Casino Royale....my ramblings

Those of you who know me pretty well know I am an absolute James Bond freak. Aside from owning all the movies on VHS, I also own three editions of the James Bond Encyclopedia, two Cd-Roms of trivia, and have actually won a James Bond trivia contest in Atlantic City winning $500 in house chips as a result. The newest 007 movie, Casino Royale, opened last weekend and I went to see it on Friday night. Below is my opinion of the movie which will contain some spoilers, but I won't give anything major away.

How does every Bond movie open? With a circle signifying a sniper rifle scope marching across the screen and with Bond in the sights. Once the scope reaches the middle, Bond turns, shoots, and kills the would be assassin and blood drips down the screen and the circle falls into a random corner and then the movie emerges. The first 5 or 10 minutes of every Bond movie is known as the teaser, a high paced action sequence which usually was independent of the plot of the movie. However in "The Spy Who Loved Me" the teaser was intrical to the plot and all the Pierce Brosnan films had teasers that were involved in the movie, but this formula remained intact. After the teaser, the movie's credits would roll and include some nice imagery and whatever theme song they decided to use. This is formulaic, but it is something that everyone expects from a Bond movie. I bring this up because in Casino Royale, this DOESN'T HAPPEN!! There is no Bond walking across the screen shooting at us, no blood dripping, and no action packed teaser. It starts off slow. The credit sequence though is one the best ones they have done recently. It has a decent enough song also. No credit sequence and song have been this good since "The World is not Enough." And before that, you'd have to go to early in Roger Moore's career to find one this good.....maybe "The Spy who Loved Me" or "Octopussy." The first sustained action sequence in the movie is absolutely unbelievable. You have a guy being chased by Bond, and this guy must be Spiderman, because he can scale any building or object that is put in front of him. I know, that watching a Bond movie requires a certain suspension of disbelief, but that was limited to gadgets which I can find believable (except for the invisible car in "Die Another Day"), but watching human beings climb untold heights with only their hands and feet on smooth surfaces and falling from tremedous heights without even a bruise? Not for me. Basically the action in this movie is good, but long. Every action sequence could have been shortened by 5 minutes. The whole card game plot is believable and very tense, but this seems to take a back seat to showcasing this new Bond, who is NOT very good. I had a problem with this movie since I heard it was to be a prequel. I saw absolutely no point to going back and re-inventing somethign holy and cherished (see Lucas, George). Although I did like the re-invention of Batman with "Batman Begins" which was PHENOMENAL! That in my mind was ok, because the last Batman movies were HORRENDOUS and a restart was all they could do to save it. The Bond franchise is still going strong, despite "Die Another Day's" attempt to destroy it.
The ending of "Casino Royale" just drags and drags. They throw in a "surprise" ending to try to fool us and keep us interested when I just wanted it to end so I could go home. Another thign that bothered the shit out of me was that the famous James Bond theme music was played only once in the movie....ONCE!!! No vodka martinis and he only says, "Bond....James Bond" only once and it is anti-climactic. The bottom line for me is that "Casino Royale" might be a good action movie and some people might like that, but I think it fails as a James Bond movie because it doesn't feel like a James Bond movie. When I see a Bond movie, I want to know it.


Tags: CASINO ROYALE