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It’s Bond, But Not as You Know it

23 November 2006 - 12:35 PM / by Dominic Pettifer. 2 Images 1 Comment

Film Review - I went to see the new James Bond film yesterday, Casino Royale. It’s certainly a big departure from the traditional Bond formula. I’ve heard this film was based on a book whereas the last four or so were written for film.

A Different Kind of Bond

Warning: Some spoilers below but nothing major.

Casino Royale is certainly different from the previous Bond films, for one there are almost no gadgets at all, and he drives just a regular Austin Martin as opposed to a souped up Austin Martin with lasers and rockets and ejector seats etc. Although, he does destroy it within 5 minutes of owning it, as usual.

Story

James Bond with an Aston Martin supercar.As for the story, this one was based on a book as opposed to written directly for film, and it shows.

The story is far more down to earth than previous Bond films. The last films involved big lasers from space that harness the sun’s energy to burn up the ground, a TV news mogul starting wars for exclusive news coverage, and don’t get me started on invisible cars!! They were pushing the boundaries on far fetched-ness if you know what I mean.

Whereas this film uses a more traditional, good old terrorist plot type story, it’s a bit more realisticker (if that’s a word), and I think it’s better for it.

It involves a banker/investor type guy who invests terrorist organisation’s own money. Except he looses it big time on making the wrong investment, and with the terrorist leader threatening to kill him unless he gets the money back somehow, he enters a high stakes game of Poker in order to win it back, and Bond must stop him. There’s a bit more too it obviously, but I don’t want to spoiler the surprise.

Back to Basics

James Bond pointing a gun.The bond character is a bit more three dimensional this time round too. They’ve managed to strike the right balance between his human side, and his ego side, and reveal a little bit more of his personality, with a darker leaning side. Actor Daniel Craig does a fine job.

Action sequences were also way played out, more of him running and jumping and fighting, and a little less shooting and using gadgets and overly big explosions. Die hard fans would probably be a little disappointed in the change of direction, with its back to basics approach (no Q, no Miss Money Penny, gadgets gone, fewer puns etc.), but in my opinion it’s a much better Bond than the last 4 previous films.

You'll probably leave the cinema a little shocked or undecided over whether you liked it or not (as I did), because it’s such a departure from what we’re used to in a bond movie. But on reflection I think it’s one of the best Bonds yet.

You can check out some Rotten Tomatoes film reviews, where it has scored 91% at the time of writing.

Please feel free to add your own views on the new Bond film in the comments section.

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