BBC Entertainment Review
Moonraker 5
Ayrshire, ScotlandPosts: 1,821MI6 Agent
Another positive one to chalk up on the board...
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/6136276.stm
Review: Casino Royale
By Tim Masters
Entertainment editor, BBC news website
Bond is back - and this time he's more gritty than pretty. Even from the first few seconds of Casino Royale it's clear how things have changed.
For a start it begins in black and white. There's Bond in the shadows, ready for the kill. It's moody film noir stuff, and it instantly establishes Daniel Craig as a tough cookie.
Director Martin Campbell, who so successfully re-invented Bond with the introduction of Pierce Brosnan in 1995's GoldenEye, pulls off the same trick here. With the new Bond comes a new feel to the franchise.
Gone are the gratuitous gadgets and one-liners, along with Moneypenny and pantomime megalomaniacs. Casino Royale feels like something of a homecoming - a return to the spirit of the Fleming novels.
Of course, there are action scenes aplenty in far-flung locations - Madagascar, Miami and Montenegro to name just three. The Bond girls are as stunning as ever, and there's a bad guy with a dodgy eye.
The revelation here is Bond himself. Daniel Craig is an immensely physical 007. At times he's like MI6's answer to The Terminator - crashing through walls and leaping from buildings with superhuman strength.
During one scrape he pulls out a large nail that's embedded in his shoulder and tosses it nonchalantly aside.
But he bleeds too. Craig spends much of this film a bloodied and bruised mess. It really is hard to imagine any of the previous Bonds being quite this muscular and, well, hard.
M (Judi Dench) says to Bond after the murder of a recent sexual conquest: "I would ask you to remain emotionally detached, but that's not your problem, is it Bond?"
The first hour of the film is full-on action, including an exhilarating chase sequence across a building site and an explosive episode at Miami airport.
The pace changes when Bond meets the Treasury's Vesper Lynd (Eva Green) ahead of a high stakes poker game against international money launderer Le Chiffre (Mads Mikkelsen).
The chemistry between Craig and Green is evident, and director Campbell makes a good attempt at giving their relationship some depth.
In one notable scene, Vesper attempts to purge herself under a hotel shower after she witnesses Bond kill a henchman. Like Lady Macbeth, she imagines blood on her hands.
Bond joins her under the spray - both of them still clothed - and sucks her fingers. It's a curious scene for a Bond film, but it works.
The casino scenes are genuinely tense, with plenty of incident both on and away from the poker table. Le Chiffre has more to lose than Bond. He's blown someone else's millions and he has to win them back.
Mikkelsen's villain is refreshingly low-key. The infamous torture scene with Bond and the cut-out chair is all the more chilling thanks to Le Chiffre's ice-cold demeanour.
The Venice finale is not the film's strongest act. Amid the predictable mayhem it's Bond's love for Vesper that is the real focus. Loose ends are not neatly tied up - mysteries remain - we are left wanting more.
So there we have it. Daniel Craig has squeezed his pecs into 007's tuxedo and it matters not one jot that he's blond.
The anti-Craig lobbyists - if they still exist - should be reaching for their recipe books. It's time to eat humble pie.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/6136276.stm
Review: Casino Royale
By Tim Masters
Entertainment editor, BBC news website
Bond is back - and this time he's more gritty than pretty. Even from the first few seconds of Casino Royale it's clear how things have changed.
For a start it begins in black and white. There's Bond in the shadows, ready for the kill. It's moody film noir stuff, and it instantly establishes Daniel Craig as a tough cookie.
Director Martin Campbell, who so successfully re-invented Bond with the introduction of Pierce Brosnan in 1995's GoldenEye, pulls off the same trick here. With the new Bond comes a new feel to the franchise.
Gone are the gratuitous gadgets and one-liners, along with Moneypenny and pantomime megalomaniacs. Casino Royale feels like something of a homecoming - a return to the spirit of the Fleming novels.
Of course, there are action scenes aplenty in far-flung locations - Madagascar, Miami and Montenegro to name just three. The Bond girls are as stunning as ever, and there's a bad guy with a dodgy eye.
The revelation here is Bond himself. Daniel Craig is an immensely physical 007. At times he's like MI6's answer to The Terminator - crashing through walls and leaping from buildings with superhuman strength.
During one scrape he pulls out a large nail that's embedded in his shoulder and tosses it nonchalantly aside.
But he bleeds too. Craig spends much of this film a bloodied and bruised mess. It really is hard to imagine any of the previous Bonds being quite this muscular and, well, hard.
M (Judi Dench) says to Bond after the murder of a recent sexual conquest: "I would ask you to remain emotionally detached, but that's not your problem, is it Bond?"
The first hour of the film is full-on action, including an exhilarating chase sequence across a building site and an explosive episode at Miami airport.
The pace changes when Bond meets the Treasury's Vesper Lynd (Eva Green) ahead of a high stakes poker game against international money launderer Le Chiffre (Mads Mikkelsen).
The chemistry between Craig and Green is evident, and director Campbell makes a good attempt at giving their relationship some depth.
In one notable scene, Vesper attempts to purge herself under a hotel shower after she witnesses Bond kill a henchman. Like Lady Macbeth, she imagines blood on her hands.
Bond joins her under the spray - both of them still clothed - and sucks her fingers. It's a curious scene for a Bond film, but it works.
The casino scenes are genuinely tense, with plenty of incident both on and away from the poker table. Le Chiffre has more to lose than Bond. He's blown someone else's millions and he has to win them back.
Mikkelsen's villain is refreshingly low-key. The infamous torture scene with Bond and the cut-out chair is all the more chilling thanks to Le Chiffre's ice-cold demeanour.
The Venice finale is not the film's strongest act. Amid the predictable mayhem it's Bond's love for Vesper that is the real focus. Loose ends are not neatly tied up - mysteries remain - we are left wanting more.
So there we have it. Daniel Craig has squeezed his pecs into 007's tuxedo and it matters not one jot that he's blond.
The anti-Craig lobbyists - if they still exist - should be reaching for their recipe books. It's time to eat humble pie.
Comments
As a general statement, I think Bond films tend to have this problem with their final scenes. In my opinion, the finales do not compare favorably with the rest of the films, excepting GF, YOLT, FYEO, LTK, and GE (more or less).
Please do not get me wrong; I love all twenty films. I just find the endings are not the best part. I am loosely defining "ending" as the last big action sequence. The question I am considering is, Why?
The brief answer, I think, is that there is too much to tie up without being sloppy (appropriately dispose of the henchman, opportunity for Bond-villain dialogue, the villain's demise, saving the girl, giving the girl something constructive to contribute, saving the world, etc.).
Another factor: some of the films might just be too long, causing the finale to drag.
Finally, in the rarest occasion, and it pains my Bond-fan heart to say it, the ending is just downright sleepy (DN (no offense to Young & co, just my personal opinion)).
So, if CR's ending is weak, does it fall short of par compared to its relative films? To me, knowing the general story, what matters is what is meant by "finale." I would care less if the finale was lacking than if the end-end was weak (since the very, very end is my favorite part).
Of course, this all depends on whether one agrees with the reviewers' opinions (that the CR finale is weak), and whether one agrees with my opinion (that Bond finales, generally, are weaker than the rest of the films).
Does anyone agree or disagree?
Then click on VIDEO + AUDIO NEWS Interview with Daniel Craig, which is currently below centre on the left hand side of the page.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/default.stm
http://www.bbc.co.uk/films/2006/11/06/casino_royale_2006_review.shtml
Reviewed by Paul Arendt
Reviewers rating: 4 STARS
James Bond gets a hefty whack in the testes in Casino Royale, both literally and figuratively. The 21st installment of the world's longest-running movie series strips away the gadgetry to focus on action and character, introducing a younger, tougher James Bond (Daniel Craig) struggling to complete his first major mission. The target is terrorist banker Le Chiffre (Mads Mikkelsen), whom our hero must defeat in a high stakes poker game at the swanky Casino Royale in Montenegro.
First things first: Daniel Craig is not a good Bond. He's a great Bond. Specifically, he is 007 as conceived by Ian Fleming - a professional killing machine, a charming, cold-hearted patriot with a taste for luxury. Craig is the first actor to really nail 007's defining characteristic: he's an absolute swine. Following his example, Martin Campbell's film hits the ground running with a breathless chase through a building site, a sequence so impressive that the rest of the action struggles to trump it. Bond takes a tremendous battering throughout the movie. He's beaten senseless, thrown off ledges, poisoned and tortured. Even his withered heart takes a whupping when he falls for slinky treasury agent Vesper Lynd (Eva Green). It's all thrilling stuff, closer in tone to The Bourne Identity than the camp quippery of old-school Bond.
"CRAIG'S THE FIRST ACTOR TO REALLY NAIL 007"
There are a few problems. 144 minutes is dangerously long for an action flick, and audiences may be restless during the protracted romantic interludes. You could drive an Aston Martin through the holes in the plot, and Chris Cornell's theme tune is an embarassment. But these are small niggles. Casino Royale is a 1,000 watt jolt to the heart of a flagging franchise, bringing Bond kicking - and frequently screaming - back to life.
Casino Royale is released in UK cinemas on Friday 17th November 2006.
Some banter on set with Craig in interview, with Craig showing a flash of panic at Ross's humorous jibes about his looks etc then remembering Ross is an ally...
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