Casino Royale Review November 25th, 2006
Sean Connery personified James Bond, until he stretched Bond into late middle age. Timothy Dalton, well, the less said, the better. Roger Moore was a shot back to the old Bond, but just seemed to rely too much on contrivance, gadgets and visual jokes. Pierce Brosnan was a marvel in the classic Bond style, until he, too, out-aged the persona. Of course, somewhere in there was David Niven as Bond in the often ignored (and rightly so) previous spy movie spoof called “Casino Royale.”
Daniel Craig, the new James Bond, in his first picture has brought new life to this franchise. Not the pretty-boy of recent bonds, Craig brings a cragged and, dare I say it, ugly visage to the role of James Bond. And…it works perfectly!
Dame Judith Dench, while perfect in her M role in earlier films, set a new standard for the role in this one. Dame Judith has dropped the “Dame Judith” from her screen name, and now goes by the simple Judi Dench, presumably the benefit of the huge U.S. following of the Bond films.
Set in the early days of James Bond’s MI6 career, we see him become the James Bond of legend. Tough, no-nonsense, violence when appropriate (and it’s appropriate quite a few times in this film), Bond gets things done.
While we see Bond with a 1964 Aston Martin, it’s a world of cellphones, text messages, laptop computers and tiny tracking devices. In other words, the 1960’s Bond of Sean Connery updated to today’s technologies. No cute devices from Q. Just Bond against the bad guys…
I didn’t read any reviews of the movie before going. I did check the Rotten Tomatoes site to find out when it was showing at my neighborhood theater, so I saw that it had a 95% rating from the reviewers (reviewers rate “fresh” or “Rotten”). I think that’s the best rating that I’ve seen at RT.
After seeing it, I know why. I’ll say “Fresh” too.
If you haven’t seen it, plan to see it tonight, tomorrow or next weekend. This is NOT one for which waiting for the DVD is a good choice. The big screen is a necessary part of the adventure.
Certainly I’ll buy the DVD. The question is whether or not I’ll go back to see it before it leaves the 1st-run theaters.
The Hummingbird, part 3 November 7th, 2006
And, a few more pictures of the hummingbird we fed after Hurricane Katrina…
The Hummingbird, part 2 November 6th, 2006
More pictures of the hummingbird we fed after Hurricane Katrina…
