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James Bond (Spoilers)
Dec. 18th, 2006 02:18 pmGosh, the new Bond film is eversogood, isn't it just? Like just about everyone else ever I was dubious about Daniel Craig in the role, primarily due to his looking like he's been punched in the face several times too often, but that selfsame facepunching has actually given him a visage which fits very neatly into the secret agent role.
From the opening parkour sequence in Madagascar (more spectacular than, but perhaps not as well choreographed, as the one in Banlieu 13) which had me clutching the sides of my seat with sympathetic terror due to my utter fear of heights to the surprisingly convincing Poker sequence which was won in true Bond fashion with both skill and an outrageous slice of luck, I have to say Casino Royale is probably the best - or at least the most daring - Bond film in recent years.
And no invisible cars either, hurrah.
I think what I liked most about the film was the depiction of the various killers and terrorists - not just Bond, but the others too. People with a real economy of speech and motion. People who don't do anything at all which isn't completely necessary to the completion of their job, whatever it might be. The showboating of old-school Bond villains has been removed leaving coldblooded, brutal professionals - which makes them that much more menacing and believable.
The one slightly off note for me was the romance and the end portion of the film in Venice which I thought about 5 minutes too long. That said I twigged that girl wasn't to be trusted quite early on (Gosh, Bond has started winning and all of a sudden she's interested in him. What a coincidence!) and so the romance as never completely convincing for me.
All through the film we get occasional references to an 'organisation'; the group that le Chiffre works for and represents. Although it's never named, I can't help but think that this is the basis for a reintroduction of SPECTRE and Blofeld in the next films. When you think about it, it makes sense. As originally SPECTRE was an organisation designed solely to profit from the cold war, in updating Bond to the War on Terror it makes narrative sense to have an updated organisation performing much the same role as it once did in the new world order. I'll be very interetsed to see who they get to play Blofeld.
Sister thinks that the next film will be a remake of On Her Majesty's Secret Service as that's the other real duffer of the films thus far and also it's theme of biotech warfare would be also very topical. I wonder who they'll get to take the Diana Rigg role?
Edit: One piece of scene-setting which I really liked was the point Bond arrived in the Bahamas, during which there is an establishing shot of him standing in front of the most expensive hotel room in the world. Nothing is made of this and it's not something that many people will pick up on, but it sets the tone brilliantly.
From the opening parkour sequence in Madagascar (more spectacular than, but perhaps not as well choreographed, as the one in Banlieu 13) which had me clutching the sides of my seat with sympathetic terror due to my utter fear of heights to the surprisingly convincing Poker sequence which was won in true Bond fashion with both skill and an outrageous slice of luck, I have to say Casino Royale is probably the best - or at least the most daring - Bond film in recent years.
And no invisible cars either, hurrah.
I think what I liked most about the film was the depiction of the various killers and terrorists - not just Bond, but the others too. People with a real economy of speech and motion. People who don't do anything at all which isn't completely necessary to the completion of their job, whatever it might be. The showboating of old-school Bond villains has been removed leaving coldblooded, brutal professionals - which makes them that much more menacing and believable.
The one slightly off note for me was the romance and the end portion of the film in Venice which I thought about 5 minutes too long. That said I twigged that girl wasn't to be trusted quite early on (Gosh, Bond has started winning and all of a sudden she's interested in him. What a coincidence!) and so the romance as never completely convincing for me.
All through the film we get occasional references to an 'organisation'; the group that le Chiffre works for and represents. Although it's never named, I can't help but think that this is the basis for a reintroduction of SPECTRE and Blofeld in the next films. When you think about it, it makes sense. As originally SPECTRE was an organisation designed solely to profit from the cold war, in updating Bond to the War on Terror it makes narrative sense to have an updated organisation performing much the same role as it once did in the new world order. I'll be very interetsed to see who they get to play Blofeld.
Sister thinks that the next film will be a remake of On Her Majesty's Secret Service as that's the other real duffer of the films thus far and also it's theme of biotech warfare would be also very topical. I wonder who they'll get to take the Diana Rigg role?
Edit: One piece of scene-setting which I really liked was the point Bond arrived in the Bahamas, during which there is an establishing shot of him standing in front of the most expensive hotel room in the world. Nothing is made of this and it's not something that many people will pick up on, but it sets the tone brilliantly.
