I love this sort of stuff. Similarly, Full Metal Jacket was filmed in London Docklands, pre re-development.
I just saw Casino Royale on Thanksgiving, and I was blown away. I expected Craig to be humorless, like Connery was in Dr. No or like Dalton, but while he’s not quite as light-hearted as Moore or even Brosnan, he lays down a nice quip like Connery in his subsequent movies. A favorite is when he he picks up Dimitrios’s girlfriend in Demitrios’s car, she accepts his offer to come home with him, and then circles around the parking lot to have the valet take the car back. M’s consternation at Bond’s knowing so much about her was funny.
Unlike a lot of you, I enjoyed the theme song, and I liked the opening credits. The secret agent-and-cards graphics were actually a refreshing change from another iteration on the naked girl silhouettes (as much as I enjoy eye candy), and the conclusion with the bullet hole-zeroes being blown next to the 7 on the card was nicely done.
I miss Q…a spy should have special gadgets not available to the general public. I also miss his usual give-and-take with Bond’s nonchalance about handling dangerous weaponry contrasting to his care for his “babies.”
I wasn’t all that crazy about the chase scene in Madagascar, the villain had so many opportunities to just shoot Bond instead of running from him. It always annoys me when that happens; the guy, despite all his skills, has lived on pure luck or his enemies’ stupidity way too often. On the other hand, I really liked the airport chase.
The chase/fight in the sinking building mostly confused me, as did its aftermath. What were those big yellow things, were they keeping the building above water somehow? If Vesper had bargained with them for Bond’s life, why were they trying to kill him now? Why the heck did Vesper commit suicide, she was sparing his life out of love but couldn’t face the prospect of prison for betraying the British government? MI-6 can’t somehow connect Le Chiffre to Mister White but Vesper has his number on her cell phone??? WTF?
I like to think now that James Bond and Felix Leiter are identities that MI-6 and the CIA apply to a series of agents rather than actually being the spies’ given names. Having James Bond blond with a post-Cold War origin and Judi Dench-M as his first boss, not to mention Leiter being black, meshes with existing continuity nicely that way rather than throwing it all out the window.
The big yellow thing were ballast. They were holding the building up, so that it wouldn’t sink into the lagoon.
One more comment about the movie Vesper’s death scene was absolutely fantastic. She had all of the emotions flash across her face; sadness, horror, fear, and peace in death. It was a remarkable scene considering it was completely wordless.
They wanted the money more than they wanted to honor any agreement with Vesper.
Despite how much in love he was with her, when faced with her treason, the last words Bond speaks in the book are, “The bitch is dead now.”
In the book she left information for Bond in her suicide note. The information in the movie still came from Vesper; perhaps an effort to preserve continuity.
Dang but that was an enjoyable movie and what a relief that all the campy, ridiculous, over the top poofiness is over. Daniel Creig is an intelligent badass and I really enjoyed watching him work.
From the early construction scene, he matched someone running for their life with athleticism and style; kicking the release to rocket him to the top of the crane, cutting the hydraulic to lower the scissorjack and then darn near running the fleeing bomber down with a pipe-laden Caterpillar. Nice move at the embassy to disarm himself… and then achieve his objective in rather memorable fashion.
A little more with the cars would have been nice as he had some excellent material to work with.
Vesper was interesting… still working out how she’ll be remembered.
Overall, just a really entertaining flick. They’re back on track after decades of regrettable sidetracks.
What does it mean, “poofiness”?
Using wannabes from Ffolkes, Fantasy Island and Remmington Steele? INHO, of course.
Ah, thank you for that info! Now I know why George Clooney has a villa in that area. It’s spectacular!
That scene shows what a gorgeous woman she is. It’s one thing to be beautiful with makeup on, but another to be even more beautiful without makeup on. Speaking as a hetro female, swoon.
Things aren’t necessarily unrealistic just because it’s been done differently in other films.
It’s funny that you’re calling “unrealistic” a scene that’s probably more realistic than anything that’s ever been in a Bond movie. Not that I know the particulars of the science, but it was very refreshing that the only thing that went BOOM was the bad guy.
If someone’s coming after you with a gun and is killing your compatriots left and right, you’d be trying to kill them back. He was mainly after Vesper though. I loved how the bad guy said something like “Stop or I’ll shoot her” and Bond says “Allow me” and takes aim, not at the bad guy, but her.
Maybe we should have a mod add “Spoilers” to the Subject line so we can quit with the boxes?
I’m guessing **lieu ** means “poofiness” as related to the term poofter, which is a slang term for a homosexual in Britain and Australia.
(Unless I’m being wooshed and you do know what “poofiness” means, in which case feel free to ignore me.)
Finally saw it.
Best Bond since Licence to Kill. Definitely in my top seven–maybe my top five.
Daniel Craig is impressive as the cocky young rogue, showing off for his new boss (what *does * the “M” stand for, I wonder?). :dubious:
Am I the only one who noticed that the man at the Ocean Club who mistook Bond for a parking valet was dressed exactly like Goldfinger? He was even driving a gold “RR” car.
light strand, the scene you mentioned in your spoiler was indeed very moving–and haunting.
Mikkelsen was well-cast as Le Chiffre. He was very reptilian and cold-blooded–kind of like Louis Jourdan in Octopussy, but without the charm.
Too long? Not for me. Only the wait has been too long.
Eagerly awaiting Bond 22.
Quelle coincidence, when I saw the car being blown away, the first thing I thought of was the 2CV being wasted by a 747 
Wait, did I need to spoiler either of those facts? 
The head of the British Secret Service (formerly MI6, now called SIS) was always known by an initial:
‘The first Chief of SIS, Captain Sir Mansfield Smith Cumming RN, signed himself with a ‘C’ (as the initial letter of his surname) - in green ink. In his honour all his successors have done the same; not least to reinforce the secrecy needed for the identities of the Service’s officers and agents.’
http://www.mi6.gov.uk/output/Page58.html
Also from the official website:
‘James Bond, as Ian Fleming originally conceived him was based on reality. But any author needs to inject a level of glamour and excitement beyond reality in order to sell. By the time the filmmakers focused on Bond the gap between truth and fiction had already widened. Nevertheless, staff who join SIS can look forward to a career that will have moments when the gap narrows just a little and the certainty of a stimulating and rewarding career which, like Bond’s, will be in the service of their country.’
Moderator note:
This thead was started before the movie was released and so spoilers were boxed. I have now amended the title fo the thread so that, from this point forward, there is no longer have the need to box spoilers.
:eek: Lord no! T’was not even aware of that usage. To me far too many of the Moore and Brosnan films (especially Moore) were just so over the top, inflated, unrealistic expressions of the bad guy, the stunt, the situation, Bond’s abilities, etc. They were puffed up, poofy, unrealistic and required one to suspend all disbelief. In short, they lost me.
I didn’t feel that way at all about Casino Royale.
This was my favourite Bond, bar none. It was based on the best book too so they had no excuse to make a dud.
The parkour/free-running chase was excellent. I enjoyed Foucane’s copying of David Belle’s “through the top of the door” stunt in District 13. If anyone liked that chase, I highly recommend District 13 which features some jaw-dropping action in the same vein.
Eva Green?.. I would hit that like my balls were going to crushed tomorrow.
And the mud-strewn Ugandan rebel camp was actually filmed in Black Park, a country park near Slough, just a stone’s throw from Pinewood Studios. (Note for non-UK citizens… if you had to pick a totally un-exotic location in England, Slough would be near the top of the list. It’s where the UK series The Office was set.)
It’s amazing what the film-makers can get out of such mundane locations.
I have to admit that the new Bond pulls it off.
It would have been nice as a period peice. A Q (bring back Cleese!) would have been nice, but not too many gadgets, please!
Although Texas Hold 'em isn’t as “Bond-ian” as Baccarat, it’s more realistic. There is a huge amount of skill involved in deciding whether the other dude is bluffing or not. There’s no real skill in Baccarat.
I just don’t get the whole “Ok, I wired the money to the special account” and then forgetting it. I mean, if the UK is that hard up, wouldn’t they have a telephonic confirmation? And, umm, dudes- if the money has been wired- there’s no briefcase to follow.
That kinda jumped out at me as well. I figgured what they did was withdraw the money in the form of berra [sic] Bonds. 150 million in cash, as shown earlier in the movie would just be too damn heavy to carry. However 250 sheets of paper fit nicely in a briefcase. Withdrawing the money does make alot of sense when you remember that cash leaves no paper trail. And MI6 would be back to square one trying to find them.
Ok, Bearer Bonds. But still, when you wire BIG Money, you call to confirm.