Yay.
That was my review of the movie in one sentence. I'm not a fairweather Bond fan, nor am I fanatic fan (which is like saying ATM Machine, but whatever). I'm one of those people that likes the mythos and the man, and gets a kick out of seeing spy things. Spies are my second favorite archetype, after intergalactic space cowboys but before comic book superheroes.
[ That reminds me. The trailer for
Spider-Man 3, which they showed us twice, failed to impress me. Maybe it's my lack of love for the franchise, but I wasn't at all even remotely excited by it.]
My only complaint about
Casino Royale, besides the idiotic woman behind me that felt it was important to announce plot happenings at full volume (is there one at
every movie I go to?), was the hanging ending. Look, MGM, we
all know there's going to be a sequel. We're not dumb. Give us a free-standing movie. I hate self-aware franchises that purposefully leave things hanging to "draw" people back. Now 22 will have to start where
Casino Royale ended, or at least be bound into explaining something, and that sucks.
The title sequence was fantastic and retro, with a good theme song.
I think this was an excellent reboot of the series. It was very gritty, not very classic Bond. And that's good (except for the ending) for redesigning Bond in a post-9/11 world. I love the old movies (to paraphrase M, "I miss the Cold War," and the sort of Bond story that evoked) but this is a new Bond for a new world. Alas and woo at the same time. This is Bond getting his bearings as a 00 agent. He's
not Bond yet, not the one we know. That's okay with me for now.
Daniel Craig was fine as Bond. I'm neutral on him as an actor, but I think I'll give him another movie or two before I decide whether he's a good Bond. Brosnon had be after
Goldeneye, but I really loved
Goldeneye from start to finish in the classic sense of things. But the last few movies were self-referencing and filled with in-jokes.
Casino Royale wasn't, really.
The action scenes were good. The
free running scene at the beginning was
amazing. They should've saved that for the end, 'cause nothing was as good as that, action wise. All Bond movies need some sort of cool action sequence you remember it for, and that one should be it. It was awesome. Go check out some of the free running videos at YouTube if you have no idea what I'm talking about.
Eva Green was stunning as Vesper Lynd and even though I knew how things had to go, I actually sort of hoped they wouldn't. But no Bond girl is back in the next film, one way or another. I will now rent everything she's ever been in 'cause, damn, she was good.
And, finally, Dame Judi Dench needs to be M forever and ever and ever. And ever. Until the end of time or Bond. The end.