JAMES BOND
Daniel Craig is invaluable. The writers gave him a good character arc to work with, but a lesser actor wouldn't have been able to bring everything across with such charisma. He takes the diverse elements of his character, and makes them work together, brings a whole character together.
His Bond is physically present like none before. He moves like an animal, chasing, pouncing, viciously dispatching his enemies. And he pays the price. Bruises and cuts remain into the next scene, and the scene in the bathroom after the stairwell fight brings home the mental cost as he comes down off adrenaline and a close brush with death by machete. I thought the relative realism was a very good choice. If everyone's physicality is recognized--if we know that these people are just human beings with capable, but vulnerable, bodies--the writers don't need to use ridiculous scenarios, like putting the whole world at risk, to make a story interesting. Every fight feels like life and death.
So, he's a capable killer. One who wordlessly holds the door open for a passing maid, acts like a kid when he teases Vesper and throws a little tantrum over the 5 million dollar buy-in, and holds her in the shower scene with such understanding. The way he reaches out to her physically, sucking the invisible blood from her fingers, without turning it into a sex act, was startling to me. That scene cemented for me his later confession of love for her better than anything else. Because he didn't try to get something out of it. He crossed that line from just wanting to screw a hot chick into wanting to take care of this girl.
The way Craig seemlessly shifts between the different aspects of his character, layering his preformance, was just mesmerizing to watch. It made me feel invested in a character I could have easily disliked.
Now that his character's persona has been formed, I wonder whether I'll find his story as engaging? I'm not sure. There's something so electric about the genesis of this character that would be difficult to match. Whatever the case, I can't wait to see where the writers take it.
VESPER LYND
The more I think about this girl, the more I feel for her. She had a good job and this great boyfriend who loved her and bought her really thoughtful jewelry, and then suddenly her life turns to
![[censored]](https://debrief.commanderbond.net/topic/36488-a-bond-film/style_emoticons/default/censored.gif)
. She's thrown into the proverbial soup with very little hope that the situation can turn out well. And what does she get out of the deal? One rough, kind of crazy guy who kills people with his bare hands. Oh, wow. What a prize! I mean, sure, he's hot. And the sex was probably mindblowing. But the sort of guy who'd put his hands on a girl and shake her? After she's seen him strangle someone to death with those same hands? That's the kind of guy who's much more enjoyable on a screen several yards away than up close, I think.Once her boyfriend is kidnapped, she's thrown into this new, terrible world where there's violence and cruelty all around, and no conceivable way to save herself and everyone she loves. I can understand how all of it just knocked her around so much that she was willing to just let go at the end.
Poor mite.
JAMES/VESPER
Loved the dialogue between these two. It's clever enough, but not too clever. The kind of witty exchange I can imagine two smart people really having.
Them sizing each other up on the train was great. And when he tells her that her cover name is "Stephanie Broadchest" and she tries to snatch the dossier away and he's all grinning, "You'll just have to trust me." There was something so genuine and cute about that.
I also loved the power dynamics between them.
When he brings her the dress *he* picked out for her, and tells her that he needs her to look sexy to distract the other players, then asks "Will you do that for me?" like it's a foregone conclusion that she will.
Then he strolls out, only to find the dinner jacket *she* picked out for him on his bed. And all his suave control melts away, and he's such a boy whose ego has been pricked. "What is this? Is this. . . tailored? How did you know?"
And now she's the smooth one, all, "I had your measure from the first moment I saw you."
Damn, that was good. I could see why they fell for each other, and then when the axe falls, these light moments, along with the shower scene, give it its proper weight.
I never thought I'd see a well written male/female relationship in a Bond film, but wow. Nicely done.
JUDI DENCH
M continues to kick all kinds of
. I love her. Her little speech about how, in the past, any agent who made such a mess would have the decency to defect? That was WIN!Not to automatically cast a female character in a maternal role, but I love how she's like this mom who can totally have you killed if you don't straighten up.
When Vesper was dead and she told Bond that he'd learnt an important lesson? Damn, that was cold, and great. And I loved the way she didn't let him paint Vesper with the evil "bitch" brush. Sorry, but it's never that simple, boyo.
FELIX/AMERICAN CIA AGENT
I would like to see more of this guy. Yes, indeed. He and Bond need to team up again in the next film.
At the end, when the Bond theme plays, and DC gives the infamous line, I was elated (we get at least two more films with this guy! Woohoo!) and really sad. This film is like the funeral pyre of James Bond, human being, from which James Bond, heartless sociopath and womanizer, rises. I never thought of him as a tragic figure, but he really is. He's bashing his brains out for Queen and country 'cause he hasn't got anything else. And he knows his life will be "of short duration." Not an up ending, by any means.
Edited by Angel, 21 November 2006 - 10:25 AM.
