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November 27, 2006
casino royale
Saw Casino Royale over the holiday. See extended entry - spoilers abound.
I liked it a lot and you should go see it. It's not perfect but Daniel Craig can play Bond anytime he likes. Especially when his body is in such great shape. My god the man is hot. I bet you could bounce quarters off his butt. As my friend Y says, "He completes me." hehehe.
Anyway, he has just the right amount of humor, rakishness, cruelty and suave that I expect from Bond. When I read the books over 20 years ago as a teen, my two favorites were Casino Royale and On Her Majesty's Secret Service. I don't have a perfect memory so I'm not sure how much it matches the book (well, the book is set in the cold war, so I know that doesn't match). But in the movie, when Bond quits to go off with Vesper, it's reminiscent of On Her Majesty's Secret Service (Bond gets married and then his wife is killed - I cried when I read it and then remember remarking to a friend that I couldn't believe I was crying because of a James Bond novel).
Anyway, we knew Vesper was doomed to be killed. I mean, seriously, Diamonds are Forever for Bond but not girls.
The chase scene on foot at the beginning was awesome. Nbh looked up the name of the moves used, but I've now forgotten it. I'll have to bug him again tonight.
I liked that they introduce Felix Leiter. The Astin Martin car crash was spectacular and painful to watch. The Bond torture scene was painful to watch, I can't imagine what it's like for a guy to watch. And did I mention that Craig is hawt? Man, I can't wait for the DVD. I wonder what the extras will contain.
Things I didn't like: When Vesper and Mathis turn to each other and remark about the tell. I kinda felt that they were talking down to the audience. Hellooooo, we heard Bond mention what the tell was. Yeesh. It just seemed oddly out of place and momentarily took me out of the movie. There needed to be a bit more background on Le Chiffre. And the recovery period/love stuff with Vesper dragged on a bit too long. Less lovey dovey, more sex and action, please.
I'm looking forward to the next one in 2008. Yum.
Posted by jennj at November 27, 2006 11:35 AM
Clue-ments:
Really enjoyed it. Loved that he got 'hurt' like normal human beings.
It was hard for me to adjust to a blonde bond though. Still, he did a great job and the movie was good. Kept me on edge for most of it. The tell thing was almost as bad as knowing that there was no way it was going to end happy with Bond retired and with the babe.
Worst of all, who wants to go travel now?
Posted by: Iwan at November 27, 2006 03:48 PM
"Free-running" is the English term for the stunts. Check my weblog for pointers to some You-tube videos.
In the one scene where Bond is walking out of the surf in the my-god-it's-tiny bathing suit, it looked like his head (cranium) was tiny to me. His chest and shoulders are so big he looked a bit silly, I thought.
The torture was unpleasant to watch, but was not as bad as that scene from "The Serpent and the Rainbow". Honestly, though, I thought the torture was rather stupid. Getting hit in the nuts hard hurts badly and often makes you throw up, but I'm not sure that repeated application would continue the suffering like pulling out new fingernails would. Bond probably doesn't need to worry about having kids now, though.
Posted by: poz at November 27, 2006 04:34 PM
Poz - KFM has posted a funny conversation regarding the torture scene here:
http://kfmonkey.blogspot.com/2006/11/bond-james-boooooaaaghhh.html
I had no problems with the scene where he's coming out of the water in his tiny bathing suit. It's actually the picture on my desktop. Home computer, that is.
I have to admit, the torture scene I wasn't entirely focused on the torture but more the nakedness of Bond.
I checked out the videos on your site, thanks for that. It's fascinating to see and I like it. Coincidentally, District B13 is sitting on a shelf in our entertainment center (it's been there for like, 3 months) and I hear it's got a lot of free-running in it. I hope to have some time soon to watch it.
Posted by: cf at November 27, 2006 05:09 PM
p.s. Did you have to endure the trailer for the new Rocky movie when you went and saw CR? Yuck.
Posted by: cf at November 27, 2006 05:53 PM
KFM: Funny!
Rocky Balboa: Yes. Ugh.
Free-running: aka parkour dans La France.
Posted by: poz at November 27, 2006 10:23 PM