Bond...James Bond
Nov. 19th, 2006 01:45 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
trinityvixenNon-spoilery review of Casino Royale entry. Spoiler entry later...
Definitely merits a seeing, especially on a big screen where you can be wowed by some of the action/chase scenes and the absolutely gorgeous location shots. One interesting factoid noted by a friend in attendance with me was that one of the locales was the same lake used for Anakin and Padme's retreat on Naboo in Attack of the Clones. Uh, yeah, woo. Everything is beautiful to look at, the pacing is fairly amazing throughout (it slows down during the card game, but not as much as could do, so there's that), and the dialogue is snappy, crisp, and not bogged down with self-reverential ninniery. That's not to say the usual suspects aren't present (the vodka martini, the Aston Martin, etc), just that they're less important than finding Bond as a character (rather than presenting him as "Oh, such a character, that James Bond!" like Pierce Brosnen's been doing in all the films after GoldenEye).
But the thing is carried on the stunning, sculpted shoulders of Daniel Craig, who is a marvel to behold, and I should be so lucky as to ever meet him in the flesh--he probably racks up more poon than his fictional counterpart, he's that magnetic. It's something you can't really tell from still pictures. He isn't all that handsome, but he moves through the movie like a panther--all coiled muscle, imminent violence, and cleverness restrained only by impatience and determination. The opening scene is the one from the trailer that gave me the chills, and it's doubly frightening as the start to the movie. There's a sense that he is a human being, somewhere, but I think![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
ivy03 said he was a psychopath and that might well be right (I would have said sociopath, as I don't think Bond gets pleasure from killing, but I've long lost the distinction between the two definitions at this point). He's not smarmy, he's actually charming. And fucking dangerous, which is never forgotten and which the film allows everyone interacting with him to understand (the respect shown for the villains' intelligence is a delight--these villains aren't that stupid, which is refreshing and scary for reasons it would take spoilers to explain).
Great time, genuine laughs, exciting action--brutal, almost Bourne-worthy in the effect of it making you wince for how much it must hurt--and some actual chemistry between Bond and the love interest (though her character is something of a cheat--more spoilers there, though, so I'll say no more). I look forward to more with this Bond.
Definitely merits a seeing, especially on a big screen where you can be wowed by some of the action/chase scenes and the absolutely gorgeous location shots. One interesting factoid noted by a friend in attendance with me was that one of the locales was the same lake used for Anakin and Padme's retreat on Naboo in Attack of the Clones. Uh, yeah, woo. Everything is beautiful to look at, the pacing is fairly amazing throughout (it slows down during the card game, but not as much as could do, so there's that), and the dialogue is snappy, crisp, and not bogged down with self-reverential ninniery. That's not to say the usual suspects aren't present (the vodka martini, the Aston Martin, etc), just that they're less important than finding Bond as a character (rather than presenting him as "Oh, such a character, that James Bond!" like Pierce Brosnen's been doing in all the films after GoldenEye).
But the thing is carried on the stunning, sculpted shoulders of Daniel Craig, who is a marvel to behold, and I should be so lucky as to ever meet him in the flesh--he probably racks up more poon than his fictional counterpart, he's that magnetic. It's something you can't really tell from still pictures. He isn't all that handsome, but he moves through the movie like a panther--all coiled muscle, imminent violence, and cleverness restrained only by impatience and determination. The opening scene is the one from the trailer that gave me the chills, and it's doubly frightening as the start to the movie. There's a sense that he is a human being, somewhere, but I think
ivy03 said he was a psychopath and that might well be right (I would have said sociopath, as I don't think Bond gets pleasure from killing, but I've long lost the distinction between the two definitions at this point). He's not smarmy, he's actually charming. And fucking dangerous, which is never forgotten and which the film allows everyone interacting with him to understand (the respect shown for the villains' intelligence is a delight--these villains aren't that stupid, which is refreshing and scary for reasons it would take spoilers to explain).Great time, genuine laughs, exciting action--brutal, almost Bourne-worthy in the effect of it making you wince for how much it must hurt--and some actual chemistry between Bond and the love interest (though her character is something of a cheat--more spoilers there, though, so I'll say no more). I look forward to more with this Bond.
