Forget that. I'm not sitting through two and a half hours of Bond. I mean, I will, but I'd rather not.
How much c0ck did Paul Haggis have to suck? I'm so ####ing astonished that he's at this level with so much to learn about subtlety and restraint. THIS is the only guy in the history of the Academy to pen two Best Picture winners back to back? Not Billy Wilder? Not Ernest Lehman? Not Francis Marion? Not ANYBODY ELSE, and now this? I mean, Jesus Christ! Is there a franchise where he's NOT brought in to make it just a little more racially insenstive? 'Harry Potter: The Trials of the Uppity Maccaca' anyone?
Edited By Sabin on 1163093469
Casino Royale
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Aceisgreat
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Sonic Youth
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Sonic Youth
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- Joined: Wed Jan 01, 2003 8:35 pm
- Location: USA
Wasn't there a thread just a few days ago? Where is it?
Anyway, two reviews. And I think McCarthy is underestimating the box office potential. My MOTHER wants to see this, for god's sake, and she hates these movies.
Casino Royale
By TODD MCCARTHY
Variety
For once, there is truth in advertising: The credits proclaim Daniel Craig as "Ian Fleming's James Bond 007," and there can be little argument that Craig comes closer to the author's original conception of this exceptionally long-lived male fantasy figure than anyone since early Sean Connery. "Casino Royale" sees Bond himself recharged with fresh toughness and arrogance, along with balancing hints of sadism and humanity, just as the fabled series is reinvigorated by going back to basics. The Pierce Brosnan quartet set financial high-water marks for the franchise which may well not be matched again, but public curiosity, lack of much high-octane action competition through the holiday season and the new film's intrinsic excitement should nonetheless generate Bond-worthy revenue internationally.
Bond made his debut in "Casino Royale" when it was published in 1953, and while the novel was adapted the following year for American television (Barry Nelson played Bond) and in 1967 became a lame all-star spy send-up featuring Peter Sellers, David Niven and Woody Allen, it remained unavailable to the Eon producers until now.
As refashioned for this 21st series installment, the novel's focus on a high-stakes cards showdown doesn't kick in for an hour. But Craig's taking over as the sixth actor to officially portray the secret agent provides a plausible opportunity to examine the character's promotion to double-0 status, which is neatly done in a brutal black-and-white prologue in which he notches his first two kills.
After pic bleeds into color, Bond pursues a would-be suicide bomber in a madly acrobatic chase through an African construction site, at the end of which he happens to be filmed killing an apparently, if not in fact, unarmed man in images instantly disseminated on the internet, to the enormous embarrassment of MI6. Welcome to the 21st century, Mr. Bond.
Doubling the displeasure of his boss M (Judi Dench happily back for her fifth turn) by surreptitiously entering her flat, Bond ignores her reprimand by high-tailing it to the Bahamas, itself a nice throwback to the film series' origins in "Dr. No." Following a cellphone trail of potential terrorist bombers, he tracks one, then another in Miami, where an evening that begins at a "Bodyworks" exhibition ends with a high-speed tarmac battle in which the fate of the world's biggest new jetliner hangs in the balance.
Even by this early juncture, pic has emphatically announced its own personality. It's comparatively low-tech, with the intense fights mostly conducted up close and personally, the killings accomplished by hand or gun, and without an invisible car in evidence; Bond is more of a lone wolf, Craig's upper-body hunkiness and mildly squashed facial features giving him the air of a boxer; 007's got a frequently remarked upon ego, which can cause him to recklessly overreach and botch things, and the limited witticisms function naturally within the characters' interchanges.
As matters advance to the Continent, elements even more unusual in the Bond world of late, comprehensible plotting and palpable male-female frissons, move to the fore. Bond's enemy is not a Mr. Evil type plotting world domination, but a financier of international terrorism, Le Chiffre (Mads Mikkelsen), who needs to make financial amends by winning a big-pot poker game at the casino in fictional Montenegro. It's Bond's scheme to break Le Chiffre for good at the gambling table, and to this end he is fronted $10 million delivered by a most alluring messenger, Vesper Lynd (Eva Green), assigned to keep tabs on the coin.
Their initial meeting on board a Euro fast train fairly crackles with a sexual undercurrent as they perceptively size one another up. But Vesper intends to maintain a professional distance from her temporary colleague, whose contest of wills and luck with Le Chiffre in the hushed confines of a private gaming room is repeatedly interrupted on breaks by spasms of violence and attempts on Bond's life.
Yarn does tend to go on a bit once it sails past the two-hour mark, but final stretch contains two indelible interludes crucial to defining this new incarnation of Bond. Constrained nude to a bottomed-out chair, Bond is tortured as Le Chiffre repeatedly launches a hard-tipped rope upon his nemesis' most sensitive area, and Craig once and for all claims the character as his own by virtue of the supremely cocky defiance with which he taunts Le Chiffre even in vulnerable extremis. Later, the startling, tragic turn in Bond's relationship with Vesper provides a measure of understanding for his rake-like tendancies down the line.
Script by series vets Neal Purvis and Robert Wade, along with Paul Haggis, hangs together reasonably well and is rewarded for its unaccustomed preoccupation with character by the attentiveness to same by director Martin Campbell, back after having helmed the first Brosnan entry, "GoldenEye," 11 years ago. Dialogue requires Bond to acknowledge his mistakes and reflect on the soul-killing nature of his job, self-searching unimaginable in the more fanciful Bond universes inhabited by Brosnan and Roger Moore.
Shrewd and smart as well as gorgeous, Vesper Lynd is hardly the typical Bond girl (she never even appears in a bathing suit), and Green makes her an ideal match for Craig's Bond. Danish star Mikkelsen proves a fine heavy, an imposing man with the memorable flaw of an injured eye that sometimes produces tears of blood. Giancarlo Giannini has a few understated scenes as a friendly contact in Montenegro, and while Jeffrey Wright has little to do as CIA man Felix Leiter, he does get off a couple of the film's best lines and one can hope he may figure more prominently in forthcoming installments. Sebastien Foucan does some eyebrow-raising "free running" stunts in the African chase.
"Casino Royale" is the first Bond in a while that's not over-produced, and is all the better for it. Production values are all they need to be, and while score by David Arnold, in his fourth Bond outing, is very good, title song, "You Know My Name," sung by Chris Cornell over disappointingly designed opening credits, is a dud.
---------------------------------------------
Casino Royale
Allan Hunter in London
Screendaily
Dir: Martin Campbell. UK. 2006. 147mins
Bond Is Back. The old promise takes on a fresh emphasis in Casino Royale, a muscular, wildly successful attempt to strip the lucrative James Bond franchise back to basics. Returning to the origins of the series in the first Ian Fleming novel, Casino Royale depicts Bond as a rough, reckless diamond before he acquires the polish of suave sophistication required of an international man of mystery. Ridiculous gadgets, pneumatic lovelies, flamboyant megalomaniacs and flippant one-liners are largely jettisoned in favour of heart-thumping action, fuller characterisations and relatively gritty realism.
In his first Bond venture since Pierce Brosnan’s debut in Goldeneye (1995), director Martin Campbell has achieved the considerable feat of reinventing the franchise for a second time and creating a film that can kick sand in the face of upstart rivals like Jason Bourne and Ethan Hunt.
Jackpot global returns should follow as exhibitors around the world (the film opens in many international markets from next week) discover that absence has made the heart grow Bonder. Purists will revel in its seriousness of intent and respectful treatment of their hero: more casual audiences will simply love it for its action and attitude.
Certainly it should be a worldwide hit with returns on a par with the most recent Bond films like 2002’s Die Another Day, which took $432m globally, and The World Is Not Enough (1999), which similarly grossed $361m. Also expect it to surpass relative newer franchises like the Jason Bourne films (eg The Bourne Supremacy, 20004, worldwide: $289m) and possibly surpass the higher reaches of the Mission: Impossible series (eg Mission: Impossible II, 2000, worldwide: $546m).
The many technical aspects of the film are so outstanding, especially editing and cinematography, that it begs the question as to why Bond has never been more prominent in major awards consideration. If Harry Potter can be considered for BAFTA’s Alexander Korda Award for Best British Film, then why not 007, the greatest British success story that cinema has known?
First published in 1953, Casino Royale was adapted for television in 1954 (with Barry Sullivan) and filmed in 1967 as a self-indulgent, star-studded Swinging Sixties romp that now looks more Austin Powers than James Bond.
The official Bond 21 begins in Prague with a black and white sequence that feels like an homage to the series Cold War roots. This could almost be the world of The Spy Who Came In From The Cold (1965) or Torn Curtain (1966) as Bond completes his first two kills and earns his 00 status. The tale continues in typical globe-trotting fashion with visits to Madagascar, Nassau and Miami.
The main quarry this time is Le Chiffre (Mads Mikkelsen) a man who has grown rich financing international terrorism. The cat and mouse games build towards a showdown at a high stakes poker game in Montenegro where Bond is accompanied by Treasury representative Vesper Lynd (Eva Green). The initial hostility between them is played out in some sharp, well-scripted bantering and the relationship develops convincingly towards a tenderness that is unusual in the Bond movies.
In a similar vein to last year’s Batman Begins, returning to the origins of Bond seems to have reinvigorated every aspect of the production. It has given regular screenwriters Neal Purvis and Robert Wade something fresh to work with and the addition of Oscar-winning screenwriter Paul Haggis to the team seems to have been the force behind the sharper dialogue and tougher ethos.
The task for Martin Campbell and the team is to balance the assurance of the familiar with the excitement of the novel. Licence To Kill (1989) showed that Bond could be dour and gritty but that was a film that divided audiences and critics. Casino Royale does not lose sight of what made Bond so popular but does acknowledge that the competition is tougher than ever especially from the Jason Bourne franchise.
The freshness comes in the way that Bond is seen to acquire a certain style in the way he drinks and dresses, how he becomes battle-hardened (in a nasty torture sequence) and why he has to develop a certain sadistic, emotional detachment if he is to perform his job to the best of his abilities. The familiar elements come in some bravura chase and fight sequences where Daniel Craig appears to have been bloodied, battered and bruised in the line of fire. The pace and precision in Stuart Baird’s graceful editing is exemplary and there are enough heart-in-the-throat moments to satisfy any action fan.
The plot is a little flawed in places but does contain a few genuine surprises and mercifully does not rely on the ticking time bomb climax so beloved of the series. The way we see Bond emerge and the crowd-pleasing final moments leave plenty of options for how the character can develop further in Bond 22.
A controversial choice in some quarters, new boy Daniel Craig was cruelly dubbed James Blonde before Casino Royale even began filming. He performs with all the ferocious commitment of a man determined to silence his critics. Tough and aggressive, he is every inch the ruthless action hero but also ensures that the character wears his emotions on his sleeve. His Bond develops over the course of the film and we know everything he is feeling from the trembling adrenaline rush of his early kills to the impetuosity of his renegade actions and the attachment he develops to one of the more interesting female characters seen in a Bond film for a long while.
He has the panther-like grace of Sean Connery, fills a pair of swimming trunks amply and gives the kind of triumphant performance that will leave most audiences thinking Pierce who?
Mads Mikkelsen brings a low-key intensity to Le Chiffre, Eva Green is a spiky Vesper Lynd and Judi Dench lends a typical astringency to M.
A new, improved version of the single George Lazenby venture On Her Majesty’s Secret Service might be an obvious and profitable option to explore. On the evidence of Casino Royale the promise that Bond Will Return should sound better than ever to global audiences.
Anyway, two reviews. And I think McCarthy is underestimating the box office potential. My MOTHER wants to see this, for god's sake, and she hates these movies.
Casino Royale
By TODD MCCARTHY
Variety
For once, there is truth in advertising: The credits proclaim Daniel Craig as "Ian Fleming's James Bond 007," and there can be little argument that Craig comes closer to the author's original conception of this exceptionally long-lived male fantasy figure than anyone since early Sean Connery. "Casino Royale" sees Bond himself recharged with fresh toughness and arrogance, along with balancing hints of sadism and humanity, just as the fabled series is reinvigorated by going back to basics. The Pierce Brosnan quartet set financial high-water marks for the franchise which may well not be matched again, but public curiosity, lack of much high-octane action competition through the holiday season and the new film's intrinsic excitement should nonetheless generate Bond-worthy revenue internationally.
Bond made his debut in "Casino Royale" when it was published in 1953, and while the novel was adapted the following year for American television (Barry Nelson played Bond) and in 1967 became a lame all-star spy send-up featuring Peter Sellers, David Niven and Woody Allen, it remained unavailable to the Eon producers until now.
As refashioned for this 21st series installment, the novel's focus on a high-stakes cards showdown doesn't kick in for an hour. But Craig's taking over as the sixth actor to officially portray the secret agent provides a plausible opportunity to examine the character's promotion to double-0 status, which is neatly done in a brutal black-and-white prologue in which he notches his first two kills.
After pic bleeds into color, Bond pursues a would-be suicide bomber in a madly acrobatic chase through an African construction site, at the end of which he happens to be filmed killing an apparently, if not in fact, unarmed man in images instantly disseminated on the internet, to the enormous embarrassment of MI6. Welcome to the 21st century, Mr. Bond.
Doubling the displeasure of his boss M (Judi Dench happily back for her fifth turn) by surreptitiously entering her flat, Bond ignores her reprimand by high-tailing it to the Bahamas, itself a nice throwback to the film series' origins in "Dr. No." Following a cellphone trail of potential terrorist bombers, he tracks one, then another in Miami, where an evening that begins at a "Bodyworks" exhibition ends with a high-speed tarmac battle in which the fate of the world's biggest new jetliner hangs in the balance.
Even by this early juncture, pic has emphatically announced its own personality. It's comparatively low-tech, with the intense fights mostly conducted up close and personally, the killings accomplished by hand or gun, and without an invisible car in evidence; Bond is more of a lone wolf, Craig's upper-body hunkiness and mildly squashed facial features giving him the air of a boxer; 007's got a frequently remarked upon ego, which can cause him to recklessly overreach and botch things, and the limited witticisms function naturally within the characters' interchanges.
As matters advance to the Continent, elements even more unusual in the Bond world of late, comprehensible plotting and palpable male-female frissons, move to the fore. Bond's enemy is not a Mr. Evil type plotting world domination, but a financier of international terrorism, Le Chiffre (Mads Mikkelsen), who needs to make financial amends by winning a big-pot poker game at the casino in fictional Montenegro. It's Bond's scheme to break Le Chiffre for good at the gambling table, and to this end he is fronted $10 million delivered by a most alluring messenger, Vesper Lynd (Eva Green), assigned to keep tabs on the coin.
Their initial meeting on board a Euro fast train fairly crackles with a sexual undercurrent as they perceptively size one another up. But Vesper intends to maintain a professional distance from her temporary colleague, whose contest of wills and luck with Le Chiffre in the hushed confines of a private gaming room is repeatedly interrupted on breaks by spasms of violence and attempts on Bond's life.
Yarn does tend to go on a bit once it sails past the two-hour mark, but final stretch contains two indelible interludes crucial to defining this new incarnation of Bond. Constrained nude to a bottomed-out chair, Bond is tortured as Le Chiffre repeatedly launches a hard-tipped rope upon his nemesis' most sensitive area, and Craig once and for all claims the character as his own by virtue of the supremely cocky defiance with which he taunts Le Chiffre even in vulnerable extremis. Later, the startling, tragic turn in Bond's relationship with Vesper provides a measure of understanding for his rake-like tendancies down the line.
Script by series vets Neal Purvis and Robert Wade, along with Paul Haggis, hangs together reasonably well and is rewarded for its unaccustomed preoccupation with character by the attentiveness to same by director Martin Campbell, back after having helmed the first Brosnan entry, "GoldenEye," 11 years ago. Dialogue requires Bond to acknowledge his mistakes and reflect on the soul-killing nature of his job, self-searching unimaginable in the more fanciful Bond universes inhabited by Brosnan and Roger Moore.
Shrewd and smart as well as gorgeous, Vesper Lynd is hardly the typical Bond girl (she never even appears in a bathing suit), and Green makes her an ideal match for Craig's Bond. Danish star Mikkelsen proves a fine heavy, an imposing man with the memorable flaw of an injured eye that sometimes produces tears of blood. Giancarlo Giannini has a few understated scenes as a friendly contact in Montenegro, and while Jeffrey Wright has little to do as CIA man Felix Leiter, he does get off a couple of the film's best lines and one can hope he may figure more prominently in forthcoming installments. Sebastien Foucan does some eyebrow-raising "free running" stunts in the African chase.
"Casino Royale" is the first Bond in a while that's not over-produced, and is all the better for it. Production values are all they need to be, and while score by David Arnold, in his fourth Bond outing, is very good, title song, "You Know My Name," sung by Chris Cornell over disappointingly designed opening credits, is a dud.
---------------------------------------------
Casino Royale
Allan Hunter in London
Screendaily
Dir: Martin Campbell. UK. 2006. 147mins
Bond Is Back. The old promise takes on a fresh emphasis in Casino Royale, a muscular, wildly successful attempt to strip the lucrative James Bond franchise back to basics. Returning to the origins of the series in the first Ian Fleming novel, Casino Royale depicts Bond as a rough, reckless diamond before he acquires the polish of suave sophistication required of an international man of mystery. Ridiculous gadgets, pneumatic lovelies, flamboyant megalomaniacs and flippant one-liners are largely jettisoned in favour of heart-thumping action, fuller characterisations and relatively gritty realism.
In his first Bond venture since Pierce Brosnan’s debut in Goldeneye (1995), director Martin Campbell has achieved the considerable feat of reinventing the franchise for a second time and creating a film that can kick sand in the face of upstart rivals like Jason Bourne and Ethan Hunt.
Jackpot global returns should follow as exhibitors around the world (the film opens in many international markets from next week) discover that absence has made the heart grow Bonder. Purists will revel in its seriousness of intent and respectful treatment of their hero: more casual audiences will simply love it for its action and attitude.
Certainly it should be a worldwide hit with returns on a par with the most recent Bond films like 2002’s Die Another Day, which took $432m globally, and The World Is Not Enough (1999), which similarly grossed $361m. Also expect it to surpass relative newer franchises like the Jason Bourne films (eg The Bourne Supremacy, 20004, worldwide: $289m) and possibly surpass the higher reaches of the Mission: Impossible series (eg Mission: Impossible II, 2000, worldwide: $546m).
The many technical aspects of the film are so outstanding, especially editing and cinematography, that it begs the question as to why Bond has never been more prominent in major awards consideration. If Harry Potter can be considered for BAFTA’s Alexander Korda Award for Best British Film, then why not 007, the greatest British success story that cinema has known?
First published in 1953, Casino Royale was adapted for television in 1954 (with Barry Sullivan) and filmed in 1967 as a self-indulgent, star-studded Swinging Sixties romp that now looks more Austin Powers than James Bond.
The official Bond 21 begins in Prague with a black and white sequence that feels like an homage to the series Cold War roots. This could almost be the world of The Spy Who Came In From The Cold (1965) or Torn Curtain (1966) as Bond completes his first two kills and earns his 00 status. The tale continues in typical globe-trotting fashion with visits to Madagascar, Nassau and Miami.
The main quarry this time is Le Chiffre (Mads Mikkelsen) a man who has grown rich financing international terrorism. The cat and mouse games build towards a showdown at a high stakes poker game in Montenegro where Bond is accompanied by Treasury representative Vesper Lynd (Eva Green). The initial hostility between them is played out in some sharp, well-scripted bantering and the relationship develops convincingly towards a tenderness that is unusual in the Bond movies.
In a similar vein to last year’s Batman Begins, returning to the origins of Bond seems to have reinvigorated every aspect of the production. It has given regular screenwriters Neal Purvis and Robert Wade something fresh to work with and the addition of Oscar-winning screenwriter Paul Haggis to the team seems to have been the force behind the sharper dialogue and tougher ethos.
The task for Martin Campbell and the team is to balance the assurance of the familiar with the excitement of the novel. Licence To Kill (1989) showed that Bond could be dour and gritty but that was a film that divided audiences and critics. Casino Royale does not lose sight of what made Bond so popular but does acknowledge that the competition is tougher than ever especially from the Jason Bourne franchise.
The freshness comes in the way that Bond is seen to acquire a certain style in the way he drinks and dresses, how he becomes battle-hardened (in a nasty torture sequence) and why he has to develop a certain sadistic, emotional detachment if he is to perform his job to the best of his abilities. The familiar elements come in some bravura chase and fight sequences where Daniel Craig appears to have been bloodied, battered and bruised in the line of fire. The pace and precision in Stuart Baird’s graceful editing is exemplary and there are enough heart-in-the-throat moments to satisfy any action fan.
The plot is a little flawed in places but does contain a few genuine surprises and mercifully does not rely on the ticking time bomb climax so beloved of the series. The way we see Bond emerge and the crowd-pleasing final moments leave plenty of options for how the character can develop further in Bond 22.
A controversial choice in some quarters, new boy Daniel Craig was cruelly dubbed James Blonde before Casino Royale even began filming. He performs with all the ferocious commitment of a man determined to silence his critics. Tough and aggressive, he is every inch the ruthless action hero but also ensures that the character wears his emotions on his sleeve. His Bond develops over the course of the film and we know everything he is feeling from the trembling adrenaline rush of his early kills to the impetuosity of his renegade actions and the attachment he develops to one of the more interesting female characters seen in a Bond film for a long while.
He has the panther-like grace of Sean Connery, fills a pair of swimming trunks amply and gives the kind of triumphant performance that will leave most audiences thinking Pierce who?
Mads Mikkelsen brings a low-key intensity to Le Chiffre, Eva Green is a spiky Vesper Lynd and Judi Dench lends a typical astringency to M.
A new, improved version of the single George Lazenby venture On Her Majesty’s Secret Service might be an obvious and profitable option to explore. On the evidence of Casino Royale the promise that Bond Will Return should sound better than ever to global audiences.
"What the hell?"
Win Butler
Win Butler