MAJOR SPOILERS BELOW!!
As mentioned before, I said I would eat a large slice of humble pie if CR turned out to be better than I thought it would be, (and it`s only recently that I had kinda come round to realising what Craig and the producers were trying to achieve with this film) so please pass me a plate and a fork and allow me a few minutes to eat it.
Did Craig and the producers succeed? A resounding "Yes!"
Okay, I have a couple of, (small) gripes, but overall, the film was excellent and hats off to Craig and the team for pulling out all the stops to give us, (me) a Bond film to remember and savour.
Where to begin? Like most things, at the beginning.
WOW! A hard hitting, (literally) PTS that grabs you right from the start and never lets go. Filmed in black and white, (which didn`t seem to affect or upset the other cinemagoers around me) it was short and to the point, unlike the last two Brosnan PTS, which were far too long. It was nice that we got to know why Dryden had been singled out for assassination, and it was his character that filled the audience in about an agent having to make two kills to become a '00', (my wife didn`t know this, so I guess there are other cinemagoers around the world who might not know either). The fight in the toilet was savage and brutal, and a portence of what was to follow. I was also wondering how they were going to fit the gunbarrel into the end of the PTS, but they did, and it was brilliantly done.
The main titles were another tour de force from Danny Kleinman, using the card and roulette wheels as weapons and it was nice to have Craig featured. Something not done since The Living Daylights? I didn`t like the "You Know My Name" title song when I first heard it, but it works much better alongside the credits than it does as a stand alone to listen to.
The chase/crane sequence was very exciting to watch and the camera gliding up and over the cranes during the fight sequence really gave the audience an idea of how high and vertigo enducing it was.
I wasn`t too sure about Bond breaking into M`s flat, to find out the information he wanted. I guess here, in normal circumstances, Moneypenny would have helped in this scene, but with her character not in this film, I guess the writers had no where else for Bond to turn to, but M herself.
This was one of the best scenes in the film, and I agree with Harmsway when he said that Craig, (and particularly Dench) were excellent in this two hander. M, in this scene, shows real emotion, conveying to Bond (and us) the fallout to 007`s actions.
Bond`s meeting with Solange, her husband, the card game and the winning of the Aston Martin were nicely handled, but, as much as I love that car, the producers really need to axe the DB5 from future Bond films. It`s a nod to the past when really, the producers should be looking towards the future.
The Miami airport sequence was exciting to watch and I had to catch my breath, (as Bond did) when it was all over. Bond and M watching Solange`s lifeless body being put into a body bag was a sombre moment and very well acted by both Craig and Dench.
Bond`s meeting with Vesper on the train was also a great two hander. You could see the sparks fly during their conversation and the dialogue was superb, allowing both leads to fill the audience in with their background histories.
I stated before that I didn`t think Eva Green was "that hot" (looks wise) and having now seen her up on the big screen, I still stand by that statement. Performance wise, I think she was patchy, to say the least. The chemistry between her and Craig wasn`t, for me, always brilliant, but in a few of their scenes together, (the one in the hotel room with Bond and Vesper talking about Bond`s tux springs to mind) they shined, though in some scenes I did find it hard to hear what Green was saying. This may have been down to poor diction, with her being French but these sort of problems should have been picked up at the looping sessions.
I was wondering how Campbell was going to film the casino scenes, thinking that to show the whole card game in one hit, (as it was in the novel) may make the sequence over long and perhaps less riveting for the audience.
Breaking the card scenes up by having Le Chiffre visited by the people first seen after the PTS, as well as the staircase fight between said men and Bond, kept the tempo flowing both in these scenes and at the casino table.
Bond being poisoned and the subsequent sequence of him having to defibulate himself was a nice nod to the novel, where Le Chiffre tries to have Bond leave the game by having his henchman threaten to shoot him dead with his stick gun. The sequence in the film was a lot more tense and Bond`s return to the table, and Le Chiffre`s reaction to him not being dead, was pleasing to the audience I saw the film with, and especially Bond`s "That last hand, nearly killed me." quip.
Mads Mikklesen`s performance as Le Chiffre was excellent. Understated, yet with a quiet menace. His character, with his blood weeping eye was another nice nod to Fleming, who usually in his novels gave either his girls or enemies, (or both) some kind of body disfigurement or physical weakness.
It`s during the card sequence that we get to see Jeffrey Wright`s Felix Leiter. Most of you know that I thought Wright was wrong for the role, from when he was first announced, and my feelings haven`t changed. Unfortunately for Wright, (and us) Leiter`s character has not been fleshed out by the writers, (something I would have thought Haggis would have done, if not Purvis & Wade) and there`s no formal introduction between him and Bond, or any kind of warming from one character to the other, (as there was in the novel) mainly because the character is not in the film long enough to establish to the audience that Bond and Leiter will become close friends. Wright did okay with what he was given, but with a script that offered more characterisation in a Bond film for quite awhile, it`s a shame that Leiter`s character didn`t have much to say or do.
It was a shame that the car chase wasn`t, well, a car chase, as it was over far too soon, even with the Aston flipping over as spectacularly as it did.
Bond`s subsequent torture certainly had my wife crossing her legs more than me, (though mine were crossed too) and the two hander between Craig and Mikklesen was superb. Craig`s reaction to his torture was so realistic, it had the audience subdued and quiet. My initial reaction to Bond`s quips whilst being tortured, was "oh, we`re back to the Moore/Brosnan days here." but looking back on it, Bond had to say something, anything, to show Le Chiffre that he was unbreakable, and I now feel he was right to make those quips as it certainly put Le Chiffre`s character off his guard.
Le Chiffre`s demise was as the book, but it`s a shame that the gunman didn`t mark Bond`s hand as it was in the book. I was expecting a motif that signified that Bond was a spy, who would one day come after them, (the gunman`s bosses - especially as we know Bond 22 follows on from CR) but it didn`t happen. Shame.
The revelation that Mathis was working (though at the end we don`t know for sure) with Le Chiffre was a major surprise, (one on the same level as finding out that the Jim Phelps character in the first Mission Impossible film was a traitor) and it`s one I didn`t like. Mathis is a great character in the book, and now he may not be used in subsequent Bond films.
Bond recuperating with Vesper, in the hospital (and later) after his torture ordeal was handled well, but was it only me who felt that Bond telling Vesper that he loved her, was just a tad bit quick? Okay, they went through the harrowing kidnap/torture ordeal but was it enough for Bond to offer his undying love? For me, no. Contrast Bond and Vesper`s relationship in the film to that of Bond and Tracy`s in the film version of OHMSS, and it`s nowhere near the latter.
I was also disappointed that the conversation between Bond and Mathis in the hospital wasn`t in the film. In the novel, Bond clearly states why he`s resigning, (because he doesn`t want to play Red Indians anymore) and Mathis explaining to him that people like Bond are needed to fight the good fight, helps Bond change his decision after Vesper`s death. Had this passage from the novel been included in the film, it would have been good had Leiter got to say it, as this would have hinted to the audience at his and Bond`s friendship to come, but alas it wasn`t to be.
The scenes leading up to and including the Venice building sequence and Vesper`s death were all handed with aplomb, especially Vesper`s death (and Bond trying to resusitate her) which was more dramatic than her death in the novel.
What disappointed me with the sequence afterwards, with M talking to Bond, was that it didn`t really seem as if Bond was as upset as he should have, bearing in mind he was in love with Vesper and that she had betrayed him and the service. It was great to hear the "Bitch is dead" line but unfortunately Craig didn`t deliver it with any real venom, and it made me wonder if Bond really loved Vesper the way the audience was expected to believe he did.
The ending certainly leaves this film open to a sequel, (I got that feeling and I hope the others in the audience did, too) and it was good to hear Craig deliver the "My name is Bond. James Bond." line before the credits rolled and we heard the rollicking James Bond theme, as it should always be played: with twanging guitars and loud brass.
JAMES BOND WILL RETURN.
Great. Only two more years to wait.
In conclusion, I would like to say that I thought the whole cast did well, in particular Craig who was very good, (I won`t say excellent after just one film) as Bond, (much better than I thought he was going to be) as was Mikklesen as Le Chiffre. Judi Dench was on much better form than she was during the Brosnan years, though, as I have already mentioned, Eva Green was just okay as Vesper. The supporting cast were good, even Jeffrey Wright, who had very little to do as Leiter. The action sequences were well handled and the gadgets and woeful puns of yesteryear were thankfully missing.
David Arnold`s music was a revelation. His use of the "You Know My Name" title song as an action cue was very well done, and harked back to the days of John Barry doing exactly the same. The cues for Vesper and Solange were lovely, and it was good that Arnold hadn`t abandoned the Bond theme totally, as little bits of it were heard here and there, throughout the film, and then again, fully, over the end credits. This is certainly, (for me) Arnold`s best Bond score. I just hope he can repeat the feat in two years time.
The script by Purvis and Wade was much better written than their previous efforts, though how much of that was down to Paul Haggis, we may never know.
Campbell`s direction was much more energised than it was in GoldenEye and his direction of the dramatic scenes in CR were certainly an improvement to the ones in Brosnan`s first Bond film.
All in all, I give the film 9 out of 10. The things that stop it from getting a full 10 were the gripes I`ve mentioned above. Having said that, no Bond film has ever been completely perfect, and CR is no exception. Having only seen the film once, I don`t know yet where I would place it in the Bond canon, (can I do this, if it is the restart?) or where I would place Craig as Bond, but I`m sure after a couple of more trips to see it, I can start to work it all out.
JAMES BOND IS BACK!
Best
Andy
Edited by Auric64, 16 November 2006 - 04:34 AM.
