Went to see a great movie on the weekend. It was the new James Bond movie, “Casino Royale” I’ve only got one word to say, “Wow”!
Well, I have a little bit more to say :-) Now just to let you know I have been a fan of the James Bond movies for a long time. For me, James Bond sums up the perfect existence for a guy with the maturity level of a teenager. Hanging out in casinos, shooting bad guys, playing with the latest gadgets and pulling beautiful women who don’t seem to have an issue with sex on the first date (or sex within 5 minutes of meeting an aging brit who buys them a drink).
But the negatives have been building up in the last couple of Bond films. Don’t get me wrong, I am not adverse to Pierce Brosnan as Bond. He bought a sense of smoothness to Bond that was missing since the end of the Roger Moore days. Timothy Dalton (the bond between Roger Moore and Brosnan) was a very physical Bond, but was a little lacking in the charm department. He was more of a cold assassin, rather than the smooth operator that Sean Connery and Roger made the role. So Pierce was a welcome change.
The problems were with the movies themselves. Golden Eye was great but the rest started to go off on some dodgy tangents. They tended to be formulaic, by the numbers action films populated by crazy villains and dodgy lines
For example: -
1. “Tomorrow Never Dies”…Crazy Media Baron starts a war between China and England for ratings
2. “The World is not enough”…Crazy Oil Baroness kills her father, seduces Bond and tries gets her even crazier boyfriend to cause a nuclear explosion in Turkey
Also famous for one of the dodgiest final lines in any movie: ”I though Christmas only came once a year” when sleeping with Christmas Jones.
3. “Die another Day”…Crazy Korean Colonel gets a face lift to look like a Brit and tries to take over South Korea using a dodgy power glove attached to a giant space mirror.
They were not great movies at the end of the day. Indeed, it was only the women that made the Bonds watchable. Halle Berry, Michelle Yeoh and Sophie Marceau
are all classy chicks who made the films worth watching.
However, Bond has come back with the newest addition. Casino Royale is a classic in the genre, the best since "Goldeneye" and could be my favourite Bond movie of all time. I was a little worried when they first mentioned they were using Casino Royale as the source material (a spoof movie was made in the late 60’s of this book starring Woody Allen and Peter Sellers), but they pulled it off.
The casting of Daniel Craig was a masterstroke. Coolness personified with the blue eyes and chiselled features. He also brings a cheeky charm as well to the role and a vulnerability that was missing to the Bond persona. Bond makes mistakes, almost dies a couple of times and even has a bit of difficulty getting his double 0 status. Yes, it’s a pre qual to “Dr No”, but thankfully set in the 2000’s rather than a 1960’s simulation. I didn’t think it would work, but it does.
It’s also the most physical Bond I have seen. While the previous Bonds have been a little reluctant to get the hands (or fists) dirty, Daniel Craig gets absolutely hammered in a lot of fight scenes. He also hands a fair bit of punishment out.
So do yourself a favour and embrace the new Bond. I liked it so much I’m off to buy the book.
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