Casino Royale

[Tomasso]

Exactly!

At some point in the franchise bizarre stunts and special effects took over from solid characters and plausible stotylines.

Roger Moore's Bond flicks became cartoon-like with such stunts as a building collapsing on Jaws and him digging himself out and dusting himself off.

 

[Quigley Brown]

If you've seen Daniel Craig in Layer Cake then I think he'll be just fine as 007.

Still two and half months away......

 

[Mr_Misanthropy]

I've really been looking forward to Casino Royale ever since I saw the trailer. It looks like a true spy adventure, in my opinion, and that's just what the franchise needs. Daniel Craig is a fresh face that seems to have the right attitude. In the trailer, the one part that really sealed the deal for me is the very end when it zooms in on Bond sitting at a gambling table, wearing a tux. He looks at the camera and has this very definitive Bond look. Another note, I've never seen a Bond film in the theater, this will be my first. So, I hope it delivers, though I really have little doubt.

 

[Harp]

London Bond blitz

Casino Royale opened in London, and Daniel Craig seems to have
passed home town muster. May catch this later.

 

[Vladimir Berkov]

I agree. If he pulls of the same kind of performance as he did in "Layer Cake" then the Bond franchise will be in for a treat.

 

[Atomic Glee]

"Casino Royale" is getting some rave reviews. As I write this, it's got an impressive 95% rating on Rotten Tomatoes (ie, 95% positive). Most people seem to be saying it's the best Bond film since "On Her Majesty's Secret Service" or "Thunderball." Daniel Craig seems to be being hailed as turning in the best Bond performance since Connery, and seems to be one of the most hard-core takes on the character ever. A few quotes from the reviews I've read:

"In "Casino Royale," James Bond is back. Back to his roots as Ian Fleming's driven, bare-knuckled, rough-around-the-edges sociopathic killer in Her Majesty's Secret Service."

"In the startling sequence that kicks off Casino Royale, we see James Bond (Daniel Craig), early in his career as a British secret service agent, dispatching two enemies in a pair of initiation kills that will elevate him to double-0 status. One of the kills is classic Bond, elegant and almost witty in its efficiency. Intercut with this icy execution is a far more lurid episode in which Bond beats the crap out of someone in a men's room, bashing him bloody until he expires. It's a side of Bond we haven't seen before — but, of course, it's a side that was always there. (You don't get a license to kill for being a nice guy.) In Casino Royale, Bond is still learning to tame his impulses into a style, and he's all the more dangerous because of it."

""Casino Royale" brings vigor to the Bond franchise and the possibility of new directions. Pierce Brosnan played the same fellow that Dalton, Roger Moore and Connery played, and that was a burden. Craig gets to start from the ground up and create a brand-new guy. He's not the old James Bond but someone more interesting."

"I cannot prove it, but I suspect that God may have designed Craig during a slightly ham-fisted attempt at woodworking. His head is a rough cube, sawed and sanded, with the blue eyes hammered in like nail heads. He could beat a man’s brains out with his brow. That suits the Bond of “Casino Royale,” who has only lately acquired his license to kill, and, like a kid who’s just passed his driving test, is eager to step on the gas."

"Craig has the courage to present a hollow man, flooding the empty rooms where his better nature should be with brutality and threat. His smile is more frightening than his straight face, and he doesn’t bother with the throwaway quips that were meant to endear us to the other Bonds."

"Imagine, if you can, you've never heard of someone named James Bond. That martinis shaken or stirred meant nothing to you. That the number 007 made no particular sense and M was just a letter in the alphabet. Imagine you've never experienced the Wow Factor. The jaw-dropping stunts, the exotic locales, the gorgeous women, the despicable bad guys. And then, at a multiplex near you, there appears a galvanizing new action hero — though you're not quite sure he should be counted as entirely heroic. And he's played by sexy Daniel Craig, an English actor whose name you may not know but whose charisma and extraordinary acting chops have drifted stateside in movies including "Layer Cake," "Road to Perdition," "Munich" and "Infamous" (as killer Perry Smith). Welcome to "Casino Royale.""

 

[Quigley Brown]

..

 

[moustache]

I will wait

as well.But having been a big fan of Daniel Craig's work for many years,i welcome the change to a gritty and less polished Bond.Brosnan was way too pretty.Not a fighter.He might mess up the tux or suit.
Craig isn't as "handsome" but he certainly looks the part.

JD

 

[Tomasso]

Brosnan was way too pretty.

What about Cary Grant? He was Fleming's choice.[huh]

 

[Jack Scorpion]

as well.But having been a big fan of Daniel Craig's work for many years,i welcome the change to a gritty and less polished Bond.Brosnan was way too pretty.Not a fighter.He might mess up the tux or suit.
Craig isn't as "handsome" but he certainly looks the part.

JD

I completely agree.

What does Fleming know, anyway?

 

[Mark G]

I thought Brosnan was a fine bond and he did do some great fight scenes ("Tomorrow Never Dies" fight in the mixing room, Brosnan grabs the ashtray and hefts it). The producers chose to put him in invisible cars, and other riduculous contrivances. Having said that, "Casino Royale" is the best Bond movie since OHMSS. I had my doubts about Craig at first, but they evaporated in the first ten minutes. He has a great screen presence and can act. The movie was devoid of stupid gadgets, over the top bad guys and silly humor that appealed to twelve year olds. Craig's Bond was a little less refined than Fleming's but I can live with that. I also believe that it was the producers that wanted Cary Grant, but he refused to reprise the roll in future movies. Fleming wanted David Niven to play bond.

 

[Ken]

This movie is fantastic - its Bond as we should always have seen him. Myave Connery owns the movie Bond role, but here we finally have Flemming's Bond. He is cold. He is gritty. And he is human.

Its a departure from the movie franchise - but not so far as to be unrecognisable. But its a rebirth - think of it like Batman Begins for Bond.

Craig's performance is flawless - entirely believable as the character - but just be prepared that the character isn't necessarily the character we're all used to from the movies.

Ken

 

[Solid Citizen]

Bond Franchise

Look the whole Bond thing was like getting generational ho hum. Bond was Connery. But that was then, this is now & Mr. Craig is a smart $$$ play to
reignite Bond. :eusa_clap

SC

 

[Tomasso]

I also believe that it was the producers that wanted Cary Grant, but he refused to reprise the roll in future movies. Fleming wanted David Niven to play bond.

It's true that CG wasn't keen on any sequels and it should be noted that Cubby Broccoli, who was a great friend of CG's (best man at his wedding), said that they really couldn't afford CG's salary anyway. Fleming wrote Bond with CG as a model; I think that the Niven comment may have been made in the context of available actors, as CG's participation was really no more than a pipe dream .

 

[Blackhorse]

New Bond Review

Saw the film yesterday with my wife...SEE saw no flaws in the new Bond.

And as for me: OK, here we have a bond that is good with "gadgets" - (which has been re-defined as 'go-go gadget computer savy'), he can make cell phones sit up and beg, can sneak into M's London apartment with ease, etc. and can drive the new Ford Astin Martin DB6,7,8 whatever, with aplom).

But better than all of that he shows several characteristics that have been sadly lacking in most, if not all, prior Bonds (not that the charactersitics were difined by Fleming - they are a function of the SCRIPTING). But be that as it may, he shows THE most relentless determination during the chase...oh my yes. He shows "cut" - the boy is well chisled all over. He shows "true grit" - yes, our man can take it. And, perhaps the greatest departure, he shows that he can mix thinking and feeling...he has human emotion and insight...he is reflective. This might well make him THE Bond for the 2000's.

I'm giving the movie a big...three thumbs up!

Um, how old is Albert Brocoli anyway?!?

 

[Brad Bowers]

I had reservations last year about Daniel Craig, but now I'm looking forward to seeing this one.

Blackhorse, "Cubby" Broccoli died ten years ago at the age of 87.

Brad

 

[Blackhorse]

So, is it Chubby's kid that's in the movie credits...or a posthumous mention?

 

[Brad Bowers]

His daughter, Barbara, along with longtime Bond producer Michael G. Wilson, have been producing the series, so it's just a posthumous mention.

Brad

 

[JohnnyL]

Caught Casino Royale Friday night. When Daniel Craig was first announced as the new Bond I had plenty of doubts but they were erased in the first two action sequences. The chase through the construction site in Africa has to be one of the best if not best action sequence of any Bond film to date. Some of the shots were just jaw dropping. I really like the new hard edged Bond. Very few gadgets except for the souped up cell phone and some computer work. He is believable in the fight sequences. I have to warn the males here that Bond is tortured in a way that will have most cringing. This is the first Bond that I can remember that shows the effects of the fight sequences....you will know that being in a fight is a bloody experience. Plus he looks damn good in a tux. If you are a fan of any of the previous films or just a Bond fan from the books, go and see this movie.

 

[moustache]

Now i need to go!

I have been so busy that the theatre has been the last thing on my mind.
Now i will have to go!!!

JD