Casino Royale (A- or 3.5/4 stars)
Guess whose back? Bond, James Bond. I am not a huge Bond fan. The latter of them have become utterly uninteresting & wholly unbelievable (one of my biggest cinematic pet peeves of all). But something about the marketing for this one intrigued me. And I have to say that I was not disappointed in the outcome. Director Martin Campbell has rejuvenated a stale series, & I am already eager to see the next Bond film.
'Casino Royale' opens with its' usual artsy montage & I was instantaneously excited. The film starts in a grainy, gritty black & white and we witness Bond (Daniel Craig) murder 2 assassins with great flair (elevating him to '00' status). He then travels from Prague to Madagascar to spy on a terrorist, but this quickly turns into a deadly, high octane, high wire chase that kept me on the edge of my seat; fantastic action sequence! 'M' (Judi Dench) is less than enthralled with the way the mission panned out; she tells him to take Holiday in the Bahamas. Holiday ... yeah right. Following a lead, Bond runs into a terrorist, Dmitrios, & his gorgeous wife. She's a distraction, but he is still able to decipher that Dmitrios works with Le Chiffre (Mads Mikkelsen), banker to the world's terrorist organizations.
Le Chiffre plans to raise money for an angry terrorist (Isaach De Bankole) who will kill him unless his money is delivered. He hopes to raise this money in a high-stakes poker game in Montenegro at the Casino Royale. Secret Service Intelligence assigns Vesper Lynd (Eva Green) as a treaury agent to supply money for Bond to play with at the poker game. He is skeptical of her, and she of him. They are obviously attracted to each other and they engage in quick, clever banter that Bond has always been known to entangle himself with when speaking to his lovelies. But work comes first. Will Bond be able to prevent Le Chiffre (a complete villain with diabolical plans and a sinister eye that tears blood) from winning the $100,000,000 that is necessary to keep him alive? How is a CIA agent, Felix Leiter (Jeffrey Wright) tied-in? Who is this mysterious Mr. White? Does Bond land the girl? Or does his notorious ego get in the way of everything?
Allegiances shift and the plot culminates in a thrilling climax. Daniel Craig is great as the new Bond. He lends enough finesse, strength, charm, vulnerability & dry wit to counter his gruff, stoic resilience to be defeated; he is a more believable, realistic Bond than his recent predecessors. Eva Green is beautiful & captivates me in a way which she fails to in 2005's Kingdom of Heaven. She's sexy, but the realistic chemistry between her & James makes 'them' sexier as a couple. Caterina Murino is alluring as one of Bond’s early conquests {pre-Eva Green}. And what can you say about Judi Dench; her physical & verbal presence raises the clout of any film. And all of the villains in this film are enticingly loathsome.
Is this the best Bond film yet? Probably not; but it's an awesome thriller filled with the usual gadgets, violence, fancy cars, dry martinis, love stories & death-defying action sequences (including a mid-film truck chase at Miami International Airport, a well-choreographed stairwell fight in Montenegro, and a death trap involving a sinking edifice in Venice); the magic of it is that it is all done so well. Now, the ending is a bit rushed, & some tender moments between Bond & Vesper are touching, but slow the pace. But this is nitpicking. Everything in 'Casino Royale' drips with old-fashioned opulence, exotic locales, extravagance & pure excitement.
'Casino Royale' opens with its' usual artsy montage & I was instantaneously excited. The film starts in a grainy, gritty black & white and we witness Bond (Daniel Craig) murder 2 assassins with great flair (elevating him to '00' status). He then travels from Prague to Madagascar to spy on a terrorist, but this quickly turns into a deadly, high octane, high wire chase that kept me on the edge of my seat; fantastic action sequence! 'M' (Judi Dench) is less than enthralled with the way the mission panned out; she tells him to take Holiday in the Bahamas. Holiday ... yeah right. Following a lead, Bond runs into a terrorist, Dmitrios, & his gorgeous wife. She's a distraction, but he is still able to decipher that Dmitrios works with Le Chiffre (Mads Mikkelsen), banker to the world's terrorist organizations.
Le Chiffre plans to raise money for an angry terrorist (Isaach De Bankole) who will kill him unless his money is delivered. He hopes to raise this money in a high-stakes poker game in Montenegro at the Casino Royale. Secret Service Intelligence assigns Vesper Lynd (Eva Green) as a treaury agent to supply money for Bond to play with at the poker game. He is skeptical of her, and she of him. They are obviously attracted to each other and they engage in quick, clever banter that Bond has always been known to entangle himself with when speaking to his lovelies. But work comes first. Will Bond be able to prevent Le Chiffre (a complete villain with diabolical plans and a sinister eye that tears blood) from winning the $100,000,000 that is necessary to keep him alive? How is a CIA agent, Felix Leiter (Jeffrey Wright) tied-in? Who is this mysterious Mr. White? Does Bond land the girl? Or does his notorious ego get in the way of everything?
Allegiances shift and the plot culminates in a thrilling climax. Daniel Craig is great as the new Bond. He lends enough finesse, strength, charm, vulnerability & dry wit to counter his gruff, stoic resilience to be defeated; he is a more believable, realistic Bond than his recent predecessors. Eva Green is beautiful & captivates me in a way which she fails to in 2005's Kingdom of Heaven. She's sexy, but the realistic chemistry between her & James makes 'them' sexier as a couple. Caterina Murino is alluring as one of Bond’s early conquests {pre-Eva Green}. And what can you say about Judi Dench; her physical & verbal presence raises the clout of any film. And all of the villains in this film are enticingly loathsome.
Is this the best Bond film yet? Probably not; but it's an awesome thriller filled with the usual gadgets, violence, fancy cars, dry martinis, love stories & death-defying action sequences (including a mid-film truck chase at Miami International Airport, a well-choreographed stairwell fight in Montenegro, and a death trap involving a sinking edifice in Venice); the magic of it is that it is all done so well. Now, the ending is a bit rushed, & some tender moments between Bond & Vesper are touching, but slow the pace. But this is nitpicking. Everything in 'Casino Royale' drips with old-fashioned opulence, exotic locales, extravagance & pure excitement.