1 reply to this topic

[Tajike]

"Casino Royale" premiered yesterday in Belgium, this being the cue I was waiting for the last entire year. I witnessed the appointment of Craig as Bond, I witnessed the decision to go back-to-basics, I witnessed the becomming of "Casino Royale".
This, ladies and gentlemen, is my review of the newest Bond-movie.

Bond is like a carnal sin for me: I'm a big fan of arthouse and foreign movies, I despise modern mainstream moviemaking (haven't been in a cinema since DAD)and Bondmovies... Well, they are close to my heart since I watched "Octopussy" for the first time as a little lad 11 years ago, with "Goldeneye" being my first 'Bond-in-cinema' experience. There is this thing which distinguishes Bondmovies from anything else. Thus you can understand my disappointment with the last batch of them (with DAD being the epithomy) belonging more in the 'anything else'-category. I thought Bond was dying: not on screen but in my movie-loving heart.
Cue "Casino Royale" and see if it salvaged my broken heart.

Pros
- The PTS was refreshing to see: a stone cold Bond with a simple job to kill two people. No OTT-ness, just raw Bond (I'm so disgusted by the use of the word 'gritty'). The black-and-white experiment worked wonderfully well and it even caused some people in the cinema to doubt if they were at the right movie. I fell in love with the new gunbarrel btw.
- What blew me away even more was he title sequence, a piece of art by Kleinman which, in its simplicity, summarized the new Bond to us: harder, colder, darker.
- The first hour of the movie was a non-stop adrenaline rush. I'm not going to say I liked so much action at once (I would've made the Miami sequence shorter or just cut it altogether if not for that utterly cool ending) but the way they pasted the two together with classical Bond was just brilliant.
- I'm actually of the opinion that the relationship between Bond and Vesper is indeed very realistically and well done. You just got to love the entire sequence from the train untill the check-in at Splendide. Its a guidline for future screenplay writers on how to create character-development in just 10 minutes times. The love is not rushed at all and it's understandable that after an experience such as the one both Vesper and Bond experience can speed up 'the Train of Emotions'.
- The poker was wel televised and you could notice everyone in the cinema holding their breath during the game.
- The torture got me jumping from my chair. It's not as intense as the book-version but it really left an impression with everyone who saw it. I was scared that Bond's witty remarks would be totally out of place. I was so wrong...
- Not much can be said about the ending. Best. Finale. Ever. Delivery of the line was spot on and I was most impressed by the underrated role Christenssen plays to back this final scene up.
- Craig is MY Bond. Connery was Bond, Dalton had the Fleming edge. Craig is Bond and has the Fleming edge. He now takes a shared first place with Connery in the Best Bond ranking.
Vesper was played with much flair by Green and put the first step in the new direction for the future Bondgirls.
Mikkelsen played the best villain since Sanchez, making Le Chiffre a menacing person who could almost kill you with the blink of an eye. To be honest, he scared the living daylights out of me during the torture scene.
Dench succeeded at establishing a new M, more ruthless and colder than the M of the Brosnan-age (the female version of the Bond evolution?).
- I almost wept some tears during the movie (first movie ever to have done so since "Buffalo '66"): the shower scene (brilliant acting by Green) and the death of Vesper made it enormously hard to hold back the tears.

Cons
- The editing was a bit iffy at some points, most remarkably during the car chase: it was like three pieces of the chase put to one. Especially the unexplained appearing of Vesper in the middle of the road was a strange moment.
- Though I liked the poker (big poker fanatic), it was too short. If I remember correctly they only showed 4

[stamper]

That same bastard was at my screening too. I believe it's the same guy, who goes to all Bond screenings with the purpose of disrupting them, traveling from country to country. If it's different guys, then there are an awful lot of idiots in this world.