Movie Review: Casino Royale

Tim and I finally got around to watching Casino Royale last night. This has been a rather long, arduous process for us. See, when it came out I was so disappointed that they'd replaced Pierce Brosnan as Bond that I really didn't have any desire at all to see any more Bond movies ever again. (Yes, I liked Brosnan as Bond, why do you ask?) And the reports that Daniel Craig didn't like boats or guns really didn't help all that much. Cause Bond with boats, fast cars, and guns is like Sesame Street without Big Bird, Bert, and Ernie. Then the movie came out and people said mostly nice things and the movie went away. And I decided that I could certainly wait until it was out on DVD.

Shortly after it came out on DVD, Tim's sister purchased the DVD. She apparently enjoys the movie quite a lot. So, after a time, we borrowed the movie from her and it sat on our kitchen island for a while. Then it moved to the kitchen table. Then it finally moved down to the theater, where it sat on our DVD cupboard. Every so often, Tim's sister would ask if we had watched the movie yet. I'm guessing it's because after not having it in her posession for six months (or thereabout) she wanted her DVD back. I can't fault her for this in the slightest. So after a while, my mom saw the DVD on sale at Costco and went ahead and picked it up, figuring that if everyone in the immediate family (there are 6 of us) watched it once, it would be worth the $12 or $15 that she spent. I can't fault that logic. Plus, she bought the Widescreen version, and we all know that Widescreen is immensely better than Full Screen. (Tim's sister's DVD is Full Screen.) So, after she watched it, she dropped it off at our house and we were finally able to return Tim's sister's DVD to her. Though she continued to ask if we'd watched the movie yet. I guess perhaps she's just actually wondering if we had watched the movie.

Friday night we babysat the 6 month old of some friends of ours. She's a sweet, happy kid and we enjoyed having her scooting around on the carpet making the dogs nervous to the point that they gave us baleful looks and left the room. (I was slightly less pleased about the whole scooting on the carpet thing once I saw the rugburn and felt like a moron for not thinking of the fact that berber + baby is not necessarily a good idea. Her mom absolved me of culpability, however, because they have berber as well and she wasn't sure the rug burn wasn't preexisting. Phew!) So around 6:45, we took the baby down to the theater to let her scoot around on the floor where we could keep on eye on her and one eye on Casino Royale and all would be right with the world. Except that apparently 6:45 is the witching hour wherein sweet, happy kid transforms into screaming, unhappy kid with no provocation and nothing will quiet the wailing except constant motion. And not rocking in a chair motion, or swaying back and forth motion (both of which would have allowed movie watching). No, she required full up walking motion. So that thwarted our first attempt to actually get around to watching the movie. I think we saw...five minutes(?) before baby meltdown. Amusingly, we had supper with Tim's family Saturday night and what should his sister ask but, "Did you watch Casino Royale yet?" At least this time we actually were able to say we tried!

So, last night (finally!) we popped in the DVD. No babies? Check. No homework? Well, not that I was going to do, so check. No visitors expected? Check. Excellent. At the end of the day, I'm forced to say it was a pretty good movie.

Now, I doubt that Daniel Craig will ever ring my bell as Bond. First off, Bond is supposed to be suave and devilishly handsome. Or at least, this is always how the other players have portrayed him. (I suppose I should read some of the several Ian Fleming novels I actually have on my shelf and decide for myself.) Craig sort of managed suave, but he couldn't swing devilishly handsome with a paper bag over his head. (Though the bag? It might actually help.) There were exactly two instants, both fleeting, where I caught a glimpse of something that I'd be willing to categorize as "ok looking." Perhaps it's because the Bond girl in this episode was, in my opinion, shatteringly gorgeous. The justaposition of the two just made Craig appear even more homely. Perhaps they can find someone a tad less pretty next go-round and Craig'll have a better chance.

However, what Daniel Craig loses in utter sex appeal, he makes up for (sort of) in sheer athletic ability. Or his stunt double does. Regardless, this Bond is much more physical. Where in previous Bond films you would have car chases and boat chases and ski chases and helicopter chases and just about any kind of motorized or downhill motion chase you can imagine, this movie settles for running chases. At first, I felt a little let down as I reflected on this loss. But then I had to remember the sheer amazement at some of the jumping and running and, well, flying that the actors were forced to do. It was impressive. And much more physical than most of the other Bonds ever managed with all of their performance car chases or flying rental car returns.

I'll also say that a movie where the primary vehicle for dramatic tension is a poker game should probably not be the end all, be all for judging a man's ability to play Bond. So I'll give Daniel Craig that one. (Reference the fact that we had to pause the movie during the final climactic reveal, when everyone has gone all in and slowly the players reveal their cards so that Tim could explain to me what the various hands were and why one was better than the other.) And cross my fingers for more car chases next time. I'll also give Craig props for good sarcastic timing. Not every Bond has been able to pull off the sardonic and sassy one liners that make up the majority of Bond dialog. Craig does a very good job with this - certainly better than Timothy Dalton (or as I like to call him, the poor man's Pierce Brosnan) ever managed.

Finally, I know Q died. But they had John Cleese all spun up to be the new Q. Or R. Whatever they were going to name him. So, um...where was he? Or are we circling back to the point that you don't need a whole bunch of cool gadgets to play poker? Again, next film? More car chases, more gadgets, and more John Cleese! And then really finally (since my first finally wasn't actually final apparently), did this movie have a theme song? Cause Bond movies are supposed to have theme songs and frankly, I have no clue what, if any, was the theme song of Casino Royale. And that's kind of a bummer.

So, to sum up, it was better than I expected. Daniel Craig may grow on me, I'll certainly give him a chance with future installments because he wasn't the unmitigated disaster I was expecting. And overall, this stacked up to be a darn good flick.

All told, I'd give this movie a Straight Flush. (That's the 2nd best poker hand according to Wikipedia, topped only by a Royal Flush...call it 4.5 stars out of 5 if you're looking for star ratings.)