James Bond - Casino Royale

11 April 2015

Casino Royale

• Director: Martin Campbell
• Based on the novels  by Ian Fleming
• Cast: Daniel Craig, Eva Green, Judie Dench, Mads Mikkelsen, Jeffrey Wright, Giancarlo Giannini, Caterina Murino, Jesper Christensen, Ivana Milicevic
• Personal “oh yeah him/her” reaction, i.e. have seen this actor in:
• Daniel Craig  – Defiance, Flashbacks of a Fool, Infamous, Road to Perdition, Elizabeth, Hotel Splendide
• Eva Green – Dark Shadows, Kingdom of Heaven
• Judi Dench –the other Bond films, Hotel Marigold, My Week with Marilyn, Pirates of the Caribbean, Jane Eyre, Cranford, Nine, Notes on a Scandal, Mrs Henderson Presents, Ladies in Lavender, The Shipping News, Chocolat, Tea with Mussolini, Shakespeare in Love, Mrs Brown, Hamlet, Henry V, A Handful of Dust, 84 Charing Cross Road, A Room with a View, Macbeth
• Mads Mikkelsen – must be something but I can’t find anything
• Jeffrey Wright – The Hunger Games, Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close, Source Code, Cadillac Records, Broken Flowers, Angels in America, Hamlet, Homicide Life on the Streets
• Jesper Christensen –Melancholia, The Young Victoria, The Interpreter
• Ivana Melicevic  – Battle in Seattle, In Her Shoes
• Why? Curious. Hal and I saw several Bond films in a Bond festival in the early 70’s and enjoyed them. Sean Connery is the only Bond we have ever seen.  Friends have said later actors have been good too. And with Judi Dench they can’t be all bad.  So we bought the box...
• Seen:  April 3, 2015   

Exit Brosnan. Enter Craig.  Only three left of the James Bond box. I didn’t think, ten or so films ago, that I’d be a little sad that the whole thing will soon be at an end (except for the ones to come).

Well, I’m not that sad. But I am curious about Daniel Craig. I have a hard time seeing him as Bond.

Austere is not a word one associates with James Bond but as the film starts that’s the word that comes to mind.

There seems to be a time warp. Bond has just been promoted to double-O status and is a newcomer somehow.  M is already angry with him though. He is as arrogant as in the others but has absolutely no humour. He is cold, his charm is calculating and infrequent. A traumatic childhood is hinted at. Psychology? A Bond with character? A lean and hungry look? And suddenly there is kindness.

It works. He’s fascinating.

Even M is human. She has a home and a husband.

It’s exciting and unexpected.

Poor James.

3* of 5