CASINO ROYALE (2006) - ****1/2I get easily irritated with people who complain about the fight sequences in this movie being way too much like THE BOURNE IDENTITY. Certainly that Matt Damon franchise, and their massive box-office, inspired EON Productions to quit the uninspired quick-cutting with the close-up shots and body doubles to pass off the illusion that Pierce Brosnan could fight.
The difference though is that while Jason Bourne reacts from behavior software with (ridiculously) quick clear precision, Daniel Craig is brutally instinctive when he slams a contact's skull into a bathroom sink.
Right from the black & white opening with Craig's stone cold hit job, this clearly aint your Daddy's James Bond, or the one he's been used to. This is the violent bastard Bond that LICENSE TO KILL and Timothy Dalton so desperately wanted to be, but failed.
While we still get the trademark Bondian stunts, gunfire, women, and one-liners, what's wonderfully missing is the
formula of expectations. With CASINO ROYALE, the aura of danger, suspense, and cool have returned to the 007 codename.
Instead of trying to cram Craig into a worn-out static mold like EON did with Dalton, ROYALE is built around him. His brooding masculinty, incredible physiqe, and blue eyes make him the most action-credible but charming Bond since Sean Connery. If Craig keeps this up, he'll become the de facto face of cinema's greatest hero.
In fact, If EON has been practically remaking GOLDFINGER and its comic book adventurism for decades, Director Martin Campbell's ROYALE is more of a throwback to the classic atmospheric FROM RUSSIA WITH LOVE.
Much like Robert Shaw, Mads Mikkelsen is a great 007 threat not because he's yet another gimmick villain trying to take over the world, but because his charisma is allowed to dictate. Consider his great chemistry with Craig, for ROYALE's most thrilling scenes might very well be the tense but rewarding finale poker game, and the torture sequence that've caused men worldwide to squirm.
But if Bond is given back his potentcy with fists, ROYALE actually surprised me by putting the
sex back in sex. For a character renown as a sexist symbol of man-whoring, there is genuine lust of which hasn't been so provacative with Bond since "Pussy Galore" got through the censors.
Yet to compound that is how once Eva Green is introduced and has a verbal shake-down with Craig, the audience gives a damn about her. Many 007 pictures have tried to make some Bond Girls matter before, but their importance were always neutered by the
formula's safety net.
With that creative webbing ripped and thrown aside, Green is allowed to have an impact of which this Bond franchise "re-launch" will have a mythical foundation from which to grow from, and have ramifications for years to come, especially with the upcoming direct sequel THE QUANTUM OF SOLACE. This is ON HER MAJESTY'S SECRET SERVICE, but better executed and more emotional.
I think its praise and criticism when the movie's first serious action sequence is more thrilling and exciting than anything we've seen before in a 007 picture, followed by the equally excellent airport bomb chase, but by the Venice gunfight, I was mentally exausted. Those are two words I don't think I've said about an action movie since SPEED back in the day.
Yet when the hero utters his signature line, and his iconic music is played over the credits, not only is Bond gladly back with a bloody vengeance...
He's got his balls back.