Blog Part 1: Casino Royal Review
Posted By Kathleen David on November 18, 2006
Today’s Blog is going to be in 3 parts.
A Review of Casino Royal; The NWR for The Idiot’s Lantern; The NWR for The Impossible Planet
OK Casino Royal Spoiler Free. In a word WOW! Bond is back and back to his roots. This is the hitting of the restart button on the franchise and they could not have found a better actor to do it with. Daniel Craig has a face that look like it has been lived in. It is not a perfect face and shows its wear and tear but the eyes light up the screen.
You actually have to pay a bit of attention to the plot because it does tie together beautifully in the end. It is nice that there is a plot rather than a series of events that moves Bond forward in the story. This is Bond becoming the man he will be and you can watch him evolve into the character we know so well. Also this is a low gadget to no gadget Bond. He doesn’t use anything out of the ordinary to solve his problems. And there is a nod to the early Bond films that was a very nice touch. It is worth seeing on a big screen. Bond is back and I enjoyed it.
I am grateful that I saw this film.
I haven’t seen Casino yet (still, really undecided about it–the Bond series has never really held much appeal) I’m amazed that most of the reviews have ignored the previous versions of the story. I do realize most people have little memory of the first screen version (the 1954 Americanized TV version), but the first film version (the 1967 film which essentially qualifies as a genre spoof, despite the relative newness of the “superspy”) is frequently aired on TV, though rarely as part of any Bond tributes. I mean, if nothing else, someone should be making comments about this being Casino finally done right. (Of course, we can’t really be too hard on the 1967 film as something good did come from it–Dusty Springfield’s lovely song, “The Look of Love”.)