'Casino Royale' - I LOVE IT
I went to see Casino Royale this afternoon, and it's absolutely as good as everyone has been raving. Daniel Craig, who I've followed for years is wonderful as the new James Bond, and if I had to sum up his interpretation of the role and the role as it was written: this was a very human Bond - not just a smooth-talking, witty charmer. Craig's Bond has layers and depth and darkness. Sooo good.
While I wasn't overly fond of the opening credits (there was something about the CGI that was a bit blah), I loved just about everything else! The intro chase is totally nuts, and exciting as hell, even if it's totally unrealistic. It was like Bond and his prey had springs in their legs as they leapt about and ran like mad. But still, much fun. The story twisted all over the place and the twists were good. I loved how Craig's Bond is a newbie and hasn't yet learned how to detach. He feels - and I love what he says to M at one point: "You knew I was going to hate this [job]."
He's not too flashy, he's verbally clever and witty without being glib, he's smart as hell and awfully good at what he does, but he makes mistakes. AND he is emotional and he gets emotionally involved: the whole evolution of the relationship with Vesper was fantastic. The scene in the bath when he holds her after they've been viciously attacked and she witnesses him kill the two men who were after them is probably my favorite in the whole film. He's so tender and absolutely perfect with her.
Eva Green was fantastic. I totally loved her here. The first time I saw her was in The Dreamers, in which she was also very good, but here she was a much more interesting Bond girl than many - enigmatic, witty, gorgeous (of course), brilliant - everything you could want, with a pinch extra to make her special.
The chases were good, the fights were fun, the gunplay was cartoonish as usual, and the cinematography was very nicely done. I loved the camera work through the action sequences - it really gave a wonderful sense of immediacy and momentum.
Daniel Craig photographs SO WELL. He's worked hard to buff up, and he wears those suits beautifully. The director was very kind to us - he kept drenching Craig in water throughout the film which of course just highlighted his craggy, earthy, masculine charms.
Two more points - it was cool that they didn't get too gadgety: they showed us the gadgets but they never went through this whole song and dance about them, which was great. It was a much more matter-of-fact and natural approach to the technogeek side of 007. And the other was my enormous guffaw at the bikini clad beauty galloping on the white horse along the beach. BWAHAHAHAHA! So hilarious!
I realize this review is pretty incoherent, and I've probably forgotten a million other things that were great about this film, but let it suffice to say that I LOVED this movie, and GO, GO SEE IT NOW.
*
In other news, I'm about to watch Tatta Hitotsu no Koi FINALLY (eight minutes left) and I can't wait. It's been hard to stay spoiler free...and it's going to be even harder to wait for the subtitles...
*
AND THE BEST NEWS OF ALL: N arrives on Friday. :D:D:D:D:D:D:D
While I wasn't overly fond of the opening credits (there was something about the CGI that was a bit blah), I loved just about everything else! The intro chase is totally nuts, and exciting as hell, even if it's totally unrealistic. It was like Bond and his prey had springs in their legs as they leapt about and ran like mad. But still, much fun. The story twisted all over the place and the twists were good. I loved how Craig's Bond is a newbie and hasn't yet learned how to detach. He feels - and I love what he says to M at one point: "You knew I was going to hate this [job]."
He's not too flashy, he's verbally clever and witty without being glib, he's smart as hell and awfully good at what he does, but he makes mistakes. AND he is emotional and he gets emotionally involved: the whole evolution of the relationship with Vesper was fantastic. The scene in the bath when he holds her after they've been viciously attacked and she witnesses him kill the two men who were after them is probably my favorite in the whole film. He's so tender and absolutely perfect with her.
Eva Green was fantastic. I totally loved her here. The first time I saw her was in The Dreamers, in which she was also very good, but here she was a much more interesting Bond girl than many - enigmatic, witty, gorgeous (of course), brilliant - everything you could want, with a pinch extra to make her special.
The chases were good, the fights were fun, the gunplay was cartoonish as usual, and the cinematography was very nicely done. I loved the camera work through the action sequences - it really gave a wonderful sense of immediacy and momentum.
Daniel Craig photographs SO WELL. He's worked hard to buff up, and he wears those suits beautifully. The director was very kind to us - he kept drenching Craig in water throughout the film which of course just highlighted his craggy, earthy, masculine charms.
Two more points - it was cool that they didn't get too gadgety: they showed us the gadgets but they never went through this whole song and dance about them, which was great. It was a much more matter-of-fact and natural approach to the technogeek side of 007. And the other was my enormous guffaw at the bikini clad beauty galloping on the white horse along the beach. BWAHAHAHAHA! So hilarious!
I realize this review is pretty incoherent, and I've probably forgotten a million other things that were great about this film, but let it suffice to say that I LOVED this movie, and GO, GO SEE IT NOW.
*
In other news, I'm about to watch Tatta Hitotsu no Koi FINALLY (eight minutes left) and I can't wait. It's been hard to stay spoiler free...and it's going to be even harder to wait for the subtitles...
*
AND THE BEST NEWS OF ALL: N arrives on Friday. :D:D:D:D:D:D:D