Bond In The Making

Rating: 6/10 (19 November 2006)

Well, here it is, guys. The sixth James Bond. Presenting, Daniel Craig! Well, depending on how you see him, he may be a good or a bad Bond. Why? Let's review the movie objectively.
Casino Royale is a story about Bond who just got promoted to Double 0 status, and this is his first assignment. He is a rookie, has no gadgets, no experience, utterly reckless, gets beaten, fooled, lied to, captured, and tortured more times than you will ever watch this movie. With that said, Daniel Craig makes a very good rookie Bond. Clueless most of the time, without charm, and does not express any of the James Bond traits. If you are a hardcore James Bond fan who must hear the words 'Vodka Martini; shaken, not stirred' in a Bond movie, then you will not like this. Still, the movie in itself is not bad.
Directing: with Martin Campbell as the director, there is not a single flaw in the movie. However, even Martin could not give Daniel what he gave to Pierce. Also, I hope he did not have anything to do with the utterly silly opening sequence.
Story: this is perhaps the downfall of the movie. It has no story, per se. The plots are flatter than a flat tire and the theme is simply unidentifiable. I don't know. I just can't appreciate the gist of what they are trying to tell.
Music: I hated the Bond music ever since David Arnold took over in Tomorrow Never Dies, and this movie by far his worst work. You don't even get to hear the Bond theme till the end of the movie! Bring back Eric Serra please.
Q: This is perhaps the first movie that doesn't have Q. Why? Oh right, Bond has no gadgets.
Vodka, women, and Aston Martin: the synopsis of the movie promised us the revelation of these three Bond trademarks, but although I could guess, they were never really explicitly explained.
The villain: Goodness! This guy has got to be the worst Bond villain of all. What happened to the ultimate evil that threatens the entire world? He makes Dr. Evil looks evil. Well, he did say that shedding tears of blood was a medical condition, and has nothing to do with being sinister.
Timeline: I got confused here. Judi Dench was first introduced as M in Goldeneye, and Bond was not happy with her being his superior. He thinks she is an accountant and does not match up to her predecessors. In this movie, Bond was promoted by her. Someone help me out here please.
Rip-off: What's with the Yamakasi rip-off in the opening sequence? Great action directing though.
Bond: whether you like Daniel Craig as Bond or not, that man can sure run!
Sound: well, the music was bad, and the sound effects didn't fare much better either. Surround sound was scarcely heard, and most of the time, you just don't feel like there's any sound effects!
The Bond pose: I was wondering why, when the movie started, there was no Bond walking out in black and white, focused by the barrel of a gun, and then turned and shoot into the camera. Well, here we have the origin of that shot, although I seriously doubt that was the actual origin of the idea.
Sony, Sony, SONY: if you noticed, this is the first Bond film (in recent years anyway) that does not belong to MGM and United Artist. Columbia Pictures got into the Bond franchise and what do you get? Sony stuff, all the way. Practically every model of the Sony Ericsson phones were displayed prominently in the movie. The unmistakable Sony VAIO laptop, and the very shinny Sony Cybershot digital camera. Now that's a way to promote your products. Seriously, it worked. I nearly bought a K800i after the movie!
At last, I have to admit that I only started watching Bond movies since License To Kill, and I am not that big of a Bond fan. Still, I like him. If you asked me, Timothy Dalton remains the worst Bond ever, and Pierce in Goldeneye is staying at the top. I felt cheated by Casino Royale, but I guess that's what happened when you gamble.