[Oistrakh]

Quote:

Originally Posted by wakeride74 /img/forum/go_quote.gif I one of the guys that really liked Brosnan as Bond, can you comment on the continuation (if any) of the cheesy sexual one liner innuendos? I rather enjoyed those in the recent Bond movies... a little comic relief. Also IIRC the Brosnan Bond gave up the PPK for a Baby Eagle didn't he? The trailer looks good but I'm still having a hard time accepting the new James Blonde... he just doesn't look the part. I

why don't you actually go see the movie before making any assumptions that a "blond" james bond is bad... Unless you enjoy looking at pretty boy actors as bond

 

[utarch00]

I just saw the movie. I am a huge bond fan and I thought it was a great movie. I could have done without all of the Sony and Ford advertisments also. I think Daniel Craig was impressive in this movie if it were any other action movie. He was not convincing as Bond. He did not even seem British. At least Brosnan sounded British. That DBS was awesome.

If they are going to remake the Bond movies and stay true to the stories, than this should be Craig's only movie.

 

[Kirosia]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Oistrakh /img/forum/go_quote.gif why don't you actually go see the movie before making any assumptions that a "blond" james bond is bad... Unless you enjoy looking at pretty boy actors as bond

Now you're assuming things about his assumptions. He just said he has a hard time accepting the new james b(l)onde. Didn't say it was bad, nor did he mention any preference for pretty boy actors. Chillax yo.

 

[wakeride74]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Oistrakh /img/forum/go_quote.gif why don't you actually go see the movie before making any assumptions that a "blond" james bond is bad... Unless you enjoy looking at pretty boy actors as bond

This is the first blond Bond... just looks very different from the predecessors, the previews do look good so I probably will check it out.

I second Kirosia's comment.. chill with the attitude, no need to be a jerk

 

[blessingx]

I thought the Borne films out "James Bond" the recent James Bond films.
This looks a little closer to the Borne flicks in physically, etc. Is that true?

 

[puiah11]

The Good: Flippin the aston was neat. The airplane chase scene was good and the car getting flipped by the jetliner engies was neat. Nice to see a new felix liter. The relationship between bond and eva green was not really developed and there was no attraction between them, which I somewhat liked because it made bond seem more cool. She had a hot body, but all she did was bitch and complain.

The opening scene where bond is chasing that guy was good and exciting. The fact that bond escaped with his life was cool when confronting the embassy guards. The funny scene where bond gets in the aston and drives around in a circle and then gets out with the chick was funny, also the fact that he didn't care which way his martini was served was also a little silly.

The Bad:Le Chifre was a terrible villan. The scene where he keeps hitting him in the nuts was totally over the top and disgusted me. People laughed but in retrospect is was stupid. The bond girl, eva green, was stupid as well. Did she kill herself out of shame by locking herself in the elevator on purpose? The commentary on the poker match by the double agent (mathis (sp?)) 'he's in 14 milllion' type of stuff was completely unncessary. Plus, the poker match and all the text messaging was totally playing to today's youth TV audience who are into texas hold em and text messaging. That made me cringe.

The Ugly: The RFID tag bond gets and then having M drop a 9/11 reference was completely uncalled for. Americans will NEVER accept RFID, and planting a reference to RFIDs and 9/11 in the movie was disgusting, having them placed so closely together. That had to be planned.

The opening credits had no naked women (I mean What!!). The bond barrel scene was different that the blood looked more real (that was not really a big deal), but you couldn't make out what they were saying in the 5 min. opening dialouge.

Comments:

Mediocre Bond film IMO.

I wish they had put more of a sexy relationship between Eva and Bond, so when she died the audience actually felt something. I was like, I knew she was a double agent like right when they showed him on the hospital bed and you saw her with that mathis guy. Even if she had been blackmailed she was very unloyal to MI6 and didn't tell the truth to Bond. The fact that M tried to make Bond feel sympathy for her wasn't something I liked. The fact that he called her a bitch was right on. He probably had considered she was a double agent or not on the side of MI6 and didn't really care other than that he loved her.

I guess the reboot had to be more neutral that they could have made it. It's really just a intro to the craig bond we'll see in Bond 22. I hope his next role is much more intense. Plus, he looked like he just walked out of a gym. He needs more definition in his body, like bruce lee, and less bulk.

I was satisfied more or less.

 

[Geoff Rymer]

Quote:

Originally Posted by utarch00 /img/forum/go_quote.gif He did not even seem British. At least Brosnan sounded British.

Huh? Even if it were possible to define a 'British' accent, which it is not, (aside from the nation states thing, there are just too many accents in the British Isles) I still don't think Brosnan would sound it. To my (English) ears he was Irish/American doing a Connery impersonation.

 

[jlo mein]

Went to the theatre yesterday, saw a huge linup for Casino Royale, and no lineup for Happy Feet. I saw Happy Feet.

I can't resist a good penguin movie.

 

[DRSpeed85]

I saw this movie last night and I came out truely impressed and satisfied. This version of Bond is easily one of the best Bond films!! I think what Batman begins does for the Batman franchise, Casino Royale does for James Bond as well.

I became a fan of Craig from Layer Cake and I think he did a superb job on this film. His version of James Bond is portrayed to be a cold heartless assassin but he was also convincingly in love and vulnerable to Versper Lynd, which was a refreshing twist of Bond as we know of. In the past Bond films, it felt like Bond was immortal despite showers of bullets and near death experiences. Instead, this Bond feels always on the edge as if you wouldn't be surprised if he dies any moment. I was also a casual fan of Eva Green from 'The Dreamers' and there were some dejavu's of that movie in Casino Royale. Especially the part when she is in the elevator. I wasn't particularly bothered with the mix of text messaging and poker as puiah11 since people in such scenes genuinely do use text messaging even if some places require phones to be turned off.

And what is it with the short exposure of the sexy Aston Martin DBS??? After Die another day, I was hoping they'd use this car more than that film since for the first time, this is a purpose built car by Aston Martin. I was disappointed all we got to see of the car was the million dollar crash scene they did several times to perfect.

I was a little worried about aggressive product placement from Sony, but having seen the movie being acutely aware of this, I concluded that it wasn't too noticable. The only very obvious ones were the Vaio laptops. But besides that I don't think regular moviergoers would notice walkman phones, blu-ray disks and Vesper Lynd's digital camera. Lots of Ford products too like the brand spankin new Mondeo, Jaguars, Landrovers and of course, the Aston Martin which itself is a costar. James Bond wasn't as gadget dependent as his predecessors (or successors) which I quite liked.

Lastly, I felt that some American audience are missing out a little bit from the movie. The chase scene in Madagascar jumping round is Le Parkour, which actually exists. I was surprised that a good chunk of the audience was actually laughing at the scene as if it was cariculture. The crane scenes were abit of a stretch, but the rest of the chase wasn't the craziest Le Parkour I've seen before. Also the Ford that Bond drives in Bahamas is a Ford Mondeo. As the audience were exiting the theater I heard someone calling the Ford and the Aston concept cars.

And I can't help but notice that since the movie opened yesterday, half the user ratings on IMDB consist of 10s!!! This movie really is that good.

 

[Czilla9000]

Quote:

Originally Posted by DRSpeed85 /img/forum/go_quote.gif I saw this movie last night and I came out truely impressed and satisfied. This version of Bond is easily one of the best Bond films!! I think what Batman begins does for the Batman franchise, Casino Royale does for James Bond as well. I became a fan of Craig from Layer Cake and I think he did a superb job on this film. His version of James Bond is portrayed to be a cold heartless assassin but he was also convincingly in love and vulnerable to Versper Lynd, which was a refreshing twist of Bond as we know of. In the past Bond films, it felt like Bond was immortal despite showers of bullets and near death experiences. Instead, this Bond feels always on the edge as if you wouldn't be surprised if he dies any moment. I was also a casual fan of Eva Green from 'The Dreamers' and there were some dejavu's of that movie in Casino Royale. Especially the part when she is in the elevator. I wasn't particularly bothered with the mix of text messaging and poker as puiah11 since people in such scenes genuinely do use text messaging even if some places require phones to be turned off. And what is it with the short exposure of the sexy Aston Martin DBS??? After Die another day, I was hoping they'd use this car more than that film since for the first time, this is a purpose built car by Aston Martin. I was disappointed all we got to see of the car was the million dollar crash scene they did several times to perfect. I was a little worried about aggressive product placement from Sony, but having seen the movie being acutely aware of this, I concluded that it wasn't too noticable. The only very obvious ones were the Vaio laptops. But besides that I don't think regular moviergoers would notice walkman phones, blu-ray disks and Vesper Lynd's digital camera. Lots of Ford products too like the brand spankin new Mondeo, Jaguars, Landrovers and of course, the Aston Martin which itself is a costar. James Bond wasn't as gadget dependent as his predecessors (or successors) which I quite liked. Lastly, I felt that some American audience are missing out a little bit from the movie. The chase scene in Madagascar jumping round is Le Parkour, which actually exists. I was surprised that a good chunk of the audience was actually laughing at the scene as if it was cariculture. The crane scenes were abit of a stretch, but the rest of the chase wasn't the craziest Le Parkour I've seen before. Also the Ford that Bond drives in Bahamas is a Ford Mondeo. As the audience were exiting the theater I heard someone calling the Ford and the Aston concept cars. And I can't help but notice that since the movie opened yesterday, half the user ratings on IMDB consist of 10s!!! This movie really is that good.

Ditto.....could be a good date movie was well due to the heartfelt romance.

 

[skudmunky]

I just got back from seeing it, it was pretty sweet. Good movie, well worth the $7.50

 

[squall2072]

Certainly better than the last one... god was that bad.

No cheap tricks with silly cars that flash away and climb walls, no death ray from space. Less special effects, more stunts = better IMO

The poker hands were a bit easy to read though, I expect alot of people could have read them

 

[mr_baseball_08]

Another two thumbs up here.

To me, this Bond film beat Brosnan on all counts.

Craig in my eyes did a wonderful job portraying Bond and 2 minutes into the film you pretty much forget what Bond is "supposed" to look like.

To me, most scenes were realistic in the sense that Bond doesn't make every jump and stunt perfectly and he makes a point to stop and look at his surroundings before delving into the next stunt. This is pretty subtle, but it just adds to the realism for me. The only Sony thing that got on my nerves was the constant Sony Ericsson phone, but I also noticed DVD players, as well as indvidual CD's with the Sony logo on them. After you get over it, it's not that big of a deal.

Spoilers:

Best parts to me were when he made up his own drink on the spot and the torture scene actually did come out funny even through I cringed with every hit.

Questions with spoilers:

I was a bit confused by the end. Anyone care to explain who was on his side and who was against him? After the torture someone (who was this guy?) came in and shot the Le Chiffre. And who was Mathis working for? I know he was helping Le Chiffre, but was that his only role? And who was the guy that got shot at the end and what role did he play besides picking up the blackmail money Vesper left?

 

[watchluvr4ever]

I just saw Casino Royale and I thought it was pretty good overall but something seemed missing. It almost didn't feel like a "Bond" film.

 

[blip]

I am of two minds about this movie. As a Bond fan, I'm a bit sad to see the end (at least for the time being) of the light-hearted, gonzo Bond film. I will miss the irrational plots, insane special effects and needless T & A. I also miss the many Bond trademarks that we've come to know and love. As a movie fan, though, I'm pretty impressed.

The Good
In virtually every way we traditionally judge films this movie is superior to all of its immediate predecessors. It has a better plot, dialog, acting, direction etc. than any move in the Pierce Broslin phase (with the possible exception of Goldeneye.)

This is a restart for the Bond franchise, bringing it straight back to its pre-Connery roots. The setting is dark, and sometimes un-glamorous. The action is not stylized and feels realer than it has in recent Bonds. (Not a high standard) The characters are less cartoonish and fully capable of losing or dieing. The general attitude is tenser and more emotionally intense.

Craig does not look right as Bond, and I don't think he ever quite will, but in the face of his superb acting, I don't really care! He portrays a complex Bond that all of his predecessors have hinted at but never really been able to communicate. For the first time since Connery, Bond is a believable character, not a swinger pseudo-superhero. His portrayal has been compared to Connery's, but I think that it would be more accurate to say that he is close to what Timothy Dalton wanted to do with Bond but was never able to. It's shocking how good this guy is!

The supporting players are fairly decent. The central villain is not as compelling as other Bond foes, but serve the role decently. Judi Dench delivers her best performance as M. Eva Green does a respectable job at playing one of the few believable female characters in the Bond saga... though her dialog isn't the best at times.

The Bad
The makers of this film are a little too proud of their audacity in remaking Bond. They are constantly pointing out that their 007 is different than others. While this is probably necessary to some degree, they take it way too far in this film. Best example is when we first see Bond driving a car, a Ford sedan. Focusing on the Ford emblem they bash the viewers over the head with the fact that Bond isn't driving something fancy. This sort of thing occurs quite often in the film lending it a heavy handed feeling at times. It even mucks up a few very nice dramatic scenes which feel forced because they are trying so hard to point out that Bond is different.

I don't mind long films but this movie could have used a bit of editing as several of the sequences stretch far beyond what feels natural. Some of the fight sequences drag on too long, exhausting their visual concepts and generally becoming boring. Similarly, at times they are so concerned with making Bond appear "real" that the film bogs down.

Another problem is that this Bond is not nearly as distinctive from other spy movies as its predecessors. At one point early on I thought they might consider calling this movie the "Bond Identity" because it often feels like other serious spy/action films. While this is a side effect of it being a better movie, I wonder if something is lost by turning its back on part of what made a Bond movie a Bond movie.

Finally, the item promotions were totally out of hand. Though they have been present since the beginning of the series (why do you think it is a VODKA martini?) they felt ever present here. Maybe it is just a sign of the times that every surface has advertising on it, but I found it quite annoying. Sony was the worst offender by far... lets just say that if Sony made torture devices or handguns or tuxedos you can be sure that they would have been in the movie with giant SONY logos on them. Disgusting and one of the few cases where it actually hurts a movie.

The Upshot
If you are a fan of Bond, or of this genre in general, see this movie. It is good. Very good. But if you are a Bond fan, expect to squirm a little as you see a part of you childhood be radically altered.

Edit: Forgot to mention one thing, there is a free running sequence in this film (with a villain who, IIRC, is played by a fairly famous free runner) which is absolutely amazing! My girlfriend thought it seemed unrealistic until I explained to her that people really do do that sort of thing.