Casino Royale
Happened to find the 2007 version of Casino Royale in the local library today, and watched it earlier tonight. Hmmm, what to say>
I stopped watching Bond films on first release about four or five films ago (though I watched them on free-to-air TV). There was just too much of a formula in them, and though the details might be different (names, places, villains) but the plots all boiled down to about three recurring ones - "let's you and me fight" (Dr. No, You only live Twice, etc); "the big scam" (Goldfinger, GoldenEye, A View to a Kill, etc) and "personal revenge" (License to Kill). In any case the super-villains were always too overblown.
Not so in this film. Best fight arrangements since On Her Majesty's Secret Service, and all the villains are small but mean types rather than super-villains. Bond wades through them like the "blunt instrument" that he is. Strikingly they have a version of the infamous torture scene from the original story. There's not much else that survives and really, this is a "reset" of the series. The puzzling thing is having Dame Judy Dench as "M" which seems to be the only continuity from previous films.
The tech is still high but there's no "Q" and it's not unbelievable. And Bond himself is one cold bastard. They're already planning Bond 22 and Bond 23. There's no end in sight. Best quote of the film:
James Bond: [after Bond has just lost his 10 million in the game, to the bartender] Vodka-Martini.
Bartender: Shaken or stirred?
James Bond: Do I look like I give a damn?
Will I start going to the cinema again to watch Bond films? Nope, library copy's fine by me!