Casino Royale

[stevekenson]

The James Bond of my childhood was the campy Roger Moore Bond of films like Moonraker and The Spy Who Loved Me (the first Bond film I saw). Later, I became a fan of Connery's Bond (and George Lazenby's), suffered through Timothy Dalton's, and for the most part enjoyed Pierce Brosnan in the role. Daniel Craig's hiring as the new 007 was controversial (largely due to his hair color, it seems, which didn't bother me at all) but I've got to say, having just seen him in Casino Royale, Craig gets it, and how.

This was a good Bond movie. The gadgetry is at a bare minimum (ironically much of it is also entirely real — Connery's Bond only wished he had a cell and a laptop at his disposal). Craig's Bond is dry and witty without self-conscious jokes and, while handsome, he's not as pretty as past Bonds, putting him more in line with Flemming's stories. Dame Judi Dench does another lovely turn as M, with a bigger part (yay!) but not so big as to detract from the main story. I won't spoil the story except to say that I thought at one point, "Wow, character development in a Bond film: what will they think of next?"

Comments

[icebear1967.livejournal.com]

I saw casino rolale today and thought it was the best 007 movie i have seen.

[philreed.livejournal.com]

We're going to see this tomorrow. I'm typically indifferent to Bond films but this one looks interesting.

[maliszew.livejournal.com]

This is good to hear. I'd been hoping for a re-boot of the Bond series for some time and, while my own personal preference would have been a "historical" series set in the 1950s and 1960s, I am still pleased you thought so highly of this one.

I shall try to see it tomorrow.

[joannahurley.livejournal.com]

We went last night, and I really enjoyed it, more than most of the recent Bond flicks.