Casino Royale

[bassthumpa]

Can nobody answer my Batman Begins question, then? See post #25.

The original Batman made that crap up about Joker killing his parents. Batman Begins is true to the comics as far as the murder of his parents go, IIRC.

Back on topic, this is the first time in a long time that I've really wanted to go out of the way to see a Bond movie. From what I've seen, they may have done this quite well.

 

[karrot-x]

Stick shift, to me, is a manual gear box. I've only seen 1 car that had the shifter on the side of the steering column; I called that "weird" .

 

[naja]

Btw, any U.S. TB'ers help me & Toasted agree on what 'Stick Shift' means?

Is it a term for all manual cars or does the gear stick have to be on the side of the steering column?

In my part of the US (South-Eastern) we call the former "stick-shifts" or "manuals", and we call the latters "on the column" or "column shift".

I havent seen a column shift in years.

Dave

 

[Headroom]

It was either "three (forward gears) on the tree (steering column)" or "four on the floor".

 

[tplyons]

Toasted, you're thinking of what we call column shift.

Stick is the term for any manual transmission.

Finally saw it tonight (sort of tradition for me to see new Bond movies around thanksgiving with my brother) and was mighty impressed, but must hold it as a seperate entity from the book entirely. The only similarities were the names of characters, the fact that it has a card game in it, and the name of the movie, pretty much.

Different locales, different introduction. Albeit it's a bit more modernized than Fleming's novel, I feel it was done somewhat tastefully, but relying on cell phones was a bit over the top, IMO.

The cinematography was phenominal, I felt Craig did a good Bond and felt he was truer to Fleming's character than any so far. Overall, great movie, better novel.

BTW, could anyone else help but notice all the darn product placement? Sony left and right. Smirnoff. Ford. Aston Martin (given). Omega (more blatant than most). FedEx. Few more.

 

[Bernie Connors]

Saw this last night and loved it!!!

 

[Mottlefeeder]

I saw it on Tuesday, and enjoyed it, but I did see some things that did not work for me.

In the torture sequence, Bond recovers enough to make witty comments within about 10 seconds of being hit - I don't think that would be feasible, and the book was probably more realistic.

In Venice, I believe that the canals are 2-3 metres deep, and the old buildings are built on logs driven end-on into the sea bed. If so, the fight sequence in that building could not have happened like that.

YMMV

 

[Dr. Feelgood]

Saw it tueday night, here's my take, I'll keep it to positives and negatives. There may be minor spoilers, but I'm not giving anything away for those who haven't seen it.

Positive:
-Very well filmed, I was impressed.
-Super hot Eva Green (who plays Vesper Lynd), my kinda girl
-Great Locations.
-Thrilling action sequences.
-This time you actually believe Bond is one of the best spies in the world: the other Bond films had either a)really crappy stunts that anybody could do or b)totally ridiculous stunts that not even Evel Knievel could perform (I'm thinking about the "Pierce Brosnan surfing on massive wave using a chunk of metal" bit, in Die Another Day). In this film, Bond kicks arse!
-The poker game: Bond is supposed to be the best at poker, in previous films it was only ever really word-of-mouth. In this film, he's actually quite good!
-Richard Branson cameo: best bit in the film.

Negatives:
-Bond drives an Aston Martin DBS for about ten seconds...
-Not enough Bondesque explosions!
-Kinda lame bad guy (he cries blood)...
-Those swimming trunks. Jesus, why the hell doesn't he just go in the nude?
-The first Bond girl: she doesn't last very long, and in the run-up to the film, everybody made it sound like she was really important!
-IMHO, some of the baddies faces were really easy to mix-up. There were point in the film where I didn't know what the hell was going on, which baddy was which, especially concering Mr. White.
-The black and white sequence at the beginning: although the cut to colour using the famous "Bond looking down the barrel of a gun" was brilliant, the rest of the scene was boring and pointless.
-The cinema was really hot. My popcorn was too salty and I got chapped lips.

I will probably buy it on DVD, I thought it was a worthy addition to the franchise.

 

[Christopher]

Coming out of the theater, I felt it was too long, but now that I've had a chance to digest it, it left a very good overall impression.

I don't think Daniel Craig had much chemistry with Eva Green, but he still makes Jason Bourne look like a boyscout.

 

[tplyons]

...but he still makes Jason Bourne look like a boyscout.

Couldn't have said it better.

 

[i_got_a_mohawk]

He was born in Chester and lives in the UK. We don't have 'stick shift' here.

saw it last night, was alright, nothing spectacular (tho, some of those girls, mmmmmmmmmmmmmm), it was a bit different from the other bond films, less gadgetry and action i thought, got a bit long winded towards the end tho IMO

 

[hants]

I saw it today, and hell, it was the best of them all. Well, the first ones come quite close with their nostalgic feeling. But I really enjoyed the new change of course with a more realistically vulnerable, dark and brute Bond. James even had some depth!

Daniel Craig did an awesome job, he has talent that any of his predessecors didn't posses. His acting skills made me even at a point despise the charachter. Bond was made for the first time to be just an assasin, no ridiculous superagent gear, no boyish humour. That said the violence is sometimes pretty gut wrenching (at least on 007 standards). There is still from time to time humour in the film, mostly making fun of the old movies (swimming trunks and vodka martini).

I appreciate the risk the filmmakers have taken in making such dramatic change in the course of action of the filmseries, but it was worthwile.

Edit: Chris Cornell sings the title song, so the movie just cant be bad =)

 

[Dr. Feelgood]

Chris Cornell sings the title song, so the movie just cant be bad =)

I thought the theme tune was rubbish! So were the credits over which it was sung. JMHO

 

[markjazzbassist]

I just saw Casino Royale today. I loved it. I thought the action was great, Bond was a brute, and the girl was very sexy. I will definately buy this when it comes on to DVD. I will also go see the next one in the theater as well.

 

[hants]

I thought the theme tune was rubbish! So were the credits over which it was sung. JMHO

Really? I really liked the theme song and especially the graphics. Well the tune was quite bland compared to some of the other class films but still Cornells voice rocks

 

[Dr. Feelgood]

Really? I really liked the theme song and especially the graphics. Well the tune was quite bland compared to some of the other class films but still Cornells voice rocks

There was this one bit in the graphics that looked really cheap!

It was when Bond is seen as an all dark figure/shadow and the baddies explode in little squares when they die. It was badly made, looked cheap, low res and all the angles of the body were pointy. It just looked amateurish!

As far as the theme tune is concerned: indeed, Cornell does have one hell of a voice, but what good is that if the music behind it isn't that great?

 

[BassManPatsFan]

I saw it yesterday and thought it was pretty darn good. I've seen just about every other Bond, and I'd have to say that this one is only rivaled by the original Sean Connery films. Daniel Craig did a great job and his girl was pretty hot this time.
I also thought that the opening titles were bland (not enough naked women) and that Cornell's song blew the big one. It was still a great movie, though.
-Alex

 

[steve21]

I saw the movie with my dad and brother yesterday... so great.

Craig had that cold, calculated thing down PERFECT, I think.

Not only was he the most badass Bond, but he WAS actually smart. The opening chase, every time that Bomber Baddie did something the hard way, Bond did it the smart way...

Cool movie. I'd buy it on DVD.

 

[Baryonyx]

I saw it on Tuesday. I was stunned. Craig was brilliant, topping everyone thats went before him imo. He makes Pierce look like a ponce! Craig makes Bond so human, and yet so tough and powerful at the same time. Plus, his relationship with Vesper is actually interesting and adds depth to the character of james, rather than being just another conquest.

The intro was also stunning, with some very interesting use of graphics. I actually commented on how cool it was at the time of seeing it. Every Bond should have a strong opening sequence. Die Another Day's was ridiculous-since when was James a surfer? I didn't think they'd be able to top Goldeneye's opener, but the crane-climbing, JCB-driving, embassy-storming sequence of Casino Royale was just bombastic. I laughed out loud when the terrorist jumps smoothly through the gap at the top of the plaster wall. Two seconds later, Bond barges through shoulder first-classic stuff!

It's an outright brilliant film, with an ending that hits like a brick and makes me wish the sequel was coming out next week!

 

[Alvaro Martín Gómez A.]

Saw it last night. I'm a big Bond fan and I've enjoyed all his movies (The EON ones, of course), but this one really stunned me. Daniel Craig is really convincing in his role and of course he gets my Link Removed. At first I was very disappointed since I always expect the gun barrel sequence the way it's always been done and when I saw this version I thought "Meh. Albert Broccoli wouldn't allow that. His descendents have been bitten by the 'modernization' bug". But after getting into the movie and realizing the "reboot" idea, I accepted that turn. My friends started asking after the movie ended: "So this means that there will be a new "Dr. No" or "Live and Let Die"?". I think that's a nonsense. I just feel this movie as a "start all over again" in the 21th century that doesn't imply a repetition of the same plots. And unlike Chris, the ending didn't make me think of or expect a "sequel" in the strict sense of the word (if I understood him correctly). Anyway, this is one of the best Bond offerings to me. And BTW, the new DVD collection of all Bond movies with cleaned-up video and enhanced audio is awesome! One of my dreams has been having the whole James Bond collection (again, the EON releases - I'm too fussy about that) and these new sets have definitely made it into my wish list.