Casino Royale - Bond Review

- THIS REVIEW CONTAINS SPOILERS.
DO NOT READ IF YOU INTEND TO SEE THE MOVIE -

I went and saw the lastest Bond flick at the Embassy last night. It was pretty good... pretty, pretty, pretty goooood. Casino Royale is the movie adaptation of the first Ian Flemming Bond novel. Bond is a lot more brutal and inexperienced (although it doesn't show) this time round. We are shown in the story why he doesn't trust anyone (especially dames) and the film explores the possibility, and in my view liklihood, that James Bond is infertile. How can you not be after having your balls repeatedly smashed by a rock at the end of a thick rope! It's great to see him getting messed up... even his knuckles turn red after punching someone and he bleeds! Vesper's drowning scene at the end is horribly real and is what I would imagine drowning to look like... not that I sit around all day imagining such things. I think her short, sharp wide-eyed attempts at breathing sold the scene really well.

There are some fantastic action sequences which will leave you feeling tense and shaken and there are the usual classic Bond one liners...

Vesper Lynd: If the only thing left of you was your smile and your little finger, you'd still be more of a man than anyone I've ever met.
James Bond: That's because you know what I can do with my little finger...

Overall the film was fantastic. It's well directed, well acted and I thought that there were only a couple of weaknesses.

1. Inappropriate product placement
2. Plot-point gadgets

1 - A Bond film wouldn't be a bond film without a certain amount of product placement. You need the car, the phone, the cameras, the watches, the suits and so on. But what you don't need is Bond trying to look like a mean ass killer in a stupid looking metallic aqua blue Ford sedan (the new Futuro or something, which is based on a Mazda 6). The car looked completely out of place and ruined the scene. He would have looked meaner driving a golf kart! Also, Sony must have poured millions into the film to get so many of their phones and cameras into it. Again, they were too blatant to be taken seriously. People in our theatre were laughing at some of these blatant advertising attempts.

2 - I don't like it when people say they didn't like King Kong because it had Dinosaurs in it. That's because certain films require of the audience a suspension of disbelief. So I guess my next comment is somewhat unjustified if I am to practice what I preach. BUT, I didn't like the whole defibrulator (sp?) in the dash compartment idea. Pretty lame place to put one really. I reckon they should have figured out a better way to revive Bond after he's poisoned during the game at Casino Royale. However, as I said, this is a Bond film we are talking about and perhaps just this once I should suspend my disbelief.


Casino Royale - 4/5

Trivia: One week after filming was completed, the 007 Stage at Pinewood Studios burnt down on 30 July 2006. This was the second time this had happened, the first being before filming on 'A View to a Kill' (1985). The filmmakers had just finished using the stage for filming interiors set in Venice for the movie.

Goofs: Revealing mistakes: Towards the beginning of the film, when Bond jumps off the van into the embassy, the patch of ground he lands on is obviously a landing mat with leaves and turf covering it.

-Rich