The True James Bond has Finally Arrived

Rating: 10/10 (15 November 2006)

Unfortunately I must report that immediately upon viewing the new 00-7 movie poster I *knew* what must be in store for an audience, but failed to write about it in advance. Hopefully Casino Royale is only the first installment, in what is a recasting of old & familiar roles.
The old set of actors & actresses in all the old Bond movies never lacked for talent. The problem in my estimation, is that the older scripts never matched the innate proclivities of the cast members involved. That in addition to goofy gadgets & stunts had me avoiding James Bond movies for years. Such is a waste, as Englands' MI-6 with attempts to thwart international villainy is compelling theater.
The new cast of villains, heroes & neutrals is an exactitude. The behind-the-scenes folks in the casting departments have worked a miracle, allowing new talent to surpass inherent pitfalls in an often combative & seniority based industry.
The script for the new Casino Royal 00-7 movie is a masterpiece.
It possesses a level of exactitude if not total realism, such as found in Borne Identity or Tears of the Sun. Its few departures from realistic effects are performed for expediency due to limited time, in a fast paced thinkers' movie. In no few instances, Casino Royale spends the time necessary to demonstrate proper realism.
I presume that intelligence operators deploy in teams rather than as individual personalities, and often rely on agents or cutouts rather than direct action. The setup in Casino Royal allows for the suspension of disbelief in that regard. It is a distinct pleasure to go-with-it, and witness the movie plot unfold.
It is my hope that further installments of the new James Bond reasoning will include more of the supporting elements. A close nit mixture of administrators (01 Div.), assassins (00 Div.), confiscators (03 Div.) & investigators (02 Div.) is called for during such a display of direct action.
***** Reading below this line will expose a reader to spoilers! *****
There are 2 errors.
When 00-7s' heart is beginning to stop due to poison, it is an impossibility to fibrillate his heart *before* it actually stops beating. To shock a beating heart stops it! Therefore his heart must already be stopped for a defibrillator to be effective. A stopped heart obviously renders a person unconscious, and therefore incapable of actuating any type of life saving device.
The defibrillator would therefore require not only a manual trigger, but a remote or automatic activation device that *would* have been totally in plot. 00-7 was connected by secure cellular network to a MD in a MI-6 01 operations center. Bond was in the process of transmitting blood sample data in the passenger seat of his automobile as he was going unconscious.
Vesper Lynd arriving in the nick of time is just fine by the plot. She would have been instructed to arrive at the automobile by alert over cellular network. She utilizes the manual trigger, thus saving 00-7s life. An automatic trigger would detect a stop in a heart and automatically fire. A remote device would allow a MD at a MI-6 operations center to trigger a fire. Either way Vesper must connect the last lead.
The second mistake is in the violent encounter in the sinking building. Bond yanks out an insulated electrical main and jams the live end into the chest of an assailant. The problem is that he is holding on to his assailant with his other arm and would therefore be electrocuted.
Just perhaps the circuit was *just* enough to down an assailant, but not enough to electrocute 00-7. Bond may wear special insulated shoes as a matter of habit, though he was also probably in contact with a wall and wet enough to conduct. This mistake is therefore, marginal.
All other mistakes are in plot, or may be explained away as in character.