It’s just going to be wrong if, immediately before and especially after seeing it, everyone starts talking about Casino Royale in an old anti-Daniel Craig thread, so here’s a new thread.
Casino Royale is 96% on Rotten Tomatoes, with 111 “Fresh” (positive) reviews and 5 “Rotten” (negative) reviews.
I can’t see it today because I have a concert to go to tonight (tickets bought long ago), but this weekend for sure. I am so psyched!
For the ladies, I thought I’d pass along this little tidbit from IMDB:
Shallow, yes, I know. But being a lady myself, I really can’t wait to see that scene!
Bought tickets online for tonight which happens to be the grand opening of a totally renovated theater in our town. The two brunettes look Y-U-double M-Y…TASTY!
My wife will definitely have an inquiring look on her face…I will watch for it. OTOH…
Jerry, George: Elaine!
Jerry: Do women know about shrinkage?
Elaine: What do you mean like laundry?
Jerry: No,like when a man goes swimming afterwards.
Elaine: It shrinks?
Jerry: Like a frightened turtle!
Elaine: Why does it shrink?
George: It just does.
Elaine: I don’t know how you guys walk around with those things.
We saw it tonight, and loved it! I thought the opening song sucked though. Couldn’t wait for the whole sequence to be over.
I personally didn’t find Vesper attractive, but my fiance thought she was “not ugly” which means he did think she was attractive but didn’t want to upset me.
I loved that it stayed so close to the book, although the first real action sequence was a bit drawn out and not completely necessary to the plot.
Definitely worth seeing in the theatre!
Perhaps not necessary, but some of the best pure stunt work I’ve seen. Although, definitley falls into the category of “The Collateral Damage was Ridiculous”.
Definitely a harder James Bond than we’ve seen previously (although, put me in a room with Eva Green and I’d be a bit harder too!).
What really bugged me though, [SPOILER]The film in which we’re introduced to a more hardened, cold, heartless James Bond is the same film in which we see him fall in WUV “Ga ga goo goo, I want to quit my job and cuddle with you every day!”
Up until the last third of the film, he was the baddest Bond we’ve ever seen then he promptly becomes the biggest pussy of a James Bond ever.
Hoping that the experience of watching his sweetie betray him then get killed will only make him more cold and more heartless for the sequels.[/SPOILER]
Highlights:
M: “Utter one more syllable and I’ll have you killed.”
[SPOILER]Bond: "I have an itch down there, would you?
NO!!! To the right, more to the right."[/SPOILER]
Having just seen the movie.
If Daniel Craig had shrinkage, he must be humongous.
They kept featuring is bod.
I don’t know if it was to entice women or gay men.
At one point he even plays with his toes. :eek:
I’m not a Bond fan at all but I went to the movie because I was invited.
It’s been a really long time since I’ve seen a movie where I could not keep my eyes off the leading man. Wowza. Wooooowwzzza.
And the stunt scenes in the beginning were un-effing-believeable.
Also I wonder how much money Ford has to pay for that product placement. Any one know the Ford-branded car he drove? I think it was the European version of the Fusion. Perhaps Ford got a discount for the placement because they own Astin-Martin now? 
For true Bond fans: I saw it with 2 true Bond fans and they gave it a thumbs up, FWIW.
Just got back from seeing it. Not bad, though I’m a bit surprised it got such a high rating on RottenTomatoes. I’d probably give it a 7/10. Granted, I’ve never been a huge Bond fan – the plots usually seem like an afterthought, and this was no exception. Still, it did very well at the things you want from a Bond film: great set pieces, excellent stunt work, evil villains, sexy women, and lots of double entendres. Some more random thoughts:
[SPOILER]The most memorable scenes were the opening stunt work as Bond is chasing the guy through the construction site in Uganda, the multiple interruptions during the poker game (killing the guys in the hotel room, the heart attack scene), and the ball-busting scene.
I agree with MissRancher that the opening song was horrible. The title design was cool, but that song really sucked – they should dub over it for the DVD release.
Call me crazy, but of the three leading females (minus Judi Dench), Vesper Lynd was the least sexy. The Greek guys wife (the one who was found dead in the hammock) was much hotter, as was the villain’s woman. They should have had the Greek woman play the Vesper role.
I thought Daniel Craig did a great job as Bond. I’m vaguely aware that there was a lot of controversy over his pick, but for my money he was great. I liked the darker tone he brought to the whole thing.
I loved the car crash – the whole audience in theater was groaning.
Why did they have the villain cry tears of blood only once? It’s such a great, creepy effect, they should have used it more.
The whole thing was too long. They could have easily cut about half an hour.
The location shots were beautiful – I need to get off my but and make another trip to Europe.[/SPOILER]
I have seen all the Bond films and went to see Casino Royale today.
I was not expecting it to be all that good, and I was very surprised at how good it was. I will even go so far as to say this might be the best Bond film since the Sean Connery days!
Yes, the opening isn’t like past films, and from there, the rest of the film is also not exactly in the typical Bond formula - but it all works, and on many different levels.
And despite my initial reservations, Daniel Craig might actually turn out to be one of the best James Bond actors ever. He really put his own spin on the character - giving Bond an edge in a sort of working-class-roots manner - it makes him more fun to watch in a tuxedo surrounded by wealth.
This is not the typical Bond movie, but maybe it is time to break a little free from that mold. My only criticism is that the film is about 20 minutes too long.
Other than that, I give this film two big thumbs up!
Quote edited to reply without giving away spoiler.
They used it a second time during the Montenegro Casino sequence (on his hotel room balcony, not during play).
Ah, I must have missed that. Thanks.
I saw it yesterday and loved it. I loved how the whole movie was him learning from mistakes and at the end of the very end of the movie we have the bond we all know and love (although a much harder core version). Thoughts…
[spoiler]I loved the scene at the beginning where he chases the man through the construction site and ends up chasing the guy right into his own embassy. In my head I was thinking, “great, this is how we are introduced to the villain? He escapes by running into an embassy?” THen he follows him right in and ends up killing him, I thought it was great.
Regarding James and Vesper, The moment James bond mentions to Vesper that he figured out that she was wearing an Algerian Love Knot around her neck I figured she was on the other team (they mention at the beginning that Le Chiffre may be Algerian). My problem is that james bond didn’t seem to figure that out. I can forgive him simply because it was still learning but what really threw me is that figured out what the necklace was.
There were times since that point where I thought James knew (one line in the restaurant and one line on the boat after he quit) and was simply trying to follow her to her employer but then he seemed genuinely surprised when M said the money wasn’t in the account.
I thought it was a nice touch that M enlightened him to the fact that Vesper really did love him at the end. I didn’t guess the things that she figured out, I only got so far as to think that she was after the money for some reason, presumably because she knew Le Chiffre somehow. I guess he was just falling for the girl and started ignoring some obvious facts until the hit him right in the face. He’s also still learning about his job so I can forgive him missing that.
That whole thing is part of the reason I dont’ mind the fact that he quit his job. It’s a tough job and it was early on in his career that he might still be on the fence about it and not sure whether or not he wants to be in it for the long haul. He then meets a girl that challened him, that he loved, and he knew he couldn’t do both so he picked the girl. It doesn’t bother me a bit.
[/spoiler]
I really liked it for all the positive reasons listed here. I also appreciated that the humor was actually pretty funny, brief and rare. I think the franchise is safe for the next decade or so.
I don’t think the film suffered from lack of Supervillian Le Cherrife was to me, more a Jaws or Oddjob, a second Banana creepy guy - but not a worthy advisory for Bond
and that is exactly what he turned out to be – but the main villain only had 25 seconds of screen time… my guess is to introduce us to Craig they didn’t want to overwhelm and let CraigBond carry the film alone – he did – but in the future films a supervillan and GREAT bond girl need to be added
I think that we didn’t need to get quite so much into the Bond-girl interaction. Maybe they could have lost a few minutes of that
To me this Bond though was no more sappy than Lazenby in “Her Majesty” when they had all the time in the world Diana Rigg as Mrs. Bond is killed
There were sold out shows – I think this will be a big hit.
Question 1.
I didn’t quite get why James blew his cover - what did I miss? He arrived at the hotel and gave “Bond” rather than his cover names, then explains that Le Cherriffe already knew it was him. I missed 1 second woolgathering and I didn’t quite get how Bond knew his cover wasn’t working
Question 2.
Does anyone know where Mr. White’s Villa was along that Beautiful lake? Was that Lake Cuomo or Lake Geneva or ….?
All I can say is: this film was “Bond Begins”. It needed a kick in the whatziz (no, not a rope! :eek: ) to get back to it’s roots: what Bond truly is: a spy. He finds out secrets and kills if discovered. I could also buy his wanting to shack up with Vesper, since he’d recently gone up a few levels to actually killing people on behalf of the government(pity he didn’t get to sleep with the other hottie though). We’ve never really seen how that kind of work and the bodycount that Bond brings would affect him. Daniel Craig really projected that untamed animal look. As a friend of mine said: “He’s the first Bond that I was happy that he’s working for us, not against us!” Connery had more style, it’s true, and the laser scene in Goldfinger IS immortal…but Craig is a blunt instrument. He’s a sledgehammer, and I can’t wait to see the next film and watch his edge get sharpened.
It wasn’t as good as I hoped based on the reviews, but it’s still the best Bond film in ages. Some have already been listed, but I liked:[ul][li]Lots of running and hand-to-hand combat, and less on car chases and gadgets. That first footchase is up there with the best setpieces in the franchise (which is why it’s a little disappointing nothing later in the film matches it), but I also like that everytime Bond gets in a fight, he’s actually bruised and bloodied afterwards. Moore, Brosnan, et al always managed to stay well-groomed and unfussed, but here, you can see that no fight to those degrees is going to leave you unscarred.[/li][li]Personally, I liked the opening song and animated titles (leagues better than the undulating girls that have gotten so old)[/li][li]I saw the end of the car chase coming, but the whole business at the airport was still executed quite well[*]Bond falls for Vesper a little too easily, but she was still a hottie, though I gotta agree that Caterina Murino was hotter. Now, if she’s only made an appearance like Green’s unbelievalbe turn in The Dreamers–wowza![/li][li]I can appreciate the filmmakers’ efforts to spice up the poker game with various incidents between rounds, but this part still slowed the film (which was way too long) to a crawl. Some serious cutting here would’ve been wise (especially since the resolution is a foregone conclusion anyway).[/li][li]Giancarlo Giannini and Jeffrey Wright are both good actors, but both were wasted here.[/li][/ul]All-in-all, a promising effort. Craig is terrific and I look forward to seeing further incarnations of his Bond (especially now that he’s more hardened and experienced) in a film that’s hopefully leaner next time around.
What was with the scene whereLe Shiff has about $100 million in chips? He only needs to add $2 million to see Bond but dumps it all on the table, (unneccasarilly dramatic, but it doesn’t matter, should he lose he’d get the balance back) He does lose and now suddenly **IT’S ALL OVER! :smack: **. An extra 30 second to a minute scene with Bond gradually wearing Le Shiff down after this showdown would have been better than such a clear inanity. This hand would still be the focus of the movie.
Best Bond since the first one!
Altho, due to the title, I couldn’t get images of David Niven and Woody Allen out of my head. 