You may not have suspected this, dear reader, but Rhino75 is a HUGE James Bond fan. For me, even as a child, he embodied the very essence of masculinity, pure testosterone on two legs. Elegant, sophisticated and yet somehow deeply flawed. I have much to blame him for because most of my adult life has been spent trying to mirror that. It's a work in progress but so far, I have the "deeply flawed" bit down pat, and I can't count the number of martinis I've downed with the aim of being "elegant and "sophisticated" (is that possible while falling of one's barstool, I wonder?). ANYWAY, you can't imagine how excited I was about seeing "Casino Royale". A new Bond is always an event. Until now I've been strictly a Sean Connery/Roger Moore man. Sean, IMHO, is the one closest to Flaming's original character but I've always had a soft spot for Roger Moore in "Live and Let Die" - he was HOT in that movie and there's something about a man in a safari suit... Since they bowed out, frankly, I've not been terribly impressed. But good news!! Daniel Craig is by far (my italics) the most convincing Bond of recent years. He brings something very different to the party by playing him as a man whose arrogance often gets the better of him, who regularly screws up and often only pulls through because of the help he gets from others. Adding that "tragic flaw" (thank you Euripides) of course makes the character much more likeable than, say, the tailor's dummy approach of Pierce Brosnan. Craig can play the hard man convincingly AND deliver those throwaway one-liners. And, of course, he's HOT. Smoking HOT. I'll never look again at a man whose Speedos don't match his eyes. Locating the casino in Montenegro was a great idea, the place has a kind of Ruritanian quality that maybe Monaco had for people in the 1960s, before quite so many people had been there for business conferences etc. and seen what a hole it is. Why, even the female totty - French actress Eva Green - is excellent. No real plot-spoilers from me but the vision of a naked Daniel Craig tied to a chair having his genitals whipped with a long piece of rope is one that will stay with me for a long time (ahem! or did I imagine that bit?). Well-written, smart, not too knowing, not too gadgety, it's Bond like they used to make it. dum-tada-dum-dum tatata dum tada-dum-dum
Friday, December 01, 2006
Casino Royale
You may not have suspected this, dear reader, but Rhino75 is a HUGE James Bond fan. For me, even as a child, he embodied the very essence of masculinity, pure testosterone on two legs. Elegant, sophisticated and yet somehow deeply flawed. I have much to blame him for because most of my adult life has been spent trying to mirror that. It's a work in progress but so far, I have the "deeply flawed" bit down pat, and I can't count the number of martinis I've downed with the aim of being "elegant and "sophisticated" (is that possible while falling of one's barstool, I wonder?). ANYWAY, you can't imagine how excited I was about seeing "Casino Royale". A new Bond is always an event. Until now I've been strictly a Sean Connery/Roger Moore man. Sean, IMHO, is the one closest to Flaming's original character but I've always had a soft spot for Roger Moore in "Live and Let Die" - he was HOT in that movie and there's something about a man in a safari suit... Since they bowed out, frankly, I've not been terribly impressed. But good news!! Daniel Craig is by far (my italics) the most convincing Bond of recent years. He brings something very different to the party by playing him as a man whose arrogance often gets the better of him, who regularly screws up and often only pulls through because of the help he gets from others. Adding that "tragic flaw" (thank you Euripides) of course makes the character much more likeable than, say, the tailor's dummy approach of Pierce Brosnan. Craig can play the hard man convincingly AND deliver those throwaway one-liners. And, of course, he's HOT. Smoking HOT. I'll never look again at a man whose Speedos don't match his eyes. Locating the casino in Montenegro was a great idea, the place has a kind of Ruritanian quality that maybe Monaco had for people in the 1960s, before quite so many people had been there for business conferences etc. and seen what a hole it is. Why, even the female totty - French actress Eva Green - is excellent. No real plot-spoilers from me but the vision of a naked Daniel Craig tied to a chair having his genitals whipped with a long piece of rope is one that will stay with me for a long time (ahem! or did I imagine that bit?). Well-written, smart, not too knowing, not too gadgety, it's Bond like they used to make it. dum-tada-dum-dum tatata dum tada-dum-dum
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2 comments:
I think he makes an excellent James Bond even though he looks a lot like a James Bond 'baddie'. He could even turn out to surpass Sean Connery.
I thought the film started of with such promise but seemed to lose its way half way through. I started losing interest in the story even though I remained firmly interested in Daniel Craig.
Craig's good when he's moving... but the buggy look he gave the other girl when he wanted to have sex with her, that overly sharp-eyed glint was just weird.
I like the movie, though thought Mads got short shrift.
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