Casino Royale 2006
I had heard a lot of good things about the latest Bond and this movie. The movie starts out great, with an incredible chase sequence where Bond chases a souped up African version of Jackie Chan through a construction site. And it continued to hold my interest as Bond chases down the bad guy, but towards the middle it really started on a downward spiral, probably about the time he takes forever trying to beat up a guy who is only armed with a big knife. Seems like that shouldn’t have been much of a challenge. Much of the film revolves around a high stakes Texas hold ‘em poker match which seems a few years out of date and badly clichéd, reminiscent of when James Bond had to play a video game against a bad guy when arcades were all the rage. Although they do show poker on TV, at least then there are real odds and surprises. All of that gets taken away when the game is just going to follow a script. And it seems like any time poker is in a movie, the players have to have a tell. Maybe that was okay in Rounders eight years earlier, but now it seems tired.
There are some twists and turns, but they mostly come out of nowhere. And I guess I got all the old white men confused so I wasn’t sure what was going on with all the double-crosses though it turns out to be more straightforward than I thought. Finally, after it comes to a disappointing conclusion, it sort of starts all over again before gasping once or twice more, then dying suddenly as the credits roll. Daniel Craig as the new Bond is just fine. He’s rugged and straightforward, so I guess he’s more like Sean Connery than Roger Moore or Pierce Brosnan. But I wasn’t that impressed with how this one played out. B.
Written: 27 Jun 2007
Owned on: Digital