11/18/06 Casino Royale

Casino Royale (2006), directed by Martin Campbell

watched w/ Leslie, Joel, Laurie; theater (Crossroads 20 Cinema, Cary, NC); free screening

Finally rejuvenating one of the most timeless and longest running film franchises in history, this wonderful punch of spirit comes through in the latest installment of the brilliant spy series...known simply as 007, or is that Bond, James Bond. I always grew up a huge fan of the James Bond series, due in large part to my father's extensive VHS collection (and Beta before that) of Ian Fleming's world-reknowned super-sleuth. We could talk ourselves until we were blue in the face (as I'm sure many web geeks do daily on various Bond chatrooms) as to the legacy and honor of the series, and could anyone supplant Sean Connery in the titular role of suave, and how huge a mistake was Timothy Dalton...but alas, I will keep my web geek site simply to enjoying the medium of said films on the big screen (and pertaining to this year's Challenge). Unless you' ve been living under a rock, you should know the success of the classic Ian Fleming spy novels about Bond, and his gloriously sexy escapades in what has now been its 21st official installment. That statement right there leads me into a large debate over the validity of just how many "Bond" films there are out there, and I'll leave the discussion up to you after perusing some of the sites, but suffice it to say that one of Connery's own films doesn't count in the traditional sense...where you could say that this latest one is the 22nd...but that is of course not considering the bastard child of a comedy spoof Bond film aptly named "Casino Royale" back in 1967 with Peter Sellers, Woody Allen and an all-star cast. Alas, I'm being sucked into the conversation now. Let's just look at the fact that this is a brilliant movie, on par with some of even Connery's greatest stabs at Bond ("Dr. No," "Thunderball," and "Goldfinger" to name a few), and enlivening the franchise with a new hip urgency by casting the talented Daniel Craig in the leading man's role. Take a director Campbell, whose already helmed a Bond film ("GoldenEye"), and add the 21st century special effects and enormous budget to pull off one hell of a caper. The plot takes us to a prequel setting of Bond's emergence as a top-notch spy, first gaining "00" status and taking on his first solo mission...to spy on a head terrorist in Uganda. Going rogue with his investigation of an international terrorist plot, Bond follows his leads & instincts to the Bahamas and happens upon the dangerous Le Chiffre, banker to the world's terrorist cells. Engaging in a potent high-stakes poker game, Bond must coolly outlast his opponent to gain intelligence on the evil plot...all the while keep his cool with the hot love interest in mysterious British agent Vesper Lynd. Bond gets the girl, gets the bad guys, gets bad-ass with a sadistic streak of killing that puts an edge to the entire series in the past. And the main baddie Le Chiffre bleeds from his dead eye...yeah, you have to see it to understand, but it's still bad-ass. Bond has a stellar supporting cast here, with the talented likes of Judi Dench as the smart yet irascible M, Jeffrey Wright, Eva Green, and Giancarlo Giannini. Even our present company to go see the film with were friends of ours who had already seen the movie once and insisted that we all go to see it (them again)...and this was after the evening involved going to a sushi bar and meeting a man with six toes on each of his feet...another long story. That's how cool this movie was. This epic undertaking to rebirth a legendary figure in cinema goes off splendidly, and you can see in this exciting new sequel what makes movie-going so fun. I don't expect you to like this movie Mr. Bond, I expect you to die.

5 out of 5 stars