How Many Times Did You Watch Casino Royale?

[Terry]

I've seen Casino Royale once, this was in the cinema upon its release. To be honest I don't think the team Eon have (Barbara, Purvis & Wade, David Arnold etc) are very good at making films. Contrast a Christopher Nolan film with the last batch of 007 films. Nolan is not an art-house director. He's actually a big Bond fan who said The Spy Who Loved Me is one of his favourite films. Casino Royale according to certain critics, Rotten Tomatoes and the other Bond forums is arguably the best James Bond film ever made and some sort of masterpiece. Am I living on the same planet as these people? CR was like a cross between a Jason Statham film and a Pierce Brosnan Bond with a few bones thrown in the direction of pretentious Bond fans. Oh look, someone said 'blunt instrument'! Oh look, Bond is bloodied! An anodyne love story was undercut by the lead actress looking like the leading man's daughter and the poker was padded out far too much. Casino scenes are just not a big thrill now. What about Daniel Craig? Just a big blank at the heart of this film. He's good at running and scowling and a decent actor but he's just meh. Doesn't look like Bond to me and no amount of bodybuilding or running changes that. I actually found him dour. The critical response to this film I found astonishing!

[Greg Haugen]

CR was different from what we expect of a Bond film right down to the actor playing Bond. For some this was clearly a relief and for others it didn't seem much like a James Bond film. It depends how much you love the formula really.

[skywalker]

Feb 21, 2008 9:42:08 GMT -5 Terry said:

I've seen Casino Royale once, this was in the cinema upon its release. To be honest I don't think the team Eon have (Barbara, Purvis & Wade, David Arnold etc) are very good at making films. Contrast a Christopher Nolan film with the last batch of 007 films. Nolan is not an art-house director. He's actually a big Bond fan who said The Spy Who Loved Me is one of his favourite films. Casino Royale according to certain critics, Rotten Tomatoes and the other Bond forums is arguably the best James Bond film ever made and some sort of masterpiece. Am I living on the same planet as these people? CR was like a cross between a Jason Statham film and a Pierce Brosnan Bond with a few bones thrown in the direction of pretentious Bond fans. Oh look, someone said 'blunt instrument'! Oh look, Bond is bloodied! An anodyne love story was undercut by the lead actress looking like the leading man's daughter and the poker was padded out far too much. Casino scenes are just not a big thrill now. What about Daniel Craig? Just a big blank at the heart of this film. He's good at running and scowling and a decent actor but he's just meh. Doesn't look like Bond to me and no amount of bodybuilding or running changes that. I actually found him dour. The critical response to this film I found astonishing!

Welcome to the forum Terry.

I'm quite a big fan of Christopher Nolan's work. Memento is one of my favourite films. I'm actually quite surprised (IN a pleasant way) that TSWLM is one of his favourite films (Do you have a link)?

[Terry]

www.scottholleran.com/interviews/christopher-nolan.htm


I don't know if you noticed but in the Batmobile chase in Batman Begins, a bystander does a double-take and looks at his bottle of beer. I thought this was a direct reference to TSWLM, or at least the big seventies Bond films that Nolan grew up on.

[Kadov]

Feb 21, 2008 9:42:08 GMT -5 Terry said:

I've seen Casino Royale once, this was in the cinema upon its release. To be honest I don't think the team Eon have (Barbara, Purvis & Wade, David Arnold etc) are very good at making films. Contrast a Christopher Nolan film with the last batch of 007 films. Nolan is not an art-house director. He's actually a big Bond fan who said The Spy Who Loved Me is one of his favourite films. Casino Royale according to certain critics, Rotten Tomatoes and the other Bond forums is arguably the best James Bond film ever made and some sort of masterpiece. Am I living on the same planet as these people? CR was like a cross between a Jason Statham film and a Pierce Brosnan Bond with a few bones thrown in the direction of pretentious Bond fans. Oh look, someone said 'blunt instrument'! Oh look, Bond is bloodied! An anodyne love story was undercut by the lead actress looking like the leading man's daughter and the poker was padded out far too much. Casino scenes are just not a big thrill now. What about Daniel Craig? Just a big blank at the heart of this film. He's good at running and scowling and a decent actor but he's just meh. Doesn't look like Bond to me and no amount of bodybuilding or running changes that. I actually found him dour. The critical response to this film I found astonishing!

An Excellent capsule review. (And welcome to the forum, Terry.)

An anodyne love story was undercut by the lead actress looking like the leading man's daughter and the poker was padded out far too much.

I remember a rumor that surfaced just before filming began for CR. Apparently, Eon had a hard time finding an actress for the Vesper role because Craig lacked chemistry in the test footage made during the casting of the Bond girl. So Eon minimized the love story and emphasized the action. Of course, that rumor became true when we saw the final outcome. The love story appeared late in the film and it all felt rushed.

[skywalker]

Feb 21, 2008 17:57:57 GMT -5 Terry said:

www.scottholleran.com/interviews/christopher-nolan.htm


I don't know if you noticed but in the Batmobile chase in Batman Begins, a bystander does a double-take and looks at his bottle of beer. I thought this was a direct reference to TSWLM, or at least the big seventies Bond films that Nolan grew up on.

Thanks for the link. It's a shame Nolan didn't direct Casino Royale. I think he would have made a far better job it, even with Craig as Bond.

[Terry]

Feb 24, 2008 13:19:29 GMT -5 skywalker said:

Feb 21, 2008 17:57:57 GMT -5 Terry said:

www.scottholleran.com/interviews/christopher-nolan.htm


I don't know if you noticed but in the Batmobile chase in Batman Begins, a bystander does a double-take and looks at his bottle of beer. I thought this was a direct reference to TSWLM, or at least the big seventies Bond films that Nolan grew up on.

Thanks for the link. It's a shame Nolan didn't direct Casino Royale. I think he would have made a far better job it, even with Craig as Bond.

I agree and with Nolan, you never know, he might have got Christian Bale. Bale was the obvious person to do a 'Bond Begins'.

[skywalker]

Feb 25, 2008 12:03:43 GMT -5 Terry said:

I agree and with Nolan, you never know, he might have got Christian Bale. Bale was the obvious person to do a 'Bond Begins'.

Christian Bale would have been superb in the role either as a young agent or a more seasoned pro like in the previous Bond films.

[007]

Bale would have been great but I think Barbara would have had Christopher Nolan shot if he'd tried to cast anyone other than Craig. There wasn't a chance of any other actor doing CR.

[adam]

Bale would have been great but had committed himself to the Batman franchise. I'm sure part of that contract would have been not being allowed to committ himself to any other action film franchise seris. He's a versatile actor so may have found being tagged as 'Bond' & 'Batman' too restrictive. He was already a big film star so may have turned it down or been too expensive. Remember most of the Bonds' were unknown before they got the part. Only Moore & Brosnan were famous beforehand, mainly through their T.V. work. Come to think of it, a big name actor who may have been better suited to playing the 'blunt instrument' Bond CR in my opinion is Russsel Crowe. Any comments ?

[Greg Haugen]

Feb 27, 2008 13:48:20 GMT -5 adam said:

Bale would have been great but had committed himself to the Batman franchise. I'm sure part of that contract would have been not being allowed to committ himself to any other action film franchise seris. He's a versatile actor so may have found being tagged as 'Bond' & 'Batman' too restrictive. He was already a big film star so may have turned it down or been too expensive. Remember most of the Bonds' were unknown before they got the part. Only Moore & Brosnan were famous beforehand, mainly through their T.V. work. Come to think of it, a big name actor who may have been better suited to playing the 'blunt instrument' Bond CR in my opinion is Russsel Crowe. Any comments ?

Crowe was a decent shout around the 'Gladiator' era although far too famous and expensive for Eon. I like the idea of the new Bond actor being reasonably unknown because you can accept him as Bond more easily.

One of my (many) problems with DC is that I was familiar with him from British television for several years prior to Casino Royale from things like Our Friends In The North and that television play with Stephen Rea. So when he was cast as Bond my reaction was "That tramp bloke from Our Friends In The North is the new James Bond? "

I don't think I ever recovered from that initial reaction.

[009]

Feb 27, 2008 13:48:20 GMT -5 adam said:

Bale would have been great but had committed himself to the Batman franchise. I'm sure part of that contract would have been not being allowed to committ himself to any other action film franchise seris. He's a versatile actor so may have found being tagged as 'Bond' & 'Batman' too restrictive. He was already a big film star so may have turned it down or been too expensive. Remember most of the Bonds' were unknown before they got the part. Only Moore & Brosnan were famous beforehand, mainly through their T.V. work. Come to think of it, a big name actor who may have been better suited to playing the 'blunt instrument' Bond CR in my opinion is Russsel Crowe. Any comments ?

Daniel Craig was a typical Bond choice as he was unknown before being cast as Bond. Bale was too famous, although if he is considering doing the Terminator then Bond would be possible if not for Batman. Russell Crowe would have been great. Or an unknown Russell Crowe type actor.

[blake]

Twice. It doesn't have the same watchablity factor as other films in the series. Not enough action or exciting situations and not as witty as some other Bonds.

[James]

Feb 21, 2008 9:42:08 GMT -5 Terry said:

To be honest I don't think the team Eon have (Barbara, Purvis & Wade, David Arnold etc) are very good at making films.

It's interesting that Eon have never really gambled on a maverick director for obvious reasons. Because Bond is a personal thing for them and they guard the legacy so to speak they are very hands on and tend to go for directors who won't rock the boat too much - or won't hold out for some personal artistic vision of what a James Bond film should or might be. This argument though only has any appeal or logic if you were one of the people who didn't think that Casino Royale was Lawrence Of Arabia.

[harrypalmer]

I've still only watched it once!