CASINO ROYALE -- Reactions

[mkaroly]

For me the Craig films are all strong (I know I am in the minority there); loved CR (except for the defib bit). Plus it adheres to the book pretty well at times (the torture scene is straight out of the book).

My favorite Brosnan film hands down is TND.

[Paul MacLean]

This film isn't bad, but it is too different from what Bond means to me and my feeling from afar that the presence of Judi Dench calls unnecessary attention to the presence of someone from what is now officially an alternate universe Bond was vindicated.

I'm a fan of Judi Dench as "M", so her presence didn't bother me.

The Bond films have gone through so many style periods, I don't think there is a definitive approach to the character any more. We all have our favorite Bond eras, but I mostly accept (and for the most part enjoy) the different interpretations -- the fanciful yet sometimes gritty Connery (and Lazenby) period, the campy, splashy Moore pictures, the grim, violent (yet still exotic) Dalton films, etc.

Anyway I'm agreed on the defibrillator sequence, which was very implausible in an otherwise (well, by Bond standards) believable film. The movie could have lost this scene (and would have been better for doing so). Although the Parkor chase scene was implausible, for me it didn't come close to the exaggerated goofiness of such Brosnan scenes as the tank chase in Goldeneye, the escape / chase sequence in Tomorrow Never Days or the ludicrous melting "ice hotel" sequence and the ensuing fight on the plane (with the villain's electric "Iron Man" suit) in Day Another Day.

CR also gets points from me for keeping the long, extended poker game sequence from getting dull (which is easily could have). I also appreciate the twist regarding Vesper in the Venice sequence. David Arnold's score was also exceptionally good.

As far as the Craig films overall, I thought CR and Skyfall were outstanding, and the best Bond films since the 80s (tho Skyfall's score left a bit to be desired). They harken back to the more serious tone of the Dalton pictures -- and I'm a fan of that all-too-brief Dalton era, so CR was a refreshing shot in the arm after the Brosnan years (which for me were the lowest ebb in the entire Bond franchise).

However, I was not impressed with Quantum of Solace or Spectre. The former was convoluted and makes no sense unless you've just watched CR very recently (plus I found it stylistically pretentious at times and far-too "Bourne"-influenced). Spectre looked promising, but was convoluted and contrived -- and didn't deliver on what Skyfall seemed to be setting-up at its conclusion.