Introduction
If there is one super sleuth loved the world over, then it has to be James Bond.
And whenever an old Bond steps down and new one takes over, the
comparisons flow thick and fast and the evaluation of the new Bond
begins. Pierce Brosnan had a very successful stint as James Bond, bringing a lot of style into the character of Bond. Now, Daniel Craig tries his hand at the coveted role in Casino Royale.
The Plot
Le Chiffre (Mads Mikkelson) is an unscrupulous banker who
banks with a terrorist organization. His style of making money is by
making huge put calls on well doing companies and then sabotaging them
to cause a dip in the market and thus sweeping out with the cash. One
such stunt that he tries to pull on an Airlines is foiled by James Bond
(Daniel Craig). Le Chiffre makes huge losses in this deal and this money is from the account of the terrorist organization.
To recoup this money, he decides to compete and win a poker tournament
before the organization comes to know of his loss. M16 comes to know of
this plan and decides to enroll Bond into this tournament to make sure
that he instead of Chiffre wins the tournament. Le Chiffre wins the
first round and then gets Bond poisoned as well. In the meanwhile, the
terrorist organization gets to know of Chiffre’s doing and decide to
confront him.
So what happens next? Does Chiffre manage to win the tournament and
repay the terrorist organization? Does M16 manage to foil his
intentions via Bond? Relive James Bond’s first assignment in the 007
avatar!!
Critic’s Viewpoint
Over the last quarter of a century Bond movies have become an icon.
When you talk about a Bond movie, you talk about the grand start to the
movie, followed by titles with beautiful ladies, then the mission hots
up with lot of action, humour and gadgets. The Bonds with the probable
exception of Timothy Dalton have been glamourous and have been full of vigour and humor on the screen. Killing never looked better!!
Cut back to Casino Royale!! We see a glum and grim Bond with no great
one liners or wise cracks. We see a Bond who does not seem very
comfortable with the chicks again a total anti-thesis to the other Bond
movies. We see absolutely no gadgets in the movie and the title song
does not have a single female in it!! Is this a Bond movie?? That is
the question that I asked through each and every reel of this movie.
To be fair to Daniel Craig, he has tried to be his own man and
tried to bring his persona on the screen rather than trying to emulate
other Bonds, but then that kills the romance of the character!! A Bond without humour is not James Bond!!
Romancing does not seem to be Craig’s strength either. Although Martin Campbell
has tried to put in some steamy scenes, all that goes on the screen is
jumping on each other and trying to bite each other. There is no class
or grace that is associated with a James Bond Romance!! A Bond who cannot romance is not a James Bond!!
Intensity is something that Craig brings a lot on the screen and he
demonstrates that a lot in this movie, but then intensity is something
that Bonds’ before him have depicted and that too with some style and
grace. The likes of Sean Connery, Roger Moore and Pierce Brosnan
can look intense in one and scene and the in the next break up the
tension with a one-liner, which Craig again is unable to do!! A Bond without one-liners is not a James Bond
Enough of Craig trashing, the question boils back to whom do you blame,
the player for not performing and the selector for not selecting the
right player!! I think for the role of James Bond, Craig in his current
avatar is a bit of a misfit. Craig is a good actor who can do wonders
to any intense role, but for a glamourous role, he needs to go a long
long way yet.
Coming to the direction of the movie, Casino Royale goes
down the history books as the first Bond movie that actually put me to
sleep. The movie is too slow for a Bond movie and is way to long for
it’s contents. Next up, I felt that Martin Campbell was caught
in dilemma as to whether to rewrite the story to have the look and feel
of 2000s or let the story have a look of the 1950s. To be fair to him,
Russia no longer seems as sinister as it seemed in those days.
But, then although he seems to have adapted the story to the 2000s
with the searches being done on Google(??), he fails to provide the
same thrills in the action sequences. The Bond movie action thrills
have always been way ahead of his peers through the last three decades,
but Casino Royale falls way short of expectations.
Summary
Although, I have seen a lot of reviews praising the new leaner and
meaner look of the Bond, I feel very sad at the demise of one of the
most lovable characters that I liked to watch as this Bond is not James
Bond!!
My verdict is a low 2 star rating as this movie is still watchable as a spy movie without the Bond Tag.