View Full Version : Casino Royale
In the run up to Casino Royale, a few reviews of the film to tantalise your tastebuds...
The Mirror
GRITTY BOND RENEWS HIS LICENCE TO THRILL
007 CASINO ROYALE: THE FIRST REVIEW
By David Edwards Mirror Film Critic
TURNING to face the world's most famous superspy, the bartender asks: "Shaken or stirred, sir?"
"Do I look like I care?" comes James Bond's icy reply.
Make no mistake, the rulebook has been well and truly torn up for 007's latest movie.
And Casino Royale is a breathless, thrilling romp that will win over a whole new generation of fans.
Easily the best Bond film since GoldenEye, it's 144 minutes of non-stop, end-to-end action that proves there's plenty of life in the world's longest-running movie franchise.
But a word of warning - this is unlike any other Bond flick. Dark, gritty and surprisingly violent, the suave, smooth-talking secret agent of old is replaced by a steely-eyed killer with a dash of vulnerability.
And new 007 Daniel Craig - the man with the golden hair, whose casting provoked an outcry among fans - is simply brilliant, oozing the kind of edgy menace that recalls Sean Connery at his very best.
Based on Ian Fleming's first Bond novel, the action begins with Her Majesty's finest assassinating two baddies in a bid to earn his licence to kill. It then switches to his first assignment, spying on terrorist suspects in Madagascar.
His mission soon leads him to the Bahamas, where he learns of the evil Le Chiffre (Mads Mikkelsen), who's planning to bankroll a series of terrorist outrages by holding a high-stakes poker contest at Le Casino Royale in Montenegro.
Bond is given $10million to infiltrate the game, the rookie spy still isn't trusted enough by handler M (Judi Dench), who assigns the shapely Vesper Lynd (Eva Green) to keep an eye on him - though 007 still manages to get to grips with mysterious Solange (Caterina Murino).
It's fitting that the film revolves around a card game since, by turning the Bond formula on its head, director Martin Campbell has taken one of the biggest gambles in cinema history. While 007 still gets to drive around exotic locales in his Aston Martin and ends up in a clinch with his leading lady, that's about the only thing Casino Royale has in common with the 20 films that have come before.
Aside from his readiness to kill, this Bond is far more vulnerable than his predecessors - not only does he have his heart broken, he also winds up almost dead after a severe beating at the hands of Le Chiffre.
After a pummelling, Connery and Roger Moore simply dusted off their DJs but this time 007 winds up on the critical list. And if the torture scene doesn't stun, the action set-pieces most certainly will.
Aside from some awesome chases, we get to see Bond trying to stop a jet being blown up in a scene that'll make your head spin faster than downing five vodka martinis.
Tellingly, Campbell is the man who re-energised the series with GoldenEye, the 1995 entry that introduced Pierce Brosnan.
And, incredibly, he's done it again, turning a franchise that, after 2002's Die Another Day, was looking distinctly second-rate - especially in the face of competition from the likes of Mission: Impossible and The Bourne Identity.
The year's most eagerly anticipated film does not disappoint. You'll be shaken. You'll be stirred. Heck, you'll be blown away.
CASINO Royale will be released in cinemas nationwide on November 17.
Empire
The only thing missing from Casino Royale is a truly memorable theme song. Otherwise, this has almost everything you could want from a Bond movie, plus qualities you didn’t expect they’d even try for. It does all the location-hopping, eye-opening stunt stuff and lavish glamour expected of every big-screen Bond, but also delivers a surprisingly faithful adaptation of Fleming’s short, sharp, cynical book with the post-WWII East-vs.-West backdrop persuasively upgraded to a post 9/11 War on Terror.
From Goldfinger on -- especially in the Roger Moore and Pierce Brosnan films -- the usual gambit has been to open with a pre-credits sequence highlighting amazing stuntwork and a larger-than-life exploit. Here, with a new actor cast as a Bond only just issued with his license to kill, we get an intense, black and white scene set in an office in Prague. Bond has just killed his first man – as shown in brief, brutal fight flashbacks which strain the 12A rating – and confronts a traitor in British Intelligence, exchanging pointed dialogue which leads to the ice-cold agent’s demonstration that the second killing is easier (‘Considerably’). The famous iris pose brings in colour, and a brilliantly-designed (shame about the song) titles sequence that highlights not an anonymous beauty but the silhouette of Daniel Craig himself.
For a few reels, Casino Royale lets the new boy settle in to what could almost be a Brosnan or Dalton movie – hard-hitting, but tinged with the fantastical. Bond goes off the map to harry the organisation of ‘banker to the world’s terrorists’ LeChiffre, with a beddable beach beauty along the way, and a thwarted attack on a super-sized jet aeroplane which could have been the climax of any other adventure. Then, with a notable click into focus, the movie segues into Fleming’s tight, twisted plot. Readers will be amazed to find the book’s most memorable scene (involving a wicker chair with the bottom cut out) is included, as is Bond’s brutal Mickey Spillane-ish last line (though, here, he doesn’t quite mean it).
Director Martin Campbell, who set a high mark in GoldenEye that subsequent craftsmen haven’t matched, returns, and regular scripters Neal Purvis and Robert Wade get Oscar-polishing assist from Paul Haggis. There are nods to tradition, with respectful Aston-Martin product placement, but also refreshing breaks from established practice. Judi Dench’s imposing M is held over, but supporting comedy characters like Q and Miss Moneypenny sit this one out. Mads Mikkelsen’s LeChiffre has a physical tic and a lethal girlfriend, but this villain interestingly has as much to lose as the hero, playing cards because he lost terrorist money and needs to make up the shortfall before his clients kill him.
There are miscalculations (a collapsing building in Venice is a gimmick too many in an emotional finale which would play better without all the noise) and audiences who just want a handsome fantasy figure might find a muscular Bond with perpetually bruised knuckles and the beginnings of a drink problem too much of a stretch. But long-running series can only survive through constant renewal. Casino Royale is the most exciting Bond film, in conventional action terms but also in dramatic meat, since On Her Majesty’s Secret Service, with the added advantage of a star who finally delivers what the credits have always promised: ‘Ian Fleming’s James Bond’.
Verdict
Contrary to pre-release nay-sayers, Daniel Craig has done more with James Bond in one film than some previous stars have in multiple reprises. This is terrific stuff, again positioning 007 as the action franchise to beat.
Interesting to see that Daniel Craig is getting rave reviews considering what some off the James Bond fan base were saying when he was first cast.
Looking forward to watching the movie especially as I hear there will be three lots of eye candy to look at! (You didn't think Bond was about the action, did you?)
Interesting to see that Daniel Craig is getting rave reviews considering what some off the James Bond fan base were saying when he was first cast.
Looking forward to watching the movie especially as I hear there will be three lots of eye candy to look at! (You didn't think Bond was about the action, did you?)
bunch of hypocrits to slag him off then praise him, its been intresting to see opinions change over the time on the various Bond forums I go on. Since the teaser trailer they couldn't help singing his praises, and I serioulsy think he could be the best bond since Connery.
Indeed he has 3 beautiful ladies:
Vesper Lynda Played By Eva Green - Arguably the best bond girl since Dina Rigg in On Her Majesty's Secret Service.
http://www.copywriting-center.info/blog/images/stars/eva-green-002.jpg
Solange Dimitris Played By Caterina Murio
http://www.tvr.ro/tv/tvr-cultural/promo/imagini/jours%20et%20nuits-caterina%20murino.jpg
Valenka Played By Ivana Milicevic
http://www.blogas.lt/uploads/deives_ivana_milicevic.jpg
Looking forward to watching the movie especially as I hear there will be three lots of eye candy to look at! (You didn't think Bond was about the action, did you?)
And here was me thinking it was about the genius plots and gadgets.. so it was just about the eye candy :wall:
.:SpIcYsPy:.
07-11-2006, 23:10
No can replace Mr.Pierce for me :p But.. I will be watching this film and I'm sure I will loveeee it!! :D Can't wait for it to come out!!
Mr Humphries
08-11-2006, 07:11
I went to the Premiere and it was great, I think one of the best bond films in years and years. Daniel Craig is perfect. Some great lines in the film, and he has already signed for the next film Bond22
No can replace Mr.Pierce for me :p But.. I will be watching this film and I'm sure I will loveeee it!! :D Can't wait for it to come out!!
I take it youve been watching the Peirce Brosnan films this week on ITV2? Every night this week at nine :D
.:SpIcYsPy:.
08-11-2006, 13:46
I take it youve been watching the Peirce Brosnan films this week on ITV2? Every night this week at nine :D
No I haven't!! :eek: Didn't even know about it.. I know what I will be up to tonight :lol: x
I went to the Premiere and it was great, I think one of the best bond films in years and years. Daniel Craig is perfect. Some great lines in the film, and he has already signed for the next film Bond22
Intresting...where did you see the premiere and what night?
Mr Humphries
08-11-2006, 18:17
Intresting...where did you see the premiere and what night?
Interesting yes, it was last friday night, a premiere for the press and celebs and I was likely to be invited by my friend, I sat in behind Jonathan Ross
Interesting yes, it was last friday night, a premiere for the press and celebs and I was likely to be invited by my friend, I sat in behind Jonathan Ross
Please get your facts correct Mr H, without being offensive here can i point out a few things.
The Premiere for Casino Royale is on Tuesday 14th November, Odeon, Leicetser Square for celebs, cast and some lucky winners of tickets.
The only screening prior to this has been the cast and crew screening last Saturday, one screening for those involved in the film.
Friday night is when Jonathon Ross has his show "Tonight With Jonathon Ross", so I doubt he can be in two places at the same time.
Mr Humphries
08-11-2006, 18:29
Please get your facts correct Mr H, without being offensive here can i point out a few things.
The Premiere for Casino Royale is on Tuesday 14th November, Odeon, Leicetser Square for celebs, cast and some lucky winners of tickets.
The only screening prior to this has been the cast and crew screening last Saturday, one screening for those involved in the film.
Friday night is when Jonathon Ross has his show "Tonight With Jonathon Ross", so I doubt he can be in two places at the same time.
You will say sorry, when I find the articule because Jonathan Ross, is not filmed on a Friday Night believe it or not ! Plus how did he manage to also discuss it on his Radio show Saturday Just Gone !!
Ever one hates a smart :moonie:
Mr Humphries
08-11-2006, 19:17
Go to the BBC's Radio 2 website and listen to Jonathan Ross's show get to one hour and 6 minutes and then he talks about going to the PREMIERE on the Friday night being the 3rd November ! There was premiere but it was not a public premiere like the one next week !
Get your facts right before you start next time Mr Bond !
Total Film's review of Casino Royale, sounds very promising indeed, not long now folks!!!
Having earned his 00, James Bond (Daniel Craig) globetrots on a mission to foil the funding of world terrorism – facing off with poker-faced card sharp Le Chiffre (Mads Mikkelsen) and trading come-ons and putdowns with treasury totty Vesper Lynd (Eva Green). Can Bond find love and avoid death in Venice?
If you’ve lapped up the pre-release hype, you already know this is a different Bond. Harder, leaner, tougher, meaner. Well, to a point.
Let’s not forget that Casino Royale’s (relatively and – in the torture scene – literally) stripped down approach is actually part of Bond’s regular binge-and-purge cycle. The world’s most bulimic agent has an established routine. First, the constant appetite to top the last film bloats the franchise with ever-bigger but not better adventures. Then, on the brink of parody, comes the purge: the extravasate, the rethink. Bond actually goes ‘back to basics’ remarkably frequently: the lunatic excesses of You Only Live Twice precede the emotionally wrought On Her Majesty’s Secret Service; the space operatics of Moonraker make way for the smarter, darker For Your Eyes Only; the geriatric antics of A View To A Kill provoke the keener edge of the underrated Dalton debut The Living Daylights. The best example? Perhaps the tentative 007 of Licence To Kill leading to the arch, self-aware smarts of GoldenEye (“Sexist, misogynist dinosaur” etc). But even that James got flabby (it was the invisible car that did it). Time then for another purge. And the latest crash diet involves no more silly gadgets, no lame innuendo, no dreadful puns, no bikini-clad ‘equals’ and no Q.
What it does have is The Man With the Golden Hair, Daniel Craig. Yes he is blond. More pertinently, he’s also the first 007 who genuinely looks like he could kill a man with his bare hands. A useful quality for playing an assassin...
The pre-credits set the scene. In a toilet. In grainy black and white. Two kills – one grottily violent – and a couple of pithy remarks later and Bond begins. The credits themselves may look like a slightly lame flash animation (early scripts suggested a more satisfying montage of Bond’s SAS background, crime scene photos from his kills, the double 0s being added to his ID badge), but this misstep doesn’t result in a stumble. Instead, we launch into the much-blarneyed-about Madagascar free-running chase – the refreshed franchise playing its ace early: Craig’s physicality. Never before has a Bond sprinted so hard, fought so meanly or blazed quite so fiercely. By the time the Nambutu Embassy is smouldering, so is Craig’s Bond – this is a killing machine, a lethal weapon. Moore didn’t fit this much action into his entire seven movies. In quick, short breaths we learn the new Bond is a raw, brutal maverick (breaking into M’s house); unsentimental (he prefers married women because, “It keeps things simple”) and uncouth. But he’s also smart and effective, tracking the villains to Nassau, winning his Aston Martin on the casino’s green baize, seducing the sultry Solange (Caterina Murino) with a surgeon’s precision. The foreplay finished, it’s down to the main event: dealt a tough hand by Le Chiffre (Mikkelsen), ego challenged by Vesper Lynd (Green), balls battered in a wince-wrenching torture scene. All events which – for the first time in a long while – are actually based on Fleming’s words.
A shame the franchise can’t quite commit to going gritty and relying on audience intel – forcing in Giancarlo Giannini’s local liaison to explain poker for the hard-of-thinking, plus a gimmicky defibrillator scene almost as daft as that car... There’s also the issue of Bond’s volte-face, from callous ******* to lovey dovey doormat, the producers missing the opportunity for the bollock-bruising torture scene to allow for a non-physical connection to develop between 007 and Lynd. Her troubles, too, are barely hinted at, clouding everyone’s motivation at the concluding set-piece in Venice and leaving Bond’s final word on Vesper – a chilling conclusion to the novel – now floating aimlessly.
Still, the decision to dial things down and replace camp with a prickly sense of humour (Martini shaken or stirred? “Do I look like I give a damn?”) does pay dividends. Other gripes – the oh-so-wrong title tune, soulless product placement and David Arnold’s ersatz John Barry score – are forgiven because this is Bond, James Bond and there’s no disputing the icon is re-energised by Craig. It’s been noted he’s an actor more than a star, yet here he needs to be, providing heart to a character that even in this brave new Bond could so easily have become a cipher. Vibrant, vital and violent, when he utters the immortal final line (and the classic theme finally kicks in), your neck hairs spike and your pulse pounds. The purge is complete. Craig is a triumph. The franchise is reborn. As always – and was it ever really in doubt? – James Bond Will Return...
Empire's Film Review:
Plot
Newly-promoted to the 00 section, James Bond (Daniel Craig) thwarts a scheme of shady financier LeChiffre (Mads Mikkelsen). LeChiffre stages a high-stakes poker tournament in Montenegro, hoping to recoup his lost money, and M (Judi Dench) has Bond enter the game, intent on bankrupting his opponent. He is teamed with Vesper Lynd (Green), a treasury official who holds the purse-strings on Bond’s table stakes
Empire Review
The only thing missing from Casino Royale is a truly memorable theme song. Otherwise, this has almost everything you could want from a Bond movie, plus qualities you didn’t expect they’d even try for. It does all the location-hopping, eye-opening stunt stuff and lavish glamour expected of every big-screen Bond, but also delivers a surprisingly faithful adaptation of Fleming’s short, sharp, cynical book with the post-WWII East-vs.-West backdrop persuasively upgraded to a post 9/11 War on Terror.
From Goldfinger on -- especially in the Roger Moore and Pierce Brosnan films -- the usual gambit has been to open with a pre-credits sequence highlighting amazing stuntwork and a larger-than-life exploit. Here, with a new actor cast as a Bond only just issued with his license to kill, we get an intense, black and white scene set in an office in Prague. Bond has just killed his first man – as shown in brief, brutal fight flashbacks which strain the 12A rating – and confronts a traitor in British Intelligence, exchanging pointed dialogue which leads to the ice-cold agent’s demonstration that the second killing is easier (‘Considerably’). The famous iris pose brings in colour, and a brilliantly-designed (shame about the song) titles sequence that highlights not an anonymous beauty but the silhouette of Daniel Craig himself.
For a few reels, Casino Royale lets the new boy settle in to what could almost be a Brosnan or Dalton movie – hard-hitting, but tinged with the fantastical. Bond goes off the map to harry the organisation of ‘banker to the world’s terrorists’ LeChiffre, with a beddable beach beauty along the way, and a thwarted attack on a super-sized jet aeroplane which could have been the climax of any other adventure. Then, with a notable click into focus, the movie segues into Fleming’s tight, twisted plot. Readers will be amazed to find the book’s most memorable scene (involving a wicker chair with the bottom cut out) is included, as is Bond’s brutal Mickey Spillane-ish last line (though, here, he doesn’t quite mean it).
Director Martin Campbell, who set a high mark in GoldenEye that subsequent craftsmen haven’t matched, returns, and regular scripters Neal Purvis and Robert Wade get Oscar-polishing assist from Paul Haggis. There are nods to tradition, with respectful Aston-Martin product placement, but also refreshing breaks from established practice. Judi Dench’s imposing M is held over, but supporting comedy characters like Q and Miss Moneypenny sit this one out. Mads Mikkelsen’s LeChiffre has a physical tic and a lethal girlfriend, but this villain interestingly has as much to lose as the hero, playing cards because he lost terrorist money and needs to make up the shortfall before his clients kill him.
There are miscalculations (a collapsing building in Venice is a gimmick too many in an emotional finale which would play better without all the noise) and audiences who just want a handsome fantasy figure might find a muscular Bond with perpetually bruised knuckles and the beginnings of a drink problem too much of a stretch. But long-running series can only survive through constant renewal. Casino Royale is the most exciting Bond film, in conventional action terms but also in dramatic meat, since On Her Majesty’s Secret Service, with the added advantage of a star who finally delivers what the credits have always promised: ‘Ian Fleming’s James Bond’.
Verdict
Contrary to pre-release nay-sayers, Daniel Craig has done more with James Bond in one film than some previous stars have in multiple reprises. This is terrific stuff, again positioning 007 as the action franchise to beat.
The Times
WHO would have thought that the casting of a blond Bond would stir up such a hornet’s nest of controversy? Daniel Craig has been the subject of fevered speculation and a good few personal attacks since he signed on as the sixth Bond, and even now there are threats of boycotts in some sectors of the online community.
But despite the antipathy to the idea of Craig as Bond, it’s all good news for EON productions. Although the previous instalment was drubbed by critics and audiences alike, the fans still care enough about the Bond series to get angry.
While Die Another Day was a box-office draw, in it Bond was in danger of losing something equally valuable to the franchise in the long term: his cool. It was the invisible car that did it. That, and a blanket of special effects that could smother the life out of the best of screenplays — and let’s face it, Die Another Day was not the best of screenplays.
In The Bourne Identity’s Jason Bourne and 24’s Jack Bauer, special agents who share Bond’s initials but little else, the lumbering, longrunning franchise met its match. That much-derided vanishing Aston Martin in Bond’s 20th official outing sealed the fate of 007 as we had come to know him.
With Bond No 21, in what the producers are describing as a “reboot” of the franchise, Casino Royale takes us back to basics: to Bond’s early years as a newly appointed 00; to a leaner, lower-budget production and to a Bond who looks like he can do some serious damage, rather than just smarm his way out of a tight spot and disappear on a mini-nuclear submarine disguised as a Biro.
For this picture, which lists Paul Haggis, who wrote Crash, as one of its screenwriters, the action is less reliant on the sillier gadgets favoured in the Brosnan era (although fortunately Bond does have a portable defibrillator in his car). Instead the film stakes its reputation on one formidable weapon — Daniel Craig’s ruthless, reckless Bond.
Every decade gets the Bond it deserves and we are living in some pretty scary times. Craig is up there with the best: he combines Sean Connery’s athleticism and cocksure swagger with Timothy Dalton’s thrilling undercurrent of stone-cold cruelty. While the rather foppish Pierce Brosnan had the bland chiselled looks of a male catalogue model, Craig’s face is endlessly fascinating. It’s brutishly ugly — he looks like he’d stab you in the eye if you crossed him, and would probably enjoy doing it. But his sex appeal is off the scale. He even makes his first assassination (shown in grainy black and white) an unsettlingly erotic experience. His Bond bleeds, bruises, makes fatal mistakes.
The chemistry between Craig and his co-star and love interest Vesper Lynd (Eva Green) is explosive. The relationship is founded on prickly admiration, but it’s when they both peel away their defences that things get interesting. A scene where Bond comforts a traumatised Vesper in the shower by gently sucking her fingers is impossibly sexy.
Vesper is the treasury accountant who is bankrolling Bond’s mission to break the bank at a high-stakes poker game in Montenegro. The target is Le Chiffre (Danish star Mads Mikkelsen), an international money launderer with a Hitler haircut, a platinum asthma inhaler and a tendency to bleed from the eye. They might as well have just tattooed the word Evil on his head.
In this new, edgy Bond, the stunts are more physical and the violence raw. An early chase sequence appropriates the free running techniques popularised in Paris to impressive, if ludicrous, effect. And there’s a genuinely horrible torture sequence where Bond suffers some unpleasant genital trauma.
Craig has an impressive physique (generously displayed) that makes him a far more plausible Bond than many of his predecessors. But his main asset quickly becomes evident. He can act.
Intresting how its sister paper the Sunday Times has given the film two stars, the only review in the entire uk/usa to be so critical and negative, the reviewer is clearly talking out of his :moonie:
Any nice pics of Bond as he walks out of the sea in those divine blue shorts at all Bry....
Although I will be watching having been brought up with Bond...not for the eye candy :D
Any nice pics of Bond as he walks out of the sea in those divine blue shorts at all Bry....
Although I will be watching having been brought up with Bond...not for the eye candy :D
I'm going to try and make it to this Wednesdays premier - all for the eye candy of course!
I'm going to try and make it to this Wednesdays premier - all for the eye candy of course! I'll have to wait....wedding anniversary Wednesday, so I'm off to a concert with my eldest son - hubby babysitting :rotfl:
May have to catch it whilst I'm the US though...
How much eye candy for the male audience this time though!! :eek:
I'm going to try and make it to this Wednesdays premier - all for the eye candy of course!
Hopefully there are still some tickets on sale for you NB - even if they do cost a fortune, i spent 15 pound eahc on mine, whereas if i went on Thursday it would only cost 5 pound each! :rotfl:
As you can see - I've found my pic!!!! :wub: :lol:
I'm going to see it tonight at 7:30 :D :cheer:
It cant come soon enough
I shall post a review upon my return :D
I'm going to see it tonight at 7:30 :D :cheer:
It cant come soon enough
I shall post a review upon my return :D Not that you're excited or anything eh hun! :lol:
Full review please, don't hold back, I want to know whether its worth going to see at the cinema or whether to hang on for DVD rental.
Oh, and a pic of you in your smarts for tonight too please :D
Mr Humphries
15-11-2006, 16:40
BOND’S boss M was nearly outed as a LESBIAN in the new 007 film.
Director Martin Campbell wanted to shake up the series and suggested a scene with Dame Judi Dench — spy chief M — in bed with a woman. Another plan included a toy boy.
Campbell said before last night’s world premiere: “We came up with all kinds of ideas for M.”
But star Daniel Craig felt that M bedding a woman — or Bond himself — was a change too far.
He told The Sun: “At the beginning M is the only person he cares about and she cares about him. He’s slightly flirtatious with her. I don’t want to go there, with it going any further.
“M bedding a woman, that’s Martin’s idea. What’s great is that she’s in bed with somebody, because it shows she has a life.”
Source: The Sun 15.11.06
A great night, the odeon did a great job, redocrating the screen that they showed bond. They had bond cars outside, bond music playing inside, glamarous girls selling programmes and offering you glasses of champagne, it was a brilliant night. And as for the film - stunning, brilliant, amazing.
My review:
Going back to it’s roots, this movie wouldn’t seem out of place in the Connery Era when placed against classics such as From Russia With Love and On Her Majesty’s Secret Service. This is a reboot, and is clearly a new direction for Bond. We are now in the 21st century where the villains are terrorists as oppose to power mad megalomaniacs, it’s got a much darker and serious tone to the film, reflecting the times we are living in. It’s a far more realistic and down to earth movie, straying away from the invisible cars, face changing villains and larger than life characters as seen in Die Another Day.
Craig’s performance is of top standard, being up there at the top equally, maybe even beating Sean Connery’s performance as Bond. He combines the ruthless nature of Dalton’s bond with the charisma of Connery.
This is not the conventional Bond, he’s rough and makes mistakes, he bruises and bleeds, and most importantly – he falls in love. This is a reboot and this is his first mission, we see Bond develop as a character, as he turns into the suave secret agent that we all know and love.
Craig and his co-stars give convincing and memorable performances, complex three-dimensional characters who we actually care for. Our emotions are played with as we see Bond on his first mission, playing a high stakes poker game with the villain Le Chiffre, banker to the world’s terrorists. Along the way we are given many thrilling actions sequences, building up to the film’s dramatic climax.
This has to be one of the best written movies in the franchise, Paul Haggis (Crash) has done wonders as he’s took Purvis and Wade’s script and added his talent to it of brilliant characterisation. This is a deep and meaningful story, playing on a 44 year old franchise and giving a modern and exciting twist.
The press have been raving for this movie, and for once they are right. Casino Royale has to be one of the strongest and most entertaining Bond movie in the franchise’s history. Bond has been reinvented for a 21st century world, and despite the original criticisms Craig and this movie are of top standards. Bond is very much back.
DaVeyWaVey
17-11-2006, 23:59
A brilliant review there Bry! The film sounds great, must try and get an opportunity to see it! If not, i will probably buy it on dvd. :D
tammyy2j
20-11-2006, 16:56
Well Done Daniel Craig he was great as James Bond this was a top bond movie all the cast was ace especially the baddie. One of the movies of the year.
Apparently Bond was beaten in box office in uS by the movie Happy Feet about the dancing penguins.. Bond pulled $31.7m but Happy Feet got $33.. quiet surprised
Apparently Bond was beaten in box office in uS by the movie Happy Feet about the dancing penguins.. Bond pulled $31.7m but Happy Feet got $33.. quiet surprised
and we all know why that is, becuase the idiotic producers of competing film companies put the Harry Potter trailer with this film, so all the Harry Potter geeks and little kids ran to see that trailer as oppose to the film.
It vexes me when film producers do this kind of thing to get one up on their rivals! :angry:
Eon Productions and Sony Pictures Releasing are thrilled to announce that Casino Royale opened to an incredible £13.37million at the UK box office making it the most successful opening of any Bond film ever.
Casino Royale opened at 505 cinemas across the UK and the £13.37 million figure smashes the £9.1million record set by Die Another Day in November 2002.
Producers Michael G. Wilson and Barbara Broccoli said, “We are delighted the UK has had record-breaking results over the weekend for Casino Royale, and we are very grateful for the support and good-will of the British public to the new film and most especially towards Daniel Craig.”
James Bond returned with a bang at the international box office as "Casino Royale" dominated the weekend with $42.2 million at 3,063 playdates in 27 markets - reports Variety.
"Casino" hit the jackpot in its U.K. launch with $25.6 million at 988, including $3.7 million in previews. Its Friday-Sunday take tied "Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest" as the second-highest weekend launch in Brit history, trailing only "Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire."
With Daniel Craig in his first turn as Bond, the Blighty opening handily topped the previous Bond pic, "Die Another Day," by 46%.
"Casino Royale" took in more than the combined foreign grosses of the next four pics -- "Borat," "The Devil Wears Prada" and "Open Season." Combined with its second-place domestic take, "Casino" totaled $82.8 million worldwide for the weekend.
Given the strong international track record of recent Bond pics -- with foreign gross accounting for nearly two-thirds of worldwide box office -- "Casino Royale" looks poised for potent offshore biz that could eclipse the $271 million mark set by "Die Another Day" four years ago. Sony has opted to wait until next weekend to launch "Casino Royale" in other major European markets, including France, Germany, Holland, Spain and Sweden.
In the second-largest "Casino" take, Russian B.O. Bonded with $3.8 million at 633 -- the eighth-largest launch for a non-Russian pic.
"Casino" set a record in India with $3.2 million at 427, beating "Spider-Man 2's" opening by 87% for biggest debut of a non-Indian pic.
Greece led the rest of the "Casino" territories with $1.34 million at 111, followed by Thailand with $1.1 million at 154, Taiwan with $1 million at 116, Singapore with $900,000, Malaysia with $800,000, Poland with $735,000 and the UAE with $635,000 -- the second largest launch in that market.
Despite the impressive start for "Casino," overall biz lagged the same frame of 2005, when "Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire" opened with $80 million. But foreign box office for the five major distribs (BVI, Fox, Sony, UIP, Warner) remains well ahead of the 2005 pace and should finish the year ahead of the 2004 record of $8.5 billion.
I just came back from seeing this film, and it was actually really good! I dont particularly like Bond films, so i didn't have very high expectations, but it really surprised me. There was a lot of action all the way through, and not just lots in little bits, great charcters, sets, and fantastic acting by Daniel Craig and Eva Green, in particular.
I've only ever seen 1 other Bond film in full, so i dont know the other Bonds, but from my point of view, Daniel Craig was fab! Loved it!
Seen all James Bond's and loved most there were a few misses but the new film blew me away I loved it Daniel Craig was on top form as Bond and I have to say probably one of the best Bond's yet I will be going to see it a second time next week
Went to see it tonight, and all i can say is Amazing. I mean i'm not a total Bond Looney, but i have seen a few movies, but this one i really loved, it was believeable, no invisible cars etc!
And Daniel Craig, is great. He has proved all those press people wrong. And i hope he is going to be doing many a more films :p x
Ive just got back form watching it and I thought It was amazing!!! It felt like it went on for ages but it was still great and a great twist o and i loved the way it ended!!!
I loved it! I've seen most of the bond films and this has to be my favourite. Daniel Craige was also far better than I expected (and he's really good looking!)
I alos loved the fact they left the : the names Bond, James Bond at the end, because that was like saying he the new bond now.
I alos loved the fact they left the : the names Bond, James Bond at the end, because that was like saying he the new bond now.
Well that, and also because it was the very first Bond film. Like in all the others they say it at the beginning or where ever, but because this was the very first he said he last so you know who he was kind of thing :p
Casino Royale has taken the top prizes at this year's Empire Awards - winning best film and taking two acting awards.
Daniel Craig took the Best Actor accolade for his role as James Bond, whilst his co-star Eva Green scooped Best Female Newcomer.
The awards are voted for by the magazine's readers.
Other winners included Penelope Cruz, who won Best Actress for her role in Volver and Little Miss Sunshine which picked up the Best Comedy prize.
The assistant editor at Empire said: "I'm delighted that Empire readers have decided that Casion Royale is the best film of the year.
"We're proud that real cinema-goers have the good taste to do something neither the critics awards nor industry prizes managed to do - really get behind the reinvention of James Bond as a great British triumph."
The full list of winners is as follows:
Best film - Casino Royale
Best British film - United 93
Best director - Christopher Nolan The Prestige
Best actor - Daniel Craig Casino Royale
Best actress - Penelope Cruz Volver
Best comedy - Little Miss Sunshine
Best thriller - The Departed
Best science fiction - Pan's Labyrinth
Best horror - Hostel
Best male newcomer - Brandon Routh Superman
Best female newcomer - Eva Green Casino Royale
Eon Productions and Sony Pictures Home Entertainment are happy to announce that Casino Royale has sold a staggering 1,622,852 units in its first week of release (from 19th March), making it the most successful selling DVD for first week sales, in the UK, ever.
It is not only the DVD that has broken records, this home entertainment release has been a huge boost for the new high-definition Blu-ray Disc format with 9,456 units being sold in week one - confirming a demand for High Definition content among UK consumers.
Andy Armstrong, managing director, SPHE, UK said: “We are delighted that the latest installment of this quintessentially British and hugely successful franchise has hit the top of the charts by breaking the record for week one DVD sales. This, as well as the title smashing box-office records, is testament testament to how the 007 brand has been invigorated with Daniel Craig as the new James Bond”.
Watched finally last night (early b/day pressie from my mum) and I have to say - it was brilliant!!!! Best Bond movie I've seen in a long time. I wouldn't say that Daniel is a better Bond that Sir Connery, but they have a different style, and his is definitely bringing Bond back into the forefront of the film industry again.
Loved the twists and the torture scene has both hubby and I both laughing and grimacing at the same time ("noooooo, no to the right a bit!" :rotfl: )
Brilliant film - highly recommended.
Watched finally last night (early b/day pressie from my mum) and I have to say - it was brilliant!!!! Best Bond movie I've seen in a long time. I wouldn't say that Daniel is a better Bond that Sir Connery, but they have a different style, and his is definitely bringing Bond back into the forefront of the film industry again.
Loved the twists and the torture scene has both hubby and I both laughing and grimacing at the same time ("noooooo, no to the right a bit!" :rotfl: )
Brilliant film - highly recommended.
took your time didn't you? :p glad you enjoyed it lol
i couldnt laugh in the cinema, for men it's just too disturbing, it was funny you heard all the men wincing and all the woman laughing - sadistic bitches :p
Watched finally last night (early b/day pressie from my mum) and I have to say - it was brilliant!!!! Best Bond movie I've seen in a long time. I wouldn't say that Daniel is a better Bond that Sir Connery, but they have a different style, and his is definitely bringing Bond back into the forefront of the film industry again.
Loved the twists and the torture scene has both hubby and I both laughing and grimacing at the same time ("noooooo, no to the right a bit!" :rotfl: )
Brilliant film - highly recommended.
took your time didn't you? :p glad you enjoyed it lol
i couldnt laugh in the cinema, for men it's just too disturbing, it was funny you heard all the men wincing and all the woman laughing - sadistic bitches :p
lol!!!!
Nah - both hubby and I were "OUCH!!!" but then when he started laughing and saying, nooooo right a bit etc, that was pretty funny. Even though he was going through probably the most excruciating pain possible to men, he was still able to laugh and say that! Pure brilliance!
Yeah - took my time, but got there in the end. Great ending. Hubby and I worked a couple of things out, even though my dad had the entire Fleming collection in books and I'd never read them, when we realised it was the first book (it was the first wasn't it?!) and then at the end, when he did the "the names Bond, James Bond" line. The "beginning" of an era.
I still havent seen it, I think ill make it one thing that i need to do during the holidays. I tink i know what your talking about though, something to do with a chair i believe.
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