New James Bond

[Hermano Lobo]

What a load of <deleted> !

Casino Royale ? 'Turkey Royale' more like !

Is this the end of the Bond Genre ?

Pierce Brosnan was hoping to get another Bond picture, but 'they' didn't want him.

The film 'luvvies' had been scurrying around looking for a replacement but to no avail.

The one night at a night club, one of them took a fancy to one of the bouncers on the door. An ex-boxer who had fortunately done some acting; so 'they' offered him the part of the New Bond !

That is of course a fictitious assessment, but it might as well have been fact.

What on earth was the film about ?

Flash bang wallop; the film starts with action after a song that even Britney Spears would turn down. Bond chases an African Olympian around a building site and learns the finer points of scaffolding and the building trade. Not a builder's bum in site ! Or maybe there was, a bloke called Bond ?

As usual he kills a load of people.

Is this what is termed a plot-less film ?

The scenes are tacked thoughtlessly together; there is no hint of character development, acting or story ?

Daniel Craig really does look like a doorman at a local discotheque, with probably less personality.

To date the Bond film I have like the least was 'Moonraker'; this excuse for a big budget film was by far the worst.

This offering is neither Bond; nor spies, or an attempt at drama. Judi dench must have wondered whether her lines were taken from the back of a Corn Flake packet ?

As for Bond's script; you will get more humour from a constipated traffic warden.

I shall with the comment I began with:-

"Is this the end of the Bond genre?"

Edited March 26, 2007 by Hermano Lobo

[Austhaied]

I thought it was good. Even Jimmy Bond has to roll with the changes.

[suegha]

I saw the movie and thought it was the best ever!!! Yeah, sure the character needs building up a bit and he didn't have as many Bondesque lines, but they will come. He's a fine actor and will develop the role in the future.

I liked the gritty realism. Too many Bond movies are just too slick.

[Hermano Lobo]

Like the film data base IMDb, many here like the new Bond film. I think it is rubbish. Here are a few comments that I concur with on IMDB:-

(1)

Don't believe the hype. The worst Bond film of all time!

I was going to wait until a second viewing of CASINO ROYALE before writing a comment for it since my opinion on a film occasionally does change the second time around, but I am absolutely stunned at the positive rating of the picture so I feel I must get my two cents out while my grips are fresh in my mind. Since there are so many of them, the following will read more as a complaint this than a coherent review, which is appropriate since coherency is definitely not something that CASINO ROYAL has, surprising given the ridiculous two and a half hour running time. Poorly adapted by Neal Purvis, Robert Wade, and (groan) Paul Haggis, is the perfect example of one too many cooks in the kitchen. There are two screenplays fighting for screen time here, and the two mesh horribly. The action aspect, which I am guessing is Purvis and Wade's screenplay, is fine. The ideas behind the action scenes are incredible. The execution-not so much. Then there's the so-called character development and horrid romantic sub-plot that feel like they were tacked right after shooting began. No doubt that was the work of Haggis' trite, pain-inducing screenplay, overwrought with some of the corniest dialogue of all time delivered by the seemingly medicated Daniel Craig as James Bond. Neither charming nor slick, Craig plays Bond as if he doesn't care. There is no coolness factor to Bond here, especially when the film turns into THE NOTEBOOK in the last act. Yes, this is not the Bond we all know and love. This is a sensitive, weak, and all around boring Bond. The exact type that should not be in an action movie. To make matters worse, there is no chemistry between Craig and leading lady Eva Green. In fact, their romance seems downright creepy. Green was 25-years-old when 'ROYALE' was shot, Craig was 38 and looking over 40. I could buy them as father and daughter, but as a supposed couple, it was just a major turn off.

Perhaps the biggest cinematic crime CASINO ROYALE makes is throwing the continuity of the series out the window. Granted the Bond series has never been about continuity, but what's done in 'ROYALE' is a giant slap in the face to anyone who has been following the franchise for even the past few installments. A supposed prequel to the series, the story takes place in 2006. With a budget of over $150 million, the filmmakers couldn't have set in another decade? It's just one of the many examples in CASINO ROYALE that shows film-making at its laziest. Don't believe the hype. This is the worst Bond picture of all time. I never thought I would say this, but Bond is dead. Worst of the year. 0/10

(2)

this is really a Bruce Willis or Arnie film, not a Bond film at all.

The pre-credit sequence is boring with zero humour or panache in Craig's delivery of the punch line.

Judy Dench is looking old and completely out of place in a film that is supposed to go back to the beginnings of Bond. And we have the oldest cliché in the book of Bond at odds with his superior, blah blah, done in every cop film since the dawn of time.

The Sony product placement is just crass throughout for a Sony/Columbia picture. Is this a movie or an advert? The title song is instantly forgettable with lyrics mumbled.

The cartoon credit sequence is the poorest graphics since Dr No, simply boring with no imagination or wow factor. It looks cheap compared to the great graphics we have come to expect and makes the whole film look cheap compared to greater Cubby Brocolli efforts.

Craig is not debonair, tall, dark or handsome and has no wit or class, totally miscast as Bond. He would be better as the villain's No 2 henchman rather than Bond.

The idea that the world's terrorists depend on a legitimate casino game to fund their activities is as ludicrous as Moonraker's laser guns or Die Another's invisible car, but this is the whole plot of the film.

There are 3 good action sequences and the rest is FAR too long. The love story bit dialogue between Bond and Vesper particularly is yawn inducing with no chemistry between the actors on screen, and Vesper's suicide at the end particularly contrived and unbelievable. The whole end sequence of destroying a Venician building shows no imagination and is obviously just tagged on as an afterthought.

In conclusion it's just another formula action film with none of the class and features that make a good Bond film. The hero could have been any cop/agent/private investigator so the whole has none of the distinctive and memorable scenes that always went into a Bond film.

A big disappointment.

(3)

This was a Sony and Ford show. And did I spot Richard Branson of Virgin Airlines too? I hated the new Bond. Bond MUST be handsome but this guy looked like a waiter in an East European restaurant. Can he deliver the lines? Let's put it this way - if you like a monotonous drone, you'll like him. Man, haven't they got anyone better to choose from? Listen up producers, you've lost me as a customer. I ain't paying to see another Bond flick as long as that neanderthal is playing Bond, OK? And I mean what I say. Like I said, too much ADVERTISING!!! I bet good ol' Branson paid to show his mug, if it was him. And what is it with the 21st century mobiles and laptops? Is this a PREQUEL or SEQUEL??? Sheesh... And I hate Judi Dench as M. I mean, she just isn't M. I would give this stinker a 0 if I could. And that's not to mention the absence of any meaningful action. Oh ya, and very very LONG & BORING. As bad as watching Saints hang on to a 1-goal lead. Gimme my time and money back!!!

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0381061/usercomments?start=10

Edited March 29, 2007 by Hermano Lobo

[suegha]

Nice rant!

[Austhaied]

Nice rant!

I'll second that notion...

[kayo]

Whoever wrote that must be very miserable.

They took away his beloved movie series.

Me, I'm happy.

they gave my beloved movie series a grand kick up the backside, granted him some character, sorely lacking for far too long, and gave the Arnie/Willis type action hero of recent Bond's a Long Kiss Goodbye.

NB> on the ImDB rant you posted, Hermano> If the writer had put the second paragraph up first ( the bit about it re-booting the franchise in modern times a la prequel) then the rest of his first paragraph would be moot. For the point is that Bond is not yet Bond and is only becoming Bond...

But if I were so inclined, I'd probably take it up with the guy who wrote that on Imdb. Lucky, for I'm not so inclined and there a beer getting cold in the fridge

Edited April 3, 2007 by kayo

[Hermano Lobo]

Whoever wrote that must be very miserable.

They took away his beloved movie series.

Me, I'm happy.

they gave my beloved movie series a grand kick up the backside, granted him some character, sorely lacking for far too long, and gave the Arnie/Willis type action hero of recent Bond's a Long Kiss Goodbye.

NB> on the ImDB rant you posted, Hermano> If the writer had put the second paragraph up first ( the bit about it re-booting the franchise in modern times a la prequel) then the rest of his first paragraph would be moot. For the point is that Bond is not yet Bond and is only becoming Bond...

But if I were so inclined, I'd probably take it up with the guy who wrote that on Imdb. Lucky, for I'm not so inclined and there a beer getting cold in the fridge

A lot of people did like the new Bond film. I thought it was dreadful, probably because I am a fan of the original book by Ian Fleming. This new chap reminds me of a bouncer outside a Wetherspoon pub. I don't think he can act either. Judi Dench is a great actress and deserves a better script. I have seen better lines at Clapham Junction.

OK, so what do I like ? At the moment I am watching Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy for the umpteenth time. I like it as it ir nearer to how it really is. Even down to the scruffy offices they had near Cambridge Circus. The characters are very believable and I thought the scene in the Czecho forest near Brno quite scary ! AAaaahhh memories ???