// November 19th, 2006 // 1 Comment » // Movies & TV

“Bond, James Bond” – The line was music to my ears after waiting for the movie so long. I went to the movies the very first day it released near us and boy was I glad that I watched it that day! The first half of the movie is fast paced action, a blur compared to its second half which focuses mainly on the human side of bond. The opening titles were in B&W and lemme tell they did not impress me. May be the director, Martin Campbell, was trying for that retro look.
Casino Royale is the first novel by Ian Fleming and the 21st Bond Movie. It traces the path of Bond obtaining his License to Kill – “00″ Status, his falling in love with the woman Vesper Lynd, his heartbreak and how Bond, a detached womanizer we know him as today came to be. The people needed a younger Bond so obviously Pierce Brosnan was out. Daniel Craig, who was selected for the role after much speculation and numerous other auditions, was more Bond than anyone could expect to be. Brosnan was more of a male model who revelled in his gadgetry, charm, airplanes and cars lacking the essential characteristics of a spy/assasin – ruthlessness, grit and what you could say as ‘roughness’. But Daniel Craig seemed a bit too Blonde to be a Bond, apart from that he was simply PERFECT!
The bombmaker chase is one unforgettable sequence at the starting of the film. Played by the Sebastian Foucan, one of the pioneers of Parkour which was higlighted in his escape sequence in the film. The infamous testicle torture scene was as wicked as it can get. The Aston Martin DBS crash scene, was awarded a Guinness World Record for the most cannon rolls in a car – created by a nitrogen air-cannon, the record was set at seven. The Miami airport runway scene, Bond’s Poisoning, the sinking of a Venetian Palazzo and the shooting of Mr. White are some of the arcs in the whole circle that completes this Bond movie. I was not big fan of Eva Green infact I did not even know anything about her before this movie but she did one hell of a Bond girl act. The villain, Le Chiffre, could have put up a better act but one has to get satisfied with Mads Mikkelsen.
This cannot be said as the remake of the older Bond film which was very loosely based on the novel and more of a comedy flick than an authentic Bond movie. But lets hope the other films will be remade with newer Bonds and Futuristic setting. All in all that was one great movie.