Rating of
3.5/4
Casino Royale review
Daniel Corleone - wrote on 07/14/11
The films consists of Daniel Craig (an egoistic but humane James Bond), Eva Green (Vesper Lynd, the witty and attractive agent from Treasury), Mads Mikkelsen (A poker aficionado banker who funds terrorists, Le Chiffre) and the legendary Judi Dench (the passionate Head of MI6, M). Like other Bond films, James is given missions to accomplish. Unfortunately we don’t see the suave manner of completing a task assigned to him. He even breaks in the house of his boss without any permission or notice whatsoever. This Bond is egoistic, straight faced and gritty. The charm with the ladies is still there, heck, even the female characters doubt his character at first. His first mission is in Madagascar to capture a bomb maker. A wild goose chase between the bomb maker, henchman and an associate of Le Chiffre ensues. MI6 let’s Bond enter an extravagant Poker Tournament where the antagonist will play for his business. Of course the hero won the tournament; the money is deposited by him and Vesper. Bond receives a call from M asking him to deposit the cash. He finds out from his superior that Vesper’s boyfriend was kidnapped by Mr. White/Le Chiffre’s association. She would surrender the money for Bond’s life in return. James was able to track Mr. White thru Versper’s cellphone. The familiar phrase is uttered in the end after shooting Mr. White.
The only aspect I had to criticize was the way the director told the story and its ending. Everything felt rushed and the details of the missions were not that lucid. Mr. White’s inclusion (and lack of character build-up) made it a bit confusing instead of heaving one main opponent. If this had a happier ending, I would have given it a perfect rating. Nevertheless, this new aged Bond is very different from its predecessors. I kind of missed the gadgets created for the lead character since I felt it was included in any Bond film aside from the gorgeous ladies, lush sceneries, swanky cars and dashing wardrobe. From start to finish, the action was fast paced. I was flabbergasted by the stunts/chases pulled off. The cars bumping and flipping were done tastefully. If only this Bond was slick and charming instead of reckless and egoistic. I guess they wanted a very unique Bond. Overall, this was a good film with awesome actions scenes and solid acting. If it was tweaked to pay homage to the other Bond films, it could have been perfect for me.
