Casino Royale review (spoiler)

I saw a sneak preview of this film. One word... AMAZING. It is the type of Bond film all Bond fans have been waiting for. No more cute, wink wink, laugh out loud unbelievable moments we've all grown tired of. What Casino Royale did was make a very real film, with real life consequences and added a crap load of action. Awesome!!!

Daniel Craig has taken the Bond character and ran away with it. I never saw a more believeable Bond character since the early films of Sean Connery. Ian Flemming's intentions and spirit for the story and character was taken into major consideration and the results were nothing but positive.

Daniel Craig takes the Bond character to his early days before he is granted the infamous double O status. Casino Royale's Bond is an unrefined, reckless, unpolished, aggressive, injury prone, cold blooded killer. In essence, a raw piece of meat, that as the film goes on and he gains more experience becomes this prime piece of sirloin. All the Bond signatures we've all come to love and expect are not a part of Bond's nature, but gradually falls into place at the right moments through his experiences. The journey it took to get there is the most fun to watch.

What makes Bond such a fan favorite in the past was the way the writers and directors romanticized the character. Bond always had the best gadgets (toys), cool clothes, money, he travelled, women galore, he was smooth, he could fight and play a mean game of cards. Who wouldn't want to be him?

Casino Royale took it one step further and said, "What kind of man emotionally would it take to be a double O agent and what are the dangers involved in such an exciting career?" Casino Royale's Bond is bruised, bloodied, beaten, stabbed, poisoned and tortured in several occasions. He walks around half the film covered in scabs and scars. He is detached from his feelings and makes a clear statement how he prefers married women because it is less complicated. With no family and friends, he truly is a man alone with nothing to live for, which makes him the perfect candidate for a double O agent.

I have not given away too much of the plot, for it is better for all Bond fans to see Casino Royale and experience it for one's self. It's one of the best Bond film to come out in decades and ranks in my top 2 or 3 of James Bond films of all time.

Wow! THanks for the review -- I am really excited to see to this and I really glad to hear how well Craig did. Definitely going to see ti this weekend -- I have been such a dork and ahve been playing the strategy game for the past three/four weeks to get me ready and I think I am ready -- have you played the game yet? Fun stuff.

A quick note... it is important to remember that this story is supposed to be about Bond before he become the James Bond we all know and love. It's his first time being a double O agent. This is why the writers took liberties with the opening gun barrel scene, the vodka martini, the Aston Martin, and the infamous "Bond, James Bond". I found it a great choice to a very old and established character. We get to see how Bond becomes Bond. Think "Batman Begins", which was another great film.

yay, going to see it today! i hope that it does not sell out and great news, I finally made it out of the airport on the game! perfect timing or what?

For a girl that's never seen more than 2 minutes of ANY Bond movie, I actually liked it pretty well. I saw it last night with Zach and for what I can remember of it (hehehe), it was cool! I'm not much on action movies, but I go for this one.

Originally posted by xkalybr
I saw a sneak preview of this film. One word... AMAZING. It is the type of Bond film all Bond fans have been waiting for. No more cute, wink wink, laugh out loud unbelievable moments we've all grown tired of. What Casino Royale did was make a very real film, with real life consequences and added a crap load of action. Awesome!!!

Daniel Craig has taken the Bond character and ran away with it. I never saw a more believeable Bond character since the early films of Sean Connery. Ian Flemming's intentions and spirit for the story and character was taken into major consideration and the results were nothing but positive.

Daniel Craig takes the Bond character to his early days before he is granted the infamous double O status. Casino Royale's Bond is an unrefined, reckless, unpolished, aggressive, injury prone, cold blooded killer. In essence, a raw piece of meat, that as the film goes on and he gains more experience becomes this prime piece of sirloin. All the Bond signatures we've all come to love and expect are not a part of Bond's nature, but gradually falls into place at the right moments through his experiences. The journey it took to get there is the most fun to watch.

What makes Bond such a fan favorite in the past was the way the writers and directors romanticized the character. Bond always had the best gadgets (toys), cool clothes, money, he travelled, women galore, he was smooth, he could fight and play a mean game of cards. Who wouldn't want to be him?

Casino Royale took it one step further and said, "What kind of man emotionally would it take to be a double O agent and what are the dangers involved in such an exciting career?" Casino Royale's Bond is bruised, bloodied, beaten, stabbed, poisoned and tortured in several occasions. He walks around half the film covered in scabs and scars. He is detached from his feelings and makes a clear statement how he prefers married women because it is less complicated. With no family and friends, he truly is a man alone with nothing to live for, which makes him the perfect candidate for a double O agent.

I have not given away too much of the plot, for it is better for all Bond fans to see Casino Royale and experience it for one's self. It's one of the best Bond film to come out in decades and ranks in my top 2 or 3 of James Bond films of all time.

Couldn't agree with you more.... This movie's definetely up there with Goldeneye and The World Is Not Enough. Pierce Brosnan was great, and I'll always remember him as being Bond (Goldeneye was the First 007 movie I ever saw) But Daniel Craig did an excellent job, and the action was phenomenal

It looks amazing, and Eva Green as a 'Bond girl' was great casting, she is excellent.

It was fantastic.

One of the greatest Bond films.

Great acting all around, although i feel the end was quite cheap, the film was amazing.

It's poo that they held the "Bond, James Bond" until the very end!

Err... that was kinda the point.

Originally posted by Kelly_LS
It's poo that they held the "Bond, James Bond" until the very end!

It was actually perfect. Remember, Bond is very raw in this film without his well know signatures, "Shaken not stirred and Bond, James Bond." to name a few.

That at the end of the film, after all he has went through, to say the famous line was awesome. It shows us that Bond has now become "Bond". Mr. Cool with a very sharp edge.

Originally posted by xkalybr
It was actually perfect. Remember, Bond is very raw in this film without his well know signatures, "Shaken not stirred and Bond, James Bond." to name a few.

That at the end of the film, after all he has went through, to say the famous line was awesome. It shows us that Bond has now become "Bond". Mr. Cool with a very sharp edge.

Originally posted by Kelly_LS
Yeah, Zach was complaining wildly about them not adding "Shaken, not stirred." in there!

Bartender: Shaken or stirred?
Bond: I don't care.

Something along the lines of that. I was laughing my ass off.

It was...

Bartender: Shaken or stirred?

Bond: Does it look like I give a damn? 😆

I'm Not a freguent poster in this James Bond Section butthis movie sucked. i think i'll wait fo r the dvd to see it again. But Craighead is not Bond. Stiff as a board!!! Casino has some great action butit's far from a Bond Movie. I understand that it's a origin story and all It's Craig!! Not even close to being Bond.

Originally posted by buffymitch
I'm Not a freguent poster in this James Bond Section butthis movie sucked. i think i'll wait fo r the dvd to see it again. But Craighead is not Bond. Stiff as a board!!! Casino has some great action butit's far from a Bond Movie. I understand that it's a origin story and all It's Craig!! Not even close to being Bond.

Your review worried me, until I noticed that your favorite movies of all time are Gladiator, X-men, and Tomb Raider.

😛

I have to admit, I went in skeptical. I loved the books, was brought up on the original movies and disliked the idea of a reboot of the series. However, I'm a big enough man to admit that I was wrong. I loved the film, Craig made a good bond, he has the perfect facial structure and eyes. It stuck close to the book, although adapted it to make it more modern day. Several of the changes from the book I wasn't fond of, but I can understand why they were done. The action scenes were amazing, and the film really showen that Bond isn't as indestructable as he seemed to be in alot of the older movies. I'd reccomend this film to anyone.

I liked it, except I thought it was a glorified action movie, not a movie about a spy.

Instead of making another review thread, i think it would be best to just put this here...

So yeah, Casino Royale… plenty of spoilers, so be wary…

Went to see this last Friday, got the midday show as to avoid the crowds, and I’d say it was well worth it, as I was able to give this movie my undivided attention. There’s been lots of talk of Craig and the new direction the Bond series is taking. To be perfectly honest, the movie was a love/hate thing for me: Some parts I absolutely loved, some parts made me want to vomit.

The good, first of all. The stunts and fights are very, very well done. From the bathroom fight at the start, to the chase sequence through the construction site (which is undoubtedly one of the highlights of the movie imo), to the torture scene near the end, once again Bond shows that you don’t need fancy cgi effects to do brilliant sequences. The action is satisfyingly brutal, the gunshots pleasingly loud, and the stunts incredibly dangerous.

The Bond Girls are nothing short of stunning, although as soon as Eva Green and Bond fall in love you know she won’t be alive by the time the credits start to roll.

Now… the biggest point of contention about Bond 21… Daniel Craig. I was one of many who thought Craig would suck as Bond. And given the fact that the writers of Die Another Day were on board (which, even though it had some good sequences ended up a bit too ridiculous imo), I hadn’t much hope for it at all. How wrong was I. They’ve done a major overhaul on the Bond franchise, and it works to Craig’s strengths. The movie is a lot darker than previous Bond movies, with a more tangible, real-world setting (I mean, if a tank drove through half of St. Petersburg, or a helicopter chased a motorbike through downtown Saigon, you’d hear about it). I’ll be honest, if this was written like Goldeneye or any of the previous Bond movies, Craig would’ve sucked. Bad. But this Bond is a big departure from the previous ones in a lot of ways, so it works.

People say that this is a reinvention of the Bond franchise, which to me sounds rather unfair to the movies that have come before it. I wasn’t a huge fan of Die Another Day or World is not Enough, but I loved Goldeneye and especially loved Tomorrow Never Dies. I think it does those movies a terrible disservice to claim that they were out of date, or obsolete as it were.

This new Bond isn’t necessarily better, just different, and it is a very, very enjoyable movie.

The bad? The opening titles were crap, to put it bluntly. The song is average, and the video… to coin a phrase… ugh.

The Bond gunbarrel. What. The. f*ck. The Bond gunbarrel is one of the most iconic images in cinema. You don’t just change it without good reasoning, and to be honest I think the movie would have been fine with the original one.

The product placement. Sweet Jesus. Too much Sony and Ford, especially Sony. All the subtlety of a bloody sledgehammer. And yes, too many text messages, honestly. I can see that he uses a mobile phone…

The villain. Le Chiffre. Kinda weak. When you boil it down, he’s only useful in a card game, and while that’s the central theme of the movie, he’s still kinda… well… useless.

So in short, it’s a really good movie. Full of everything you’d come to expect from a Bond movie. Guns, girls, explosions, great stunts, it has the lot. I just think people need to appreciate where it came from, and the fact that we wouldn’t have a Casino Royale (or Craig as Bond for that matter), without the amazing work of its (and his) predecessors.

And I still prefer Tomorrow Never Dies… 😛