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16/11/2006 - CASINO ROYALE - FILM REVIEW

The Gate's film reviewer, Ed Devlin, attended the charity premiere of Casino Royale at the Empire Cinema.

Here's his views on the latest Bond blockbuster to hit the big screen.


Casino Royale.

Directed – Martin Campbell
Staring - Daniel Craig, Mads Mickkelson, Eva Green.
Run Time – 2hr 24min.

Bond is, back; back to basics, back to reality and back to the beginning. Oh, and did I mention that he was also blonde. All the carping about hair colour when Daniel Craig was picked to be the sixth (eighth if you’re being picky and counting the two previous versions of Casino Royale)incarnation of the suave assassin seems even more ridiculous in the light of the 2hr 20 odd minutes of bravura movie making that is Casino Royale. Right from the off with the monochrome, distinctly short and remarkably unflamboyant pre-title sequence we get the picture – this is Bond in the raw and as his creator intended. Gone are the 20-to-the-dozen wisecracks, as are the landslide of showy gimmicks (although I presume even the most expensive of cars do not come with a defibrillator as standard) joining the rather outdated notion that our hero could be involved in a ferocious punch-up and walk away without a mark.
Craig’s Bond bleeds, feels, acts and kills with an authenticity that no Bond has shown before (not even Connery). Whether this marks him out as a rival to the first real Bond is always going to be a matter of personal taste, but what is beyond doubt is that Bond 2006 is no throwaway retread of a tired formula. Indeed there is, perhaps, too little of the spectacular and too much of character development for those raised on the candy confections of the Moore era. But for me this was just fine, no more high camp, but no less high energy, this is the most enjoyable Bond movie I have seen at the pictures since Goldeneye.
The fact that Martin Campbell is at the helm again is no coincidence. In the Kiwi director, the producers have found someone not just keyed into the Bond ethic, but someone clearly in love with having at his disposal such a complex character, who can equally well be thrown around in the action sequences as worked out in the lulls between the storms. Indeed the Bond ethic is usually defined by what it isn’t rather than what it is, (you’re never sure why a Bond movie works – Goldfinger, You Only Live Twice, Goldeneye, but you know when you see one that doesn’t – Diamonds Are Forever, Octopussy, The World Is Not Enough) but is best summed up by one adage I heard. In the good Bond movies all the boys want to be him and all the girls want to be with him.
For the latter Daniel Craig seems to fit the bill, as just mentioning those two words together (Daniel and Craig that is) in the same sentence seems to be enough to send even the most hardened unromantic females all goo goo eyed.
As for the former I have no problem, perhaps it was because I was of the generation raised by being allowed to stay up late in the 70’s to catch the end of such films or because I have never really grown up. It helps that Craig sports a body that looks like its been machine tooled in the gym and also that he can do smooth without being slimy. And that presence and physique is not just eye candy for the possibly dragged along wives and girlfriends, like Russell Crowe in Gladiator Craig looks like a man you wouldn’t pick a fight with unless you were terminally stupid or horribly drunk.
For, lets face it, this is as much Craig’s movie as it is Bonds’ - he fills the screen as only great actors can, not just with the fact that he performed just about every stunt on the picture but because of his brooding manner, barely concealed ferocity and over it all an easy charm that makes it all look effortless.
The plot, as no doubt you will have heard, turns around the high stakes poker game at the titular venue, with Bond gambling the government’s money in an attempt to bust a terrorist financier out. However there are enough plot twists and big set pieces to make the tension filled poker game just one of many highlights.
I don’t have to tell you to go and see this film, you already know it makes sense. Oh, and by the way, did I mention that Bond is Blonde?


Do you agree or disagree with Ed? Send us your opinion of the latest Bond movie.

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