James Bond update

Good day all, I saw Casino Royale the other night and felt like adding my voice to the general chorus of approval for the first Daniel Craig, James Bond film.

A rousing tour de force is one cliché I could use, bloody good would be another. However it’s by no means perfect. The song is underwhelming if passable, it’s slightly too long (20 minutes shaved off would have given it a bit more urgency), There is a discrepancy between Bond and the main love interest Vesper Lynd which I explain in more detail later, and most importantly, there is a distinct lack of naked gyrating females during the opening credits! Naked gyrating females in my humble opinion greatly enhance most situations. Although of course one must take into account the company ones in, and also the attractiveness of said females; however if for example it were just myself and a few “mates”, I think the atmosphere would be enhanced considerably. I digress …Yes, the film is not perfect, however the good points more than make up for the bad.

A great feature of the new film is that it’s the first Bond for a while to actually be based upon a real Bond book, as written by Ian Fleming. Therefore it seems that they have actually attempted to recreate the character of James Bond; as Fleming imagined him, and have tried to portray the character of an assassin realistically on screen. Thus Daniel Craig’s Bond is cold hearted, emotionally removed, and most importantly he is flawed. Bond is beaten, scarred, and in one scene tortured. He is human, and seen to be human. This Bond therefore exhibits a rawness and vulnerability we haven’t seen since the Timothy Dalton days. Where Brosnan or Moore seemed to float through situations with a smirk, a wink, and a Martini, Craig’s Bond crashes through it all like a bull in a china shop, with barely any time to think! We can see that if Craig’s Bond tried anything else he’d likely slip up and get shot or something. In order to survive and be professional he needs to act that way.

That of course is good for an assassin, however for a lover it presents a few problems. If you’re an emotionally removed warrior, how can we take on board you falling in Love quite sappily with the provided totty, in this case Vesper Lynd, a very pretty, if quite dull accountant from Gordon Brown’s office in the treasury. Luckily enough there is some chemistry between them, so it’s not completely flat, however Craig’s demeanour on screen, and the things he says, don’t quite match. The film would definitely have benefited from a bit of trimming in my opinion. The removal of a few of the slower “bonding” scenes (for lack of a better word) would have freed up quite a few minutes, and quickened the pace for the last third of the film. Overall the film does suffer a bit as a result of that lack of urgency, and even though it does recover, and well, for a fantastic finale; it does detract from the film overall. It should have been more Bourne identity and less Titanic with those scenes.

It may appear at first glance that I’m moaning a bit, however most of the film was fab; the first half especially is breathtaking, and never lets up for a second. The crane, airport, poker game, and stairwell scenes in particular are fantastic, not forgetting to mention the incredible torture scene. The brilliantly portrayed bad guy, Le Chiffre really shines, which is good, as these scenes have a tendancy to descend into farce, however Craig and Mikkelsen’s well judged acting keeps it together. This is important as in some films these scenes become more comic than emotional, generally because it becomes so over the top and hammy you can’t help but laugh, usually in embarassment. It doesn’t happen here, it really is well handled.

In conclusion I give it 4 out of 5 Greg-stars, which equates to 4 and 1/8 normal stars, the logic being that I am 1/8 better than everything else ever, thus my stars weigh more, an analogy would be guineas to pounds. If that makes no sense then you’re obviously saner than I!

Right yes, Bond, I can’t really remove stars for a poor song as it doesn’t really detract from the story (much), and the lack of dancing girls is a personal preference. However it would have been perfect if it had been a bit shorter, and less lovey dovey, they really were close to making one of the best ever Bonds, it’ll have to make do with being nearly there.

Right then. On the strength of that review I hope you will all pop round to your local cinematorium to see Jimmy B in all his glory; or maybe get round to renting it some day, or perhaps get it for your dad on DVD for his birthday!? Ok you could rent a tape of it I suppose, but you’ll be missing out in the quality stakes as DVD is a far superior medium when it comes to high quality entertainment than video….Jesus, persuading you lot is hard work!

Updated Jimmy Bond Top 10:

1. You only Live Twice
2. Goldeneye
3. The Living Daylights
4. A View To A Kill
5. On Her Majesty’s Secret Service
6. Goldfinger
7. Casino Royale
8. The Man with the Golden Gun
9. The Spy Who Loved Me
10. Dr.No

I’m afraid Daniel Craig’s first go isn’t in the top 5 yet, maybe if I watch it a few more times on DVD I may change my mind. We’ll just have to wait and see how or if it grows on me. It’s 3 for Sean, 3 for Roger, and 1 each for the rest.

Gregor.org.uk Exclusive: Casino Royale deleted scene