I recently watched Casino Royale and let me say that I was already prepared to like the film based on the fact that I am a big fan of Daniel Craig. I have to say that this is NOT your mother’s Bond.
Royale was much darker than any of the other Bond flicks. Some people have complained that he didn’t have enough gadgets, but thats because this Bond is real. He is not the cardboard caricature popularized by Roger Moore, he is not the stiff strikeout of a Bond by George Lazenby, he is not the witty bachelor ala Sean Connery, he is not the boring Timothy Dalton Bond, he is not even the compilation Bond portrayed by Pierce Brosnan. With all due respect to those Bonds, Daniel Craig seemed to be the most realistic 007.
I liked the darkness of the film, I liked the free-running segments, I loved Daniel Craig’s performance, I even liked the intrigue. What I didn’t like was that the tone of the film changed dramatically throughout and at times it seemed as though you had just stepped into a totally different movie. As an experiment in realism with the Bond character, this movie is a total hit. As a solution for the long-term success of the franchise, I am not sure audiences will go for him being so real.
RATING 7 out of 10
Talk about a serious case of juxtaposition. The other film I am reviewing here is UltraViolet. This little comic-book-turned-campy-film was a lot of fun to watch. Will I watch it again? I can’t see myself getting that bored. Would I watch a sequel? You bet… I love the comic book genre.
I was happy with this movie. Milla Jovovich did a serviceable job in the lead role and she is never too hard to look at. 🙂 Only Sin City has done a better job of bringing you into a comic book setting, but because UV didn’t quite go all the way, it ended up looking a bit strange in places.
If the film had a larger budget and maybe some bigger names attached to direct etc., it probably would have been a huge commercial success. Lacking that and having only a simplistic script, it has only its amazing visuals and sound with which to earn my rating. Oh yeah… that AND Milla. 🙂
RATING 7 out of 10
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