Casino Royale- A Review by Dave_petrucci
Casino Royale was the first in Ian Flemingâs iconic novels and was also the first of them to be adapted into a full length movie. The film version of Casino Royale was a spoof starring David Niven, Peter Sellers and Orson Welles, so really, Casino Royale has never had a real, action packed Bond film to go along with it, until now. Casino Royale is the movie thatâs apparently going to revolutionize the Bond saga of films and for the most part (thanks to Daniel Craigâs enigmatic portrayal of the Super spy) it does, only the film hobbles itself after the first hour, descending into a story arc that ruins what the film seems so desperate to do- turn Bond into a ruthless killer for hire as it was originally intended. The plot of Casino Royale serves as a prequel to the Bond films before it, following Bonds initiation as a â00â. Bond, after screwing up his first mission as a 00 must take part in a high stakes poker game against a ruthless terrorist who uses his winnings to fund the arms trade. The films plot follows the book pretty well and includes the type of delightful in-jokes and references that a prequel should have such as answers to why Bond drinks Martinis the way he does and where he got his famous catchphrase from. Casino Royale also begins a new era in the Bond saga with Daniel Craig in the starring role, a controversial choice but one that was ultimately worth the bad press.
Quite simply Daniel Craig does not disappoint as a Bond, in fact his performance could be the best so far in the Bond saga. He portrays Bond as a cold, often ruthless assassin for hire, rather than the smooth talking womanizer that weâve all come to love, a risky move considering thatâs the way Bond has been played now for over 40 years but the sheer acting skills of Craig allow him to pull off this seemingly amazing feat of characterization without much stress. Most of the other Bonds were picked because of their looks and mannerisms where as Craig seems to have been picked because heâs a damned good actor, a refreshing change indeed. Itâs blatantly obvious that getting Bond right for this new movie was top priority; unfortunately this becomes even more obvious when you look at the films structure- itâs quite simply broken. Casino Royale opens with what must be the single greatest opening to any Bond film, and possibly to any action film released this year. The pacing of the long, spectacular chase between Bond and an African suspect is breathtaking; youâre on the edge of your seat throughout the entire thing, in awe of the directors obvious talents in the action movie genre. As you might suspect, the action digresses afterwards, as it does in every other Bond film, the only problem is that it pretty much stops there for the entire movie. After the rousing opening the action sequences become either totally predictable (the old âstuck on the outside of a moving vehicleâ gag makes an especially lengthy appearance) or totally anti-climactic which is about the only word I can use to describe the films ending. Casino Royale fans will already know that a lot of the book is dedicated to setting up tense sequences of Poker playing, many movies have spent an equal amount of time at a poker table as Casino Royale does, only a distinct lack of tension in these sequences causes them to drag on. The biggest (and totally dumbfounding) failure in the story comes near the end, in which Bond falls in love and runs off to Venice. This sequence (without spoiling anything) seems to come out of nowhere, especially since the new Bond persona is a deadly assassin. The film spends a seemingly endless amount of time painting Bond as a slightly psychotic, uncaring person, yet at the drop of the hat he runs off to Venice to have a love affair so corny even Tom Hanks would turn his nose up at it. Quite simply the quick changes of pacing throughout hurt the enjoyment of the film. Judging from the amazing action sequence that begins the it youâd be forgiven for thinking that Casino Royale was going to be an intense, non stop rollercoaster ride, but itâs not. Thatâs not saying that this is a bad movie, itâs far from it, just disappointing. Virtually every aspect of the production is polished especially the amazing photography, choreography and musical score. Daniel Craig really pulled out all the stops as the new Bond, that seems to be unanimous now, lets just hope that the film makers stick to their guns next time, keeping Bonds new, deadly persona intact throughout the next film. Over all Casino Royale is a great Bond film, just not as good a movie as it should have been on the larger scheme of things. 7/10
