2006 09:44 AM
Umm, don't entirely share your view of the film. It is different as a Bond film, but these days it needs to be.
Posted by: cool buddha at November 26, 2006 08:38 PM
I agree it needed to be different; perhaps it just wasn't different enough. But if you're gesturing in the direction of hard-bitten gritty realism it helps to be vaguely credible. Pretty much every event along the way was ludicrously implausible in both character and plot terms. Fuck it, let's sink a Venetian palazzo as a distraction!
Posted by: matt at November 26, 2006 09:39 PM
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