Well done action movie, but not James Bond

Rating: 5/10 (27 November 2006)

Let me begin by saying that I'm not a huge James Bond fan, I have enjoyed the movies over the years and have seen all of them but I don't wait breathlessly for the next installment in the series to be released. In my opinion Sean Connery WAS James Bond and after him; Peirce Brosnan (to which my g.f., who is a huge fan, agrees. I had to use the jaws of life to get her off of Brosnan's statue at Madame Tussauds in London last year).
We saw Casino Royal over the weekend and both of us walked away with the same opinion; it was a very well done action movie but it was not a James Bond movie. And yes, I've read some of the novels and I understand how they have always differed from the movies but that doesn't matter. Nor does it matter that this Bond has blond hair and isn't as suave as those that came before him. That's not what I'm talking about.
What has always set the Bond movies apart from all others was their style. Yes, at times they were almost cartoonish and they weren't at all realistic but that didn't matter either. You went to see a James Bond movie for the incredible action, the gadgets, the women, and a very suave, very cool, very English James Bond. It was escapism at it's highest level. The Bond films were unique in that style, often imitated but never successfully. Pierce Brosnan embodied exactly what the movie James Bond always has been and always should be. Just as Damon was born to play Jason Bourne, he was born to play James Bond.
We already have plenty of action movies and action movie series and action movie stars, from Ethan Hunt to Jason Bourne, the last thing we need is another one. Mr. Craig did a great job in this movie, better than Cruise's Ethan Hunt in his last outing and almost as good as Matt Damon's Jason Bourne in both movies, but that doesn't matter either.
This movie is doing well but I think a lot of that is curiosity, as I said, my g.f. is a die hard James Bond fan and she wanted to see it, after seeing it she stated in no uncertain terms that Craig is not James Bond, this was not a James Bond movie and she'll pass on the next movie. I think that may be the case with a lot of people.
As I've said, this movie was very well done and I enjoyed it but that just doesn't matter because, as I've also said, we already have plenty of run of the mill action films, James Bond was always different, he was above all that.
Why those behind this franchise would want to toss that cache, that mystique away and lower themselves into the already crowded genre of gritty action movies is a mystery to me. I think they may live to regret it.