Casino Royale - A Review

I have put off writing a review for the new James Bond movie, mainly because I have mixed feelings about the film and I'm not sure whether I like it or not. Or whether Daniel Craig deserved the highly prestigious Bond role.

Having said that, the new Bond film was a vast improvement to the previous James Bond portrayed by Pierce Brosnan (who looks more like an office manager than a tough British agent). Casino Royale has broken from the stereotype of Bond as some womanising, smarmy git with the powers of invincibility; choosing instead to explore Bond's earlier days when he was young and reckless, and most importantly, someone who is indeed vulnerable.

We no longer see the Bond of old, who could cartwheel through an army of machine-gunners, karate chop them all and still look impeccable enough to order a martinee and seduce the fabulously attractive girl sitting opposite. Daniel Craig's Bond shows weaknesses, misjudgements and gets bruised a lot (when has Pierce Brosnan ever had a cut lip let alone a bruise?), he even suffers emotional damage which makes the whole film more interesting and enjoyable.

We won't be seeing this smarmy git anytime soon

Having pointed out the new improvements to Bond, we come the negative aspects of the film.

Despite Daniel Craig's decent portrayal of a more human Bond, I still have my doubts about him. Firstly, he just seems to old. Considering this is a remake of the first Bond movie (and he has just been made 007) he looks remarkably old, which seemed to annoy me a great deal (but most people will get over it I guess).

Secondly, some of his dialogue was totally uninspiring. At times he just droned on and on in his monotone drawl which sickened me greatly. The guy has proved he can do action but I feel that he should give his mouth a rest from time to time, especially when there's dialogue as boring as shown in Casino Royale.

Also, the plot was weak until the end where it became badly cluttered and confusing. They seemed to cram all the twists into the end and none of it was to be expected; the plot gave no clues whatsoever which was a letdown.

Having said that, Casino Royale marks a new era for Bond films and I look forward to the next one. I have no regrets about booting Pierce Brosnan.

On a side note, I actually expected my co-author to write a post on this topic (he is Bond-crazy and probably fantasises about Bond or being Bond). Unfortunately, he was meant to watch it but his dad stood him up, the poor bastard.