LYNX THOUGHTS

Gambling with new Bonds

The new Bond film somewhat sneaked up on me, appropriately enough. I think I may have heard something about that it was coming out, or working on it, but until a few months ago I didn't know anything about it, and other than the release date even then I only really knew the title: Casino Royale. Of course Jose, William, Rev and I would have to go see this on Friday afternoon...

[Spoiler Cut]

Casino Royale pushes the reset button on the 007 movie franchise timeline. The day is modern day, but Casino Royale depicts Bond's first mission after he is promoted to 00 status. Now, technically one could say that the movies are timeless (never minding the cold war aspects) and thus it is possible that the earlier Bond films (and the earlier Bonds) would still happen and the raw Bond in Casino Royale mellows into them, but you'd definitively have to do some retconning with regards to M and others. Not that this hasn't happened before. Still, I think it's a deliberate attempt to wipe the slate clean and re-imagine Bond while bringing it back to its baseline roots.

And what a re-imagining it is.

The new Bond, and it did take me a while to recognize (or accept) him as a Bond given his different look, truly departs and makes Bond his own rather than try to be Sean Connery. The writers did too, and this Bond is edgy, aggressive, blunt, and perfectly befitting a newly-minted 00 about whom M has doubts. Given his young age, this actor will have long legs playing this role well into the future, and that is a good sign for a series that has floundered a bit since the original two retired.

On the other front, bringing Bond back to its roots, is also mostly a success. The last bunch of films were, IMHO, absolute pap, F/X heavy action films with a Bond logo slapped onto it. Casino Royal could also arguably be called an action film, but it is firmly wrapped up in Bondness. Great dialogue and exchanges between characters, along with some sarcastic exchanges with foes, a focus on character, exotic locales and the introduction and re-introduction of classic Bond items: The Walther pistols, Aston Martins, the start of the martinis, and so on.

Two things were left missing: gadgets (there is little out of the ordinary here, and no Q) and suave espionage. The latter I actually see as a boon, with the writers able to take the films and character development in that direction if so desired. As for the gadgets I do hope they add more in over time, so long as they remain out of the realm of the absurd.

If it isn't obvious by this point, I enjoyed this film. It satisfied my spycraftian cravings and gave me nearly three hours (a long Bond film!) of movie tastiness to chew on. See it in the theatres!

- Great Bond girl who is up to the task of being an equal and a foil to Bond
- Very good CG on the collapsing building
- Helped me get the juices flowing for my NaNoWriMo!
- Ca-razy freerunning at the start of the film (actually, it was closer to parkcour, but they credited it as freerunning)
- I'm lukewarm on the titles. On the one hand, it was a classic bondesque abstract montage, on the other hand I think it was ruined with some excessively realistic images and the weird looking action sequences.
- It was somewhat refreshing to see a villain that wasn't up to end-of-the-world stuff
- Some nice one-liners, and great facial expressions. This Bond is playful right now.
- This was adopted from an Ian Flemming novel, so that might explain some of its goodness. Let's hope there's more to adapt, or they hire people who can write like Flemming.
- Spycraaaaafffffttt!

And now I'm down to a mere 15k words left in my own spycraftian novel!

Posted by kannik at November 18, 2006 11:31 PM in Arts&Media