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JAMES BOND COMES OF AGE!
An unedited version of the
review which originally appeared on the 007 MAGAZINE website on 6th
November 2006. |
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GRAHAM RYE reviews the new James Bond film Casino Royale - which had its World Premiere as the 60th Royal Film Performance in the presence of Her Majesty The Queen at the Odeon Leicester Square on November 14th, 2006. |
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To enjoy the new James Bond film to its maximum effect it’s necessary to leave any memories of the previous 20 Bond films outside the cinema doors before you see Casino Royale, because you’ll find nothing here you’ll recognise from the past 40 years in this movie. This film exists in its own entirely new universe. It’s not so much Bond is back but this Bond has arrived for the first time, Ian Fleming’s James Bond that is. It’s appropriate that in this, the 21st Bond movie in the series that James Bond has finally come of age. I found it a similar experience to watching Dr. No over 40 years ago. There had never been anything like it before in cinema, and it shocked, impressed and entertained in equal measure and made me want to see it again and see more of this new screen character. And that’s what Daniel Craig’s James Bond is in Casino Royale, an entirely new interpretation of a screen character we all thought we knew inside out - until now! Simply, there has never been anything like it before in the entire Bond canon. If the film Bond faded out with the end credits of Die Another Day in 2002, it is most definitely Ian Fleming’s James Bond in spirit that returns when the lights go down on 2006’s Casino Royale. The film is a revelation and so too is Daniel Craig, whose engaging and intelligent three-dimensional performance is the core of the movie. Craig sweeps through the film like a force of nature, photographing much better on the moving image than any still photograph can do him justice. Not since Sean Connery’s panther-like gait prowled across the screen in 1962 has 007’s tuxedo been filled by such a deadly and cool cat. This man IS dangerous! But human with it. Craig is undoubtedly the most exciting actor in the UK to hit cinema screens since the Sixties and his impressive debut as double-o seven bears this out. Bond producers Michael G. Wilson and Barbara Broccoli have taken a bold and brave move in taking the franchise by the scruff of the neck to expertly shake the whole tired thing back to life with a movie that literally sizzles from 21st century filmmaking at its best. From the faux monochrome downbeat opening to the rich colour saturated ending of Phil Méheux’s cinematography on the shores of the breathtakingly beautiful Lake Como in Italy, the film’s 144-minute running time flies by making it feel much more like a 90-minute excursion into escapism. Director Martin Campbell has pulled out all the stops to ensure the set pieces are breathtaking, the dialogue scenes are thoughtfully set up, and the fight scenes hurt to watch. These are as real as it gets! Gary Powell and his stunt crew pushed the envelope so far on this picture that I hope they all fully recover in time for Bond 22! This is without doubt the most violent Bond film ever made, and all the better for it (hence its 12A rating after a few cuts insisted on by the BBFC). Bond has been reclaimed for an adult audience at last, something that I and many others have missed in the series for over three decades. Young Bond readers beware! This is strong stuff and has absolutely NOTHING to do with the character in those books you’re reading! If your idea of a great Bond film is The Spy Who Loved Me, Octopussy or GoldenEye you may find Casino Royale a little hard on the senses. After Daniel Kleinman’s wonderfully imaginative and refreshingly different credit titles segue into the Free Running sequence that starts the blood pumping in Casino Royale, we are immediately thrown into a visually and orally disturbing environment where a large crowd of shouting building workers are betting on a Mongoose vs. Cobra fight. When Bond’s partner accidentally gives the game away to the suspect they’re following, African terrorist Mollaka (Sébastien Foucan), Bond is forced to chase him through, over, up, and down a construction site in a chase that can only be believed when it’s seen! The dénouement of this scene is pure Bond and as cool as it gets, and also sets up a wonderful sardonic line for Bond in an unauthorised meeting between him and M, played frostily by Judi Dench in her largest and most pivotal appearance to date. Craig and Dench strike sparks off each other in their scenes which reaps great value from the dialogue, and is testament to the scriptwriting talent of Paul Haggis, Robert Wade and Neal Purvis. The international cast who are mostly unknown to UK and US audiences bring a freshness and believability to the whole affair. Eva Green shines as Vesper Lynd, and it is her undeniable dark French beauty that gives rise to the thought that there is far more going on behind her piercing blue eyes than her sensuous mouth would ever betray. Le Chiffre is beautifully underplayed by Danish actor Mads Mikkelsen, whose blood weeping tear duct is as bizarre as anything Fleming could have dreamed up. Mikkelsen has one of the great faces of modern cinema (reminiscent of Fifties’ screen villain Jack Palance), which is used to maximum effect by director Campbell at every opportunity. Le Chiffre’s card duel with Bond at Casino Royale is cleverly broken up in a way that reduces the boredom factor setting into the audience during what could have been a very static drawn out sequence. When Craig delivers the line to Mikkelsen: “That last hand nearly killed me!” Connery couldn’t have been any cooler! Unfortunately just as Le Chiffre takes centre stage in the superbly realised torture scene (I had to cross my legs at this point), he’s whacked by Mr. White in the identical manner SMERSH removed him in Fleming’s original 1953 novel. With the death of who we believe to be the main villain the story takes a surprising (if you haven’t read the book) and fatal turn with another wonderfully executed set piece in Venice where Bond is outnumbered and outgunned by a group of mysterious assassins, but uses his ingenuity, sheer bloody mindedness and determination to rub out the opposition in an attempt to rescue Vesper. The end of this sequence is disturbingly real, and is reminiscent of a scene in Ridley Scott’s White Squall, and packs as much an emotional punch that will most likely bring a tear to the eye of many an audience member. By the time it became
obvious to me the film was near its conclusion I felt a wave of
disappointment invade me - I could have easily sat through another two
hours of this, then perhaps I’d have discovered who the mysterious Mr.
White, that Bond had just kneecapped, was working for.
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