Deeply Flawed

Rating: 3/10 (30 November 2006)

I saw Casino Royale last night and I'm still FUMING! Let me tell you why, from the start...
The opening sequence to CR was boring and looked hashed together out of some sort of bigger sequence. Was this from something larger that the studio decided to cut? Did they shoot it at the end with no cash? Did one of the producers decide to let his 13 year old son have a go at writing a bond film opening? When compared to Roger Moore parachuting off a mountain then his parachute opening to reveal the British flag and the bond theme kicking in CR's opening sequence is dull!
What happened to the titles at the start? It looks like an avert for an IPOD!
Up until the end of the airport scene it wasn't clear what was going on. I sat wondering when the actual story was going to start. Then it turns out that this bond 'villain' is using warlords money to buy stock which he then manipulates with terrorist activities. Hardly 'taking over the world' is it. This is the end of the 1st act as far as I could see and then we are bored to tears with the middle acts love story and pointless poker game. Love later but first the poker game. Why is this so long? It seemed to last for ever and had no tension what so ever. What was the point? If it did have a point it was lost on me. Something to do with getting closer to the bad guy and upsetting him? No idea? All I know is that the 2nd act was a overlong scene interspersed with some silly action pieces. namely our bad guy getting harassed by some African tyrants (what bond super villain gets beaten up by a couple of thugs?) and bond getting poisoned (ridiculous scene where bond dies because of a faulty wire, vesper brings him back and bond goes on to win the game). We then have some more action sequences and then an ending that nearly as bad as the opening. Oh, and someone kills the super villain as easy as pie! There isn't a story here its just a series of action set pieces and a bad love story with a ploy loosely draped in between. This was meant to be the darker bond, the bond thats more of a cold killer, a more realistic bond. All they did was stick an unconvincing love story in between two slices of action!
vespers acting is bad. Not awful, but bad. The scene in the shower where she is 'acting' traumatised is laughable. Watch it and see. She just isn't bond girl material. Im not convinced that bond would ever give her a second look if she was the only girl in the room. the character itself is annoying from the very start and I can see no reason why bond fell for her at all. How did she get this job? if someone knows, pray tell.
The love story seems to be an attempt at showing us why bond is such a git to women and to show us some sort of realism. IT FAILS! Bond ends up looking more than a bit soppy mooning over some account or whatever she is. It just wasn't convincing at all, these two had zero chemistry. I just sat there thinking 'Bond has had a quality control malfunction, someone call M quickly'. And it seems to go on for ever.
He hardly drives the Aston! yep thats right, he hardly drives it. Oh yes he crashes it down a hill so the stunt team can have some fun, but he hardly drives it. Worse still, the first car we see bond driving is a ford. No, I couldn't believe it either but its true. I don't know about anyone else but id rather have a good story than the knowledge that the stunt team set some sort of record for how many times they rolled the Aston. So what! In fact, what a waste, shame on the lot of you.
Where the hell has Q gone?!?!?
Where the hell have the gadgets gone?!?!?
Where the hell have the one liners gone?!?!
Whats with the product placement?!?! The ford. The watch. The bloody mobile phones every two minutes!
Daniel Craig is a good bond. he could have given us all a newer and better bond. He is let down by the dialogue and the script. He turned up all buffed up and ready to do the business but he needn't have bothered. i get the impression that he knew this as well.
I cant write much more as my fingertips are now bleeding, but...
I really wanted to like this bond film and i was led to believe that i was in for something special. All i got was some typical piece of studio made rubbish with a thin story and confused characters. It looked as if everyone on the production had had a bash at it. Oh, and they chucked in some big action bits. I wish someone had told me they were making this as a 'turn off your brain and watch the pretty colours' film because i wouldn't have bothered spending £4. Im not a bond puritan nutter and i don't own all the films in every format. i just know a good film from a bad one and this one was bad.
So much could have been done with this film and this new bond. Instead they just hired the same hack writers and hack director as before and got the same old tired rubbish!
BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!