A royal treat

Rating: 8/10 (16 January 2007)

The "original" Casino Royale nearly destroyed the genre with its spoof take on the whole aspect. (by the time NEVER SAY NEVER (6/10) came around the franchise was pretty much impermeable). It was called charles feldman's CASINO ROYALE- more appropriate would've been Marty Feldman's...
THis ROYALE came from the Broccollis wanting to re-jig the franchise. Even though the last couple of Bonds have been monetarily pretty successful, they wanted to try something new. (I guess when someone gets too popular they want to start demanding gross points on profits a la Tom Cruise and you can't have that in the caring/sharing world of movie production. ) And they came up with their new Bond. Whereas they had rugged Bond in Sean connery, Teflon Bond in Roger Moore, anxious Bond in Timothy Dalton, bemused Bond in George Lazenby, smooth Bond in Pierce B now we welcome the world to barrowboy Bond. And he's not really eye candy for the fairer sex, lets be honest. And for gods sake, does anyone really wear those swimming trunks? In his acting style he is an intense, superb classical actor with an intense credibility but with the romantic skills of Gollum.
The story has gone micro here. Whereas before we've had Blofeld and company wanting nothing less than to rule the world, here we have accounting villain. Like Enron but on a much, much smaller scale. But the screenplay by Paul Haggis (CRASH 9/10) is good, crisp, witty and a pleasure to view.
The main villain played by uber Danish actor Mads Mikkelsen has lost a couple of bucks because of Bond's interference and is trying to win it back. And he doesn't even cheat!! What kind of villainy is that? I want my money back! (or rather he does). In the Bond villain stakes he's a little too human, but I guess that's what the director wanted to convey.
And the Bond girls are either beautiful and can't act (Caterina Murino) or can act and just don't cut it in the gorgeous stakes (Eva Green). She is more goth than gorgeous.
Where this film really takes off is in the action sequences. There are some spectacular set pieces including the most breath taking chase I've ever seen. If you've seen better, please let me know. This film is as exhausting as a trip to the gym with the side benefit of popcorn. And comfy chairs.
Judi Dench plays Dame Judi Dench as always. (Shouldn't she have played THE QUEEN?). And thankfully no John Cleese as Q. I love the Python's to a fault but him as Q was utterly gratuitously pointless.
Some of the product placement was a little ungracious. (A rolex? No Omega.) And I guess we'll all want Sony Ericsson's after this. And Bond driving a Ford (Maybe if he's been tied up and put in the boot..) But the star product of course was the Aston. After the BMW's tacky range its a welcome return.
Overall an interesting addition to the genre.