| Overall Grade: |
A |
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| Story: |
A |
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| Acting: |
A+ |
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| Direction: |
A |
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| Visuals: |
A |
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The genesis of Bond
by (movies profile)
Feb 4, 2008
67
of
89 people found this review helpful
I Should probably start my review by disclosing my "Bond" bias. The supposition that your favorite Bond will invariably be the Bond you grew up with falls a little flat with me.
The first Bond film I ever saw was "Octo*****". I was around 10 years old and more than a little confused as to what the title meant (ahhh...innocent youth), but I thought the film was great fun. A funny sort of Spy fairy tale where everyone lived happily ever after.
I was, of course, completely ignorant of the rich, literary tradition of the character. It wasn't until my late teens that I began to devour the Fleming books. I was shocked at the stark contrast between the literary Bond and the cinematic Bond. They were, seemingly, two different characters. The literary Bond was a complex, extremely flawed man who smoked too much, drank too much, and was a bit of a bastard. He was also utterly fascinating.
After reading all the books I judged every subsequent film I saw against my own tightly held vision of the character. I was thrilled with "From Russia with Love", cheered "License to Kill", entertained by "Goldeneye", groaned during "Moonraker", and vomited at "Die Another Day". I began to doubt whether I would ever see the true Ian Fleming creation grace the silver screen. After seeing "Casino Royale" I am almost giddy to state that I was wrong.
Daniel Craig is the literary creation brought to cinematic life, he IS Ian Fleming's James Bond. Not since "Dr.No", "From Russia with Love", and "License to Kill" has the essence of what Mr.Fleming was articulating been captured so vividly.
I've always considered the best Bond to be Sir Sean Connery's first two films, but after seeing "Casino Royale" I must rethink my position. That's not to say that Craig is better than Connery, or that Connery is better than Craig. They are just two distinct interpretations of the same character at different stages of his career, both equally as superb.
If Sean Connery is the Omega, then Daniel Craig is the alpha. Connery's Bond is simply the man Craig's Bond will become.
This movie gets the franchise firmly back on track after the train wreck of "Die another Day". Over the course of the last 3 bond films it was a shame to see that the father of the spy genre was being eclipsed by his own bastard children (Jason Bourne, I'm looking directly at you).
To cut a long review short this is a masterpiece of a Bond film and worthy of Oscar consideration for Mr.Craig (seriously). If you've never done yourself a favor by reading any of the Fleming books, just watch this movie, you'll get the idea. |
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