Movie Review
Casino Royale (2006)
Evil genius Le Chiffre is trying to fund his international terror network by making a windfall profit through short trading the stocks of an important airliner. For him to profit, the airliner must experience a disaster.
But when Bond prevents that from taking place, Le Chiffre kicks his Plan B into action – skimming off $150 million at the poker table. Place: “Casino Royale,” Montenegro.
Despite an initial setback, Bond ends up spoiling that plot as well with the aid of the gorgeous Eva Green playing Vesper Lynd, the MI6’s chief accountant. That’s basically what the Plot A is all about.
Plot B, the sub-plot, is about the romance between Bond and Vesper. And yes, James Bond really falls heads over heels in love in this one! Sacrebleu! Do I need to say anything else to describe what kind of a “very different” Bond movie this is?
Daniel Craig as James Bond is good but very different in this latest addition to the long-standing string of Bond movies which depicts a young Bond earning his “00” status. This is a prequel to everything that comes after it. We are watching Bond coming into his own by proving his metal to a skeptical M.
Partly, the times we are living through is responsible for the very different tone of this prequel. Daniel Craig spending a good part of the movie in shirts soaked in blood should give you an idea about the scale of realistic violence in this movie.
I do not remember a single scene in which Sean Connery would even come close to having a single drop of blood on his immaculate tux. Yet, this vintage-2006 Bond changes his bloodied tux in between two sittings of a poker game when he cannot help but kill two thugs with his bare hands during the intermission.
Let's remember that a 007 film is a franchise commodity. That's why I question the degree to which one can play with the basic formula without destroying the DNA of the original product.
If, for example, one would change the signature 007 theme music with something else, “Casino Royale” might even pass off as just another bloody spy thriller. Its “Bond heat-signature” is at such a discounted level.
For one thing, this is a Bond movie without much cocky humor in it. And humor is Bond’s self-confidence. Craig’s Bond is a humorless man battling with self-doubt and failure and serial setbacks.
Gone is the supercilious British wry humor that characterized the spirit of 007 under the most trying circumstances and that’s a pity.
On the other side of the equation, casting the immensely talented Judi Dench as “M” (for a second time after her first appearance in the “Goldeneye”) is as politically-correct an error as they come because she comes across more as a tired senior bureaucrat with strong maternal instincts than the boss of the world’s most efficient and ruthless spy agency. She is just not convincing. Although she is a terrific world-class actress, in this particular role, Judi Dench doesn’t cut it.Another serious error concerns the portrayal of the (supposedly) main antagonist “Le Chiffre.”
After making us believe for the whole movie that Le Chieffre is as genuine and authentic an evil nemesis as “Dr. No”, the director suddenly reveals in the third act that the dreaded bad-guy is nothing more than just an intermediary, a hired hand for the “corporation” which is pulling the REAL strings behind the scenes.
Ugh! What a let down... It not only belittles our initial take on the stakes involved, but it diminishes the scope of Bond’s accomplishment as well.
Thus, despite the involvement of Paul Haggis who is one of those script writers in Hollywood who really know what they are doing, the script has some serious issues for a 007 movie.
Having said all that, let’s praise all the skill and vision that went into shooting the chase-machine that “Casino Royale” is…
The opening long chase shot is easily one of the most breathtaking foot chase sequence I’ve ever watched in my life! Just when you think “okay, it’s now coming to an end” another mini-sequence develops, hurtling James from one impossible precipice to another… Very well done.
If you have not watched a whole historic building in Venice imploding on itself and sinking like the Titanic while its inhabitants are busy killing each other off, you’ll “enjoy” that in Casino Royale as well…
A visually satisfying thriller jam packed with action sequences, explosions, and fight scenes. It does not live up to my standards of a perfect “Bond movie” but it is good entertainment nevertheless. A 7 out of 10.
And should you want to see one movie in which Daniel Craig really shines, please see the Irish crime thriller “Layered Cake.”
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Ugur Akinci, Ph.D. is a senior writer and web content consultant with 20 years of experience.
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Article Source: Ugur Akinci
Movie-Review---Casino-Royale-(2006),-Part-1&id=541543