Friday, November 19, 2021

Casino Royale

And this week's Friday night movie has been... Casino Royale!


Original image located here. Accessed 19th November 2021

After a slight deviation, my yearlong mission to watch more James Bond movies continues.
And now we enter the Daniel Craig era. This does mean we are bypassing the Brosnan era simply because I have seen them all. But in away, going from Dalton directly to Craig does indeed seem like a more natural progression as both actors are drawing heavily from the source material. Furthermore, i will admit I didn't give the Craig era much of a chance (I saw Quantum of Solace when it was originally released in the cinema and I do recall it boring me) so it would be interesting to see it Craig strut his stuff with fresh eyes.

And does he ever.
Clearly doing a reboot was the right call to make given that this series has a terrible reputation for formula. And drawing heavily, like never before, from the source material was also the right move. As a result this a Bond updated, repeating the same trick Goldeneye pulled off years earlier (no surprise that both have the same director).
As always, the action scenes are well choreographed and the drama is well handled. And, as this is an origin story, it is interesting to see Bond's progression into the agent we know. I am well aware some people don't like Craig for his dour/humorless take on the character but give him credit: At least he is taking a tried-and-tested role and taking into unfamiliar territory.
I guess being older and wiser gives me more patience for Craig so it would be interesting to see where we go from here...

No comments:

Post a Comment