CASINO ROYALE IS NOT THE BEST

donaldgrant

Okay...I've run CASINO ROYALE enough times and even gave it another shot tonight before deciding that, as much as I like Craig's physicality in the role, you need DVD subtitles to understand at least 1/4th of Daniel's dialogue...and villain LeChiffre as mumbled by the atrocious Mads Mikkelson drives one to activate the DVD subtitles the very instant he opens his mouth! Try understanding the lines where he explains the blood dripping from his eye. While he knows how to shoot action sequences, apparently Director Martin Campbell mails in his directions of the cast's elocution. It's miserable...and it hugely detracts from the overall impact of the film. Even the spledid looking Eva Green does her bit in the slurred delivery of lines. That's one of the reasons why I can't jump on the apparently trendy bandwagon in rating CASINO ROYALE a stellar Bond. Never before have I and my Bond-watching friends needed to run sub-titles to get the dialogue...and while I'm at it, no Bond film has ever looked so jaundiced in employing the color yellow. Director of Photography Phil Meheux must have been on a lemon bender. There are scenes when the actors look plasma-fed to the extreme. As for the script holes, just what is that unnamed organization behind the whole affair? It's never identified who Mr. White works for. No SPECTRE, no SMERSH, I guess it's called NOTHING. Who is the man with one dark glass lens that makes Vesper go so finally wrong? Never identified. How does Mr. White get his hands on the money briefcase that falls into the raging Venetian waters? Never explained. Why in hell does 007 fight to save LeChiffre from a fate worse than death? And why start Bond all over again by excluding Moneypenny and the Q component but keeping Judi Densch when M should have been cast differently to make the transition from Brosnan to Craig believable. Sorry, blokes, none of this washes. CASINO ROYALE, like LICENSE TO KILL, has a gritty style that sets it apart from the rest of the canon, Craig is dynamic in violent action, but I like my Bond films intelligible both plot and word-wise...and as for David Arnold's music...
please, EON, bring back John Barry before it's too late!!! Once I watch CASINO ROYALE, I need a fix of GOLDFINGER, FROM RUSSIA WITH LOVE, ON HER MAJESTY'S SECRET SERVICE, or, minus the Eric Serra music, GOLDENEYE, the best of the James Bond films!

John Drake

Shouldn't this be in the Casino Royale reviews section? CR abusing really doesn't bother me in the slightest; I don't consider it to be the best Bond film either.

However,

donaldgrant wrote:

the atrocious Mads Mikkelson

CR might not be his best work, but Mikkelson has proved his talent in films like Pusher 1 & 2 and Open Hearts. These films are foriegn so you'll need the sub-titles on, but luckily CR has already given you some experience in that department. :v

Napoleon Plural

I agree with much of this donaldgrant, esp in the hard-to-hear dialogue, a problem shared with the second Pirates film (I missed the third).

That said, this thread will be closed by a moderator as it should be in the reviews thread.

Hardyboy

As everyone has pointed out, there is a thread for posting CR reviews, which you can find right here. Please post your thoughts there, and reserve this particular forum for discussions of the upcoming Bond film. Thanks. And, yes, the topic is now closed.