Author Topic: Casino Royale - Spoiler Edition II  (Read 3792 times)

SharkTrager

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Casino Royale - Spoiler Edition II
« on: November 23, 2006, 12:26:40 PM »
WONDERFUL!

Towards the end I leant over to my wife to ask her if it was nearly finished. Not because I was ready to go but because I didn't want it to end.

SPOILERS Yes there were length issues and a slight sagging in the 'falling in love' section (plus I did think the hitman at the very end with the dark lense on his glasses was Le Chiffre back - which would have been nice) but WOW WOW WOW. END OF SPOILERS.

What I great fortnight I've had. My 2 favourite films of the year in one go - this and The Prestige.

Ever since I saw Enduring Love, Craig has been one of my favourite actors. Then I saw Layer Cake and he nailed it and then I saw The Jacket and what a fantastic cameo he makes. What a BRILLIANT, ECONOMICAL, INTELLIGENT actor.

As soon as they announced Craig as Bond I said 'my favourite Bond ever' and I was proved right yesterday.

A triumph.

Can't wait for 22
We've gone on holiday
by mistake."

Rollo_Tomasi

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Casino Royale - Spoiler Edition II
« Reply #1 on: November 24, 2006, 02:53:24 PM »
am i a bad person for not liking the end of Layer Cake?

i gotta agree with you on Casino Royale and Daniel Craig, totally awesome movie expierence  and my favorite Bond movie outside of a couple of the Connery ones....

i did not think it was too long and i really liked the ending.  that story line can go on for a while as there are folks who spend whole careers trying to tack down the funding of international terrorism.  

oh yeah and this is my first post here, thanks for the great boards everyone ;)

alexarch

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Casino Royale - Spoiler Edition II
« Reply #2 on: November 24, 2006, 04:33:24 PM »
Quote from: "Rollo_Tomasi"
oh yeah and this is my first post here, thanks for the great boards everyone ;)
Welcome Rollo.  Your input is greatly appreciated.

Katebo

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Casino Royale - Spoiler Edition II
« Reply #3 on: November 24, 2006, 10:13:34 PM »
I liked this one a lot and, as I posted in the spoiler-free post, Craig is the best Bond to date, even topping Connery. The reason for this is simple- Craig is much more believeable. I really believe he could do all the things Bond is supposed to do (or at least, I believe he's far more capable of it than the other Bond actors). He's physically menacing and downright scary in a couple scenes, but he still has the 007 charm, when he wants to use it. I think M's reference to him as a "blunt instrument" was appropriate- Bond is a killer. That's what he does, he kills people, with little remorse or second judgement.

My problem with the movie was that it felt like 1.5 movies- it got to the point where any other Bond film would end, and then it kept going, but in a completely different direction and style. I also think some of the dialogue in the "falling in love" sequence was downright atrocious, which didn't help, and that there wasn't enough of a sense of foreboding in those scenes. As an audience, we know that something's gonna happen, something's gonna change, and there's no way Bond'll ride off into the sunset with the girl. Not once he's resigned and says he's leaving it all behind- as soon as that happens, everyone in the audience knows she's gonna die. It was dramatic irony without the drama. I felt like I was just sitting there, waiting for the film to continue- yes, yes, they're happy, that's great, but we all know it won't work out, so let's get a move on.

Besides that, I had few problems with the structure and pacing, and my only other main issue is a couple lines of dialogue- I *hated* the Moneypenny reference. Hated. The reason why is that I spent the entire first part of the movie thinking they were introducing Vesper as a reimagined Moneypenny and thinking how awesome it was and how it explained a lot of their interactions and sets up their relationship perfectly, and how wonderfully refreshing it would be to have a Bond film where he actually *doesn't* get the girl- where a girl is somehow able to withstand his charms. I thought it was great that he respected her enough to back off, and figured they were gonna have Le Chiffre's girlfriend be the stereotypical Bond girl for the film, if they were even having one. Sure, the way they chose to go with it explains Bond's attitude towards women, but I think that's something they easily could have saved for the next one and it wasn't terribly necessary for this one. There was enough plot and character development without it. And when they didn't do that, but went the predictable route, with Vesper forgetting her bf (or did she really? Discuss.) and moving on to Bond, I was terribly disappointed. If they weren't doing a Moneypenny character, they shouldn't have referenced it- it was distracting and an eventual letdown. Course, maybe that was unintentional and I'm just ubersensitive.

Oh, and the product placement was blatant.

Overall though, a highly entertaining film I strongly recommend.

SharkTrager

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Casino Royale - Spoiler Edition II
« Reply #4 on: November 25, 2006, 04:24:57 AM »
Hi Katebo,

Good points but I think I missed the Moneypenny reference. Can you clarify?
We've gone on holiday
by mistake."

spoko

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Casino Royale - Spoiler Edition II
« Reply #5 on: November 25, 2006, 08:34:36 AM »
I would guess it's when Vesper introduces herself as "the money," and Bond replies, "worth every penny." But that tiny reference hardly seems worthy of the hatred it inspired in Katebo, so maybe there was something more?

The product placement was pretty blatant. My wife and I play a little game during movies & TV shows where we announce to each other any product placements we spot. I think I said "Sony" about 50 times during this movie. For crying out loud. Also, I'm sorry, but Bond was driving a Ford at one point in this movie. That's just wrong. There's no way in any universe that that should be the case. He'd do better with a friggin Skoda. Die Ford Die.

Wilson

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Casino Royale - Spoiler Edition II
« Reply #6 on: November 25, 2006, 09:27:29 AM »
The love story with Vesper is one of the things that makes Bond what he is.  Yes, we knew how it would end up but Casino Royale is supposed to be the very first time we meet Bond so we're not supposed to know what happens in the other 20 films yet.

While the actual falling in love part could've been done a bit better, they had to show that Bond loved her and would give up everything for her.  In later Bonds, he mentions that he was 'nearly' married, on a few occasions.

Regarding Vesper's other love, he was an RAF operative who was kidnapped by SMERSH and tortured to reveal information about Vesper which lead to the blackmailing her to become a double agent.

However, she eventually forgets about him and falls in love with Bond, only she becomes consumed with guilt over being a double agent and commits suicide, obviously leading Bond to go back into service and becomes the cold mysoginist we all know and love.

His love for Vesper, in my opinon, is part of the reason that the character is so good.  He obviously feels a massive betrayal, but in OHMSS novel it tells us that he still loves Vesper and makes annual pilgrimages to her grave, which I hope we get to see in one of Craig's later Bonds.

So yeah I rambled on a bit there, and probably all stuff the majority knew.

Katebo

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Casino Royale - Spoiler Edition II
« Reply #7 on: November 25, 2006, 02:59:12 PM »
Quote from: "SharkTrager"
Good points but I think I missed the Moneypenny reference. Can you clarify?


Yeah, it was just the "I'm the money" "Worth every penny" thing. What can I say, I'm hypersensitive. And it didn't bother me until after the film, when I was thinking about why I didn't like the romantic plot and figuring out why I felt let down about it.

spoko

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Casino Royale - Spoiler Edition II
« Reply #8 on: November 26, 2006, 07:37:03 AM »
Well, I didn't like the romantic plot either, but it was mostly because I didn't sense any chemistry whatsoever. Craig and Green seemed not to enjoy each others' company much, and frankly I didn't enjoy seeing them together. It picked up a bit after he killed the guy in the stairwell, but it needed to be much, much sooner. Immediate, more or less. And it wasn't.

 

love