Sean and Timothy--you still rock!

Rating: 5/10 (27 March 2007)

I love James Bond. I have read all of Fleming's novels. The best thing about this Casino Royale was the fact that they released all the old films on DVD in collector's format. And just for the record, it really isn't based on the book, Casino Royale.
Sure, there are plot points. The torture scene, the romance with Vesper, the infamous line 'the bitch is dead', which is a wonderful end to the book, so why not end the movie there as well? But Vesper's character has been truncated. In the book she is also an agent and has been passing information for years to save her lover's life. She has far more depth and far more culpability in the book.
Baccarat is the game played in the book, not poker, which just doesn't have the same glamor factor. And what if none of us know how to play baccarat? They could have found a way to make it comprehensible. The whole casino scene just lost it for me there. It seemed more like Atlantic City, rather than Monte Carlo.
And okay, get rid of the cheesy gadgets, but install a heart defibrillator in the car instead on the off chance that someone might poison him with a heart drug!!?? Oh, yeah, this works for me. Is this any less believable than the oil slicks or ejector seats or--it's been knocked so much on this website--Peirce's invisible car? And by the way, that little incident isn't in the book.
And what can I say about Daniel? He has no physical attraction, no charisma and quite frankly, being a tortured soul doesn't mean you have to act like a block of wood. If you want to look for a Bond who is better and true to Fleming's character, go to DAlton. He was great and very much like the Bond of the books.
I missed the humor, although I will say, it had a rather good script.
I found that guy's eye problem annoying, not very necessary to the plot and it made his villain seem weak. What was the point, anyway? It was better than the worst of the Bond pictures--Moonraker, for example--, but it certainly wasn't the best ever.