Casino Royale: Member's Review (no spoilers)

[DarkJedi]

Just letting everyone know...After you post your reviews here, if you would like your reviews on our new main site, I will upload them to the main site.

Log in at the main site...Click on the official Mania Casino Royale review, pan down that page to "Add Review"(bottom right), click on it. Grade the movie(A+,A-,B+, etc), type a title for your review, put a check mark under "Include picture", and copy and paste your review from here onto there. Hit the ctrl+v keys to paste your review copied from here....Hit submit. Once it's in the moderation que, I will upload it to the main site so everyone see yours reviews here and there.

[UNCLEagent]

Visually, the most beautifully filmed Bond movie since (IMHO - my fav) Goldfinger. I loved the European countryside of GF and this movie offers so much more of it. The backdrops, the splendor of it all - beautiful.

No CGI. No boring city scapes. This film really looks and feels like Bond's world as pictured in the novels.

The lines - wow! Somebody actually took the time to write a script in which the actors exchanged a dialog. No pithy one-liners or groaners here.

The score - Arnold tops himself by allowing his music to compliment the film and its story, as opposed to giving it the MTV treatment.

Judi Dench as M - her best portrayal (and funniest, dammit!) yet.

Daniel Craig - my hats off to the genius of Barbara and Michael. This man IS James Bond. No longer is there the distinction between the Bond of the books and the Bond of the films. Daniel Craig brilliantly makes them one.

The only gripe I have heard consistantly in the reviews has been the length. I disagree 100%. Most Bond films of the recent years, while not as long as CR - certainly felt longer - a LOT longer. DAD nearly killed me towards the end.

CR - while longer in length - never feels it. I never felt like it was bloated or tiring. The action was considerate; never overpowering. I was rivited to the screen right up until the very end.

God - this is a wonderful, WONDERFUL reboot! 2008 is simply too far away now.

[Archangel972]

I'll post my positives and negatives for this fim (as I did for pretty much every Bond film when I was over at the old Coming Attractions board). I have read the book but it was so long ago that there are very few details that I remember.

Positives:

-Daniel Craig. He is James Bond, what more can be said? I hesitate to say that he is better than Connery, but I think he actually gives the single greatest performance of the character ever

-the Beginning. No I'm not referring to the pre-credit title sequence, I'm referring to what this film represents. You see, I actually have a hard time even thinking of CR as one singular film. This is more than that. This is a beginning for a new series of Bond films. The next few will really tell us how it measures up to the likes of FRWL and Goldfinger in my mind.

-Eva Green. I thought she looked nice, but I thought her dialogue was the biggest hook. Very good

-Torture scene. LOVED this scene. This scene alone showed how different (and better) Craig is as James Bond. It was also a scene that helped showcase...

-Mads Mikkelsen. I thought he was terrific. He may be not quite the traditional Bond villain, but he comes off well as a desperate man that will do anything to save his neck (not far off from Bond really)

-free running scene. You know it's a memorable sequence when everyone in the audience is gasping at every jump, twist, and turn that takes place. Awsome

-Caterino Murino. She doesn't add much to the proceedings, but she's hot. And that's it really

-the VERY end. Lets face it, you can't tell me you don't want to see the next film right after that ending.

Negatives:

-the pacing. Usually this has to do with the editing, but I think the problem here is the script. I can't remember CR the book too well, but I didn't like how the movie kept going in and out of the poker game. That seemed to bog things down a little. It also made things confusing as to why Bond and others could just get up and not have to play right then and there

-Vesper and Bond's romance. It was great up until the word "love" was uttered. That's where I felt the whole thing had been rushed. It was as though the writers realized that they had to hurry up and get to the ending. This romance was good, but it doesn't hold up well against Bond/Tracy in OHMSS)

-music. I thought David Arnold was great in TND, his score there was a welcome relief after Eric Serra's effort in Goldeneye (which was good but felt off in a few places). However, I'm starting to get tired of the wailing horns. Bond films don't need them anymore. In fact, I don't think Barry used them as much with the Bond films in the 70s and 80s like Arnold has in the last few movies. It just seemed to lend the wrong atmosphere at times for this particular movie

-the car. The car was not utilized much at all, it seemed that the Aston Martin DBS's main function in this movie was to hold things in a glove compartment than to actually be driven in a chase sequence

-the end. Not the very end obviously, but the finale. It really did feel anti-climactic and not quite as dramatic as I had hoped

Conclusions: I need to see ths film more and more before I can compare it effectively with the other movies (which may not be the best thing since this is the start of a new series). Overall though, I think it's safe to say that it doesn't break my Top 5 list but is somewhere in the top 10. I'd say this film is on par with Dr. No, probably even better. A very good beginning, can't wait to see the next one.

[UNCLEagent]

I posted my thoughts on Bond-Vesper in the spoilers thread. Simply, the best Bond relationship of the series.

Even though Daniela Bianchi is still my all-time fav!

[Boromir006]

It was great up until the word "love" was uttered. That's where I felt the whole thing had been rushed.

I think that was kind of the point, wasn't it? That Bond is too quick to say the "L" word. And learns not to do it in the future. Call me crazy, but I don't think he even says it to Tracy in OHMSS.

[Archangel972]

Originally Posted by Boromir006

I think that was kind of the point, wasn't it? That Bond is too quick to say the "L" word. And learns not to do it in the future. Call me crazy, but I don't think he even says it to Tracy in OHMSS.

Right but I never even got the impression that the two were really in love. Bond really liked her yes, but love? I definitely didn't feel it.

[LeiterCIA]

Originally Posted by Archangel972

Right but I never even got the impression that the two were really in love. Bond really liked her yes, but love? I definitely didn't feel it.

You have to factor in the fact that he had just been thru a godawful experience too. Enough to make anyone want to throw in the towel and settle down.

[Kara Milovy]

Originally Posted by LeiterCIA

You have to factor in the fact that he had just been thru a godawful experience too. Enough to make anyone want to throw in the towel and settle down.

Right. AND don't forget the torture. Bond isn't sure that he still functions as a man, and the woman he convalesces with, the woman he recovers with, this is vitally important.

And she's the ultimate bird with a wing down, isn't she? I think he fell in love in the shower.

[Kara Milovy]

Listen, I'm still putting my thoughts together, but this is a definite 10 out of 10. There are a couple of flaws, minor ones, which I'll talk about, but overall, this is the shit. This is simply everything the hardcore fans have been praying for, AND everything the general public wants. A masterful combination of bottom-line savvy fill-the-seats marketing, and high-integrity, let's be true to our character thinking. Bless them.

[UNCLEagent]

Anybody have any comments on the locales?

I will say this: CR has put Montenegro on my Top Five list of places I REALLY want to go and see, not because of it's a Bond-stop, but because this movie makes the place look so damn beautiful and romantic. Most Bond locales of the past several decades (IMHO) look like tired cliches or unimaginative and forced backdrops. Maybe it was the lighting; the cinematography, but dammit - I have to go to Montenegro someday. Not since OHMSS has a Bond film made its setting look so ... grand, so.. 'I want to be there-ish'