12.07.06
lee1990 Movie Review: Casino Royale
Finally, a Bond that avoids all “cartoonishness” and even all the cliches that can make Bond movies both enjoyable and annoying to watch.
Bond in this movie is more realistic a spy than he ever has been portrayed as being. There is also very little of the covert action and sneaking around; while he is at the Casino, everyone, including the villain, knows who he is and why he is there.
Essentially, the franchise has been started over from scratch. This movie portrays James Bond’s first mission as a 00 agent, but sets it in contemporary times and with contemporary stakes, involving terrorist financing. The plot has been updated to reflect new geopolitical realities.
The villain is unique only in that he weeps blood from one eye. He is a financier and money handler for terrorists and revolutionaries all over the world and he has a BIG problem. He has squandered his clients money on bad stock market investments, and needs to win the 150 million dollar pot at a high stakes poker game. If he does not, his clients will make him bleed from many more places besides his eye. Bond has been sent to play in the tournament in order to defeat him. This will force him to cooperate with MI6 and give information on his clients.
The bond girl has the usual beauty, but is not a mindless trollop such as Bond usually prefers. They do not even give here a sexually suggestive pun name as all other Bond Girls have had. The writers in fact took a swipe at this tradition at one point, when bond suggest that her undercover last name be Broadchest. Without giving away the plot too much, I can just say this is the most essential, most complex Bond girl ever placed in a Bond film.
Other Bond traditions are done away with; when asked if he wants his martini shaken or stirred, he simply replies “Does it look like I give a damn?”.
The movie does not end in the stereotyped Bond girl love scene either. In fact the end is so open that they are obviously thinking sequel.
Overall the movie is by far the best “Bond” ever made, if you are looking for realism rather than escapism. Worth the ticket price.
DonnaB said,
December 7, 2006 at 10:34 pm
Oh, sounds intriguing! I’ll have to wait until it comes to one of our many movie channels, but I will watch it based on your review! Thanks!