A breath of fresh air for action movies.

Rating: Null/10 (20 January 2012)

Saw Casino Royale at a friend's house on DVD. We were chilling, asked me what movie I'd like to see out of the selection he had, told him the type of movies I like, Casino Royale came up, he convinced me I'd like it, so that's what we watched. Can't say I'm a Bond movie fan. He always wins, always gets the girl, never gets hurt, just not realistic to me. My friend said I wouldn't be disappointed with this movie and he was right. It's a very good action movie. A breath of fresh air actually because they don't really make many action flicks anymore. Yes, he got the girl but it made sense. Yes, he won in the end but almost died in the process. Yes, he lived despite all the conflict and fighting but he took a beating throughout the whole movie and it was believable to a greater extent than previous Bond movies. And they didn't even have to go Rated R with it. Amazing! It's a visual action feast with a good plot. You'll be fully engaged in this from start to finish because the action scenes are long. Highly entertaining and worth watching on a proper TV with proper sound if you can make that happen.
The plot flows over right into Quantum of Solace; the Bond movie compared to The Bourne Ultimatum. I don't know where these comparisons came from but it's all complete and total crap. The shaky camera during certain action and fight scenes is evident but that's where the similarities end. While Bourne Ultimatum is one of the better action flicks to ever come down the pike, Solace totally sucks. Don't know how that ball got dropped, especially since the story continues directly from the end of Casino with the same writers. Solace isn't worth the time or money. It reminds me more of the Bond style of movies that I hate and even reminds me of that totally unrealistic schlock-fest called Transporter 2. Stay away from Solace but opt in for Casino Royale. Solace gets a 4, Casino gets a solid 8.
Don't get me wrong. Daniel Craig is an excellent Bond. He's grimy, kills people, steals cars, picks pockets, blows things up, trespasses, disrespects corpses, breaks and enters, burgles, and the list goes on and on. He's more like a villain than a hero. But that's what makes his version of the character more believable than the others who are way too high and mighty British. Craig is more of a street version and that's what I like in my spies. I'm just hoping the next Bond flick doesn't follow Solace's suit. Meaning I hope the right director hops on board. You can't go wrong with Casino Royale. It's awesome.