The Game Druid

First of all, what a FANTASTIC Bond movie this is! There’s one whopper of a reason why Casino Royale is the hippest, highest-octane Bond film in ages, and his name is Daniel Craig. Craig reinvigorates a fagged-out franchise that’s been laying on bigger stunts and sillier gadgets to disguise the fact that it’s run out of ideas. And he does it with an actor’s skill, an athlete’s grace and a dangerous glint that puts you on notice that Bond, James Bond, is back in business.

Casino Royale is a movie whose focus is heavier on character than action and was the first book in Fleming’s Bond series, making it the ideal place to start the wheel spinning anew. That’s right, Casino Royale acts like the other Bond movies never existed. We’re back at square one, only the time is now, the fantasy is limited and the story is anchored in reality. Q, with his gadgets and invisible cars, is nowhere to be seen. The tone is set when Bond orders a martini. “Shaken or stirred?” asks the bartender. Craig delivers the answer straight-up and bone-dry: “Do I look like I give a damn?”

Even the villians and Bond girls are a bit different in this movie. The gorgeous Caterina Murino sizzles as Solange, a babe he takes back to his hotel room for a roll on the floor that causes serious rug burns. But it’s Eva Green as Vesper Lynd, a British treasury operative sent to stake Bond at the poker tables, who lifts her role to class-act status.

Well I’m practically gonna give the movie away if I continue, so I’ll stop here for now.. but in my opinion, certainly one of the best Bond movies to date, and as for Craig.. well, the rugged, jug-eared Brit, whose irregular features improbably radiate a megawatt star charisma, gets the last laugh on the Internet buzz killers who’ve been ragging on him at craignotbond.com

This entry was posted on Monday, November 27th, 2006 at 5:04 pm and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.