(*: least, *****: highest)
I am not a great fan of Bond movies… The common content always turned me off, the gadgets made me feel it was better if they made an animated series out of the frachise! But Casino Royale has changed that for ever :)
Casino Royale is not like other Bond movies, and thats what makes it a winner. Somebody finally realized that not many were buying that James Bond would go into a fight, kill a dozen enemies of the Queen and return without a single crease on his suit… Oh forgot to mention, getting lucky with a few girls along the way. Well Casino Royale is not like that… Thank heavens
As the movie starts James Bond has just gotten the 00 status… The opening sequence is just brilliant, Daniel Craig is actually the cold blooded killer 007 should be! The movie moves swiftly at places and sometimes is intentionally slow… The starting chase sequence is probably one of the best ever made on film. Again we see James using his feet and smarts(and goofing up at places too) no gadgets or visits to the science museum for one of a kind devices. The story slowly unfolds and we are informed that Bond has to win a poker game to stop the villan(from winning it and) funding terrorism!
The diversion from the standard is so obvious that I totally loved it. For eg when asked if he wanted his Vodka Martini ‘Shaken or Stirred’, an upset Bond replies “Do I look like I give a damn!”… Considering that this is a prequel to all Bond movies we find out things like why Bond does not use aliases on missions and his fetish for cars :P
The Poker game in the movie was described by many as a boring but I felt it was one of the best parts of the movie… I loved the way the game was shown and explained so that a person who does not know much about the game(yours truly) got most of what was happening, since thanks to this I could get interested in casinos and Poker, and even learning to play and doing bets in sites as daftar poker online where you can play comfortably from your home.
Daniel Craig has filled thrown Pierce Brosnan’s shoes out of the window. I was hoping to watch Huge Jackman as Bond but I can safely say Daniel does much more than justice to James Bond. He is calm, stylish, smart and has a perfect poker face(which was perfect for this movie :P ) I always believed that as a character James Bond will be hard to add anything to. The character is so well known that anything attempts to change it will almost certainly tarnish your reputation… Well I was wrong, very wrong(Excuse the pun). For the first time you get to see Bond making mistakes, arrogance showing in his face and being very hasty at times. The immature Bond enacted to perfection.
Eva Green(Vasper Lynd) is just gorgeous… Her eyes absolutely seductive and her lines delivered with equally killing precision. The sad part is that her role is not thru the film, she enters almost 30-45min after the movie starts and drops in occasionally to show her beautiful face once in a while. Her absence from screen is more than made up by her short presence on it. Ironically her importance in the movie grows as the climax approaches and we come face to face with different shades of Vasper Lynd.
What was most special according to me was the dialouges… I hardly expected any good dialouges other than the “Bond, James Bond” and a few standard catch phrases but I was again pleasantly surprised… Here are few of the best ones:
M: I knew it was too early to promote you.
James Bond: Well, I understand double-ohs have a very short life expectancy. So your mistake will be short-lived.Vesper Lynd: If the only thing left of you was your smile and your little finger, you’d still be more of a man than anyone else.
James Bond: That’s because you know what I can do with my little finger…James Bond: Sorry, that last hand almost killed me.
Vesper Lynd: You’re not going to let me in there. You’ve got your armour back on.
James Bond: I have no armour left. You’ve stripped it from me. Whatever is left of me – whatever I am – I’m yours.Vesper Lynd: Am I going to have a problem with you, Bond?
James Bond: No, don’t worry. You’re not my type.
Vesper Lynd: Smart?
James Bond: Single.
Bottom Line: This is one of the best bond movies I have ever seen. If the continue making Bond movies this way I might actually start liking the franchise :)