The Bond Identity (Casino Royale [2006] (DVD))

Member Name: thedevilinme

Product:	Casino Royale [2006] (DVD)
Date:	11/04/07 (103 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Raw and edgy

Disadvantages: Too long

So after the last 007 in the diminutive Pearce Bronson was presumably killed in action (probably crushed by a toppling road cone!) a rather rugged and sexist regeneration (well it is rather like Dr Who when a new one comes along) in Danny Craig has picked up the Beretta.
Some have complained he just doesn’t have the look and sex appeal of previous Bonds and it is fair to say he does look like a builder, but I, on the other hand, say it’s what the tired Bond franchise really needed and the type of a guy women want mind an estimate from.. One too many CGI special effects and gadgets (culminating in the ludicrous invisible car last time up) needed to be checked in their path. Going back to basics has done the job.

So if we are being authentic about things then why not start again with the first ever Bond movie. Casino Royale has been freshened up from the 1960s version to the present day and it’s not going to be the last, judging by Craig’s edgy and physical performance, even though we have now used up all of Flemmings original books with Brosnans final Bond.

Craig brings back a real macho edge to proceedings, a bit of Paul Newman about him with those piercing blue eyes, swigging his Martinis like pints down the Dog & Duck, grabbing the ass of a sexy girl his misogynist chat up style. I wouldn’t say he was a working class 007, but, like Doctor Who, has turned the white collar a distinct shade of aqua blue in the bungled washing. Well that is a woman’s job.

Du du de ded de ded de ded da da...

A new Bond (which he is here) can not get his 00 license until he has killed twice, our raw agent reciting his first kills in ‘Ms’ (Judy Dench) office to bump his six to the all important seven.
After the spectacular and traditional opening action sequence-stuffed with product placement- the new Bond theme song washes over us (I’ve never heard of them but its quite a rocky tune) as we are introduced to the villain, his beautiful girl once again sliding out of the pool in search of her towel in his secret lair. To say Le Chiffre (Mads Mikkelsen) is a cliché Bond Mr Evil is an understatement, the broken right eye having you screaming for him to put on the annoyingly absent monocle.

Le Chiffre is a compulsive gambler, playing only the most glamorous and highest stake games around the world. And to get on those roulette tables he needs lots and lots of money, usually obtained by causing terrorist atrocities, and then picking up the dividend from strategic share price purchases, like the September 11 share price collapse on American and United airlines stock on the 12th of the same month.

New to MI6, a reckless and rather clinical Bond takes it upon himself to investigate Le Chiffre, the body count quickly rising without back-up, resulting in a ball busting bo**ocknig from the equally ruthless Judy Dench, effectively given him a secret agents ASBO to keep an eye on him!

When the action flips to the more traditional Bond territory of Bermuda the film slams on the brakes and things begin to drag. Its hear we are introduced to the beautiful Vesper Lynd (Eva Green, the best body in cinema) ,a British Treasury accountant (with a French accent) who will stake him the ten million pounds required to play the big tables in Montenegro so to entrap Le Chiffre, especially after the bad guys try to blow up a prototype super airliner.
Having a love story in a Bond movie never works for me as you know it’s never going to be. But they do and the film stops dead, the final casino sequence confusingly long, the three different endings frustrating. But at least there some spare time for dooyoo girls (and some of the boys) to see him in his very tight shorts.

Roll credits

Having a ‘chippy’ Bond is a smart move as we move away from the pansy public schoolboy stuff and back to the type of guy that is going to get women back in the cinemas to see him. Pierce Bronson just looked tiny on screen and you could her him wheezing every time he got slapped. Craig, on the other hand, is spectacularly roar and physical, chasing down cars and bad guys like the Terminator.

The product placement is a little blatant but you understand these things are big budget. I believe Sony paid a fortune to be the official gadget provider for 007 and sales of their new phone went through the roof. In fact there’s a distinct lack of gadgets in the movie, the ones there are conveniently used in life or death situations, Litvienko style. The beautiful and iconic Bond pussy galore mobile in the Aston Martin DBS looks majestic.

Like Pussy Galore, Eva Green is emancipated yet vulnerable as the love interest, her stunning body and sexual power games as eye catching as her girl power turn. Could the next Bond be a woman we wonder...?

Summary: Back to basics