Brutally Bond

My wife and I just returned from seeing Casino Royale, and here are a few spoiler-free notes and comments.

Let me start off by saying that anyone who knows me is well aware that I am a fan of the James Bond franchise. Furthermore, anyone who knows my wife is aware that she is not a fan. She complained that I was "dragging" her to see it. Her complaints ended before the teaser had ended, and it's easily the shortest teaser in any Bond film (no, a lack of teaser does not qualify).

My two favorite films in the first twenty films are From Russia With Love and For Your Eyes Only. Both are relatively low-gadget, high-espionage films with a minimum of gratuitous scenes (within the context of Bond films, anyway). They now rank #2 and #3. Quite simply, Casino Royale is the best Bond film to date. Why? Because it is a film first and a Bond film second.

Don't get me wrong here: Casino Royale has everything (except the opening credit stylings) we have come to expect, but this one is a story. Better, it is a story about Bond, about M, about getting the job done with often reckless disregard for life and limb. But what is most impressive is that there is not a scene out of place, not a character who isn't right. Everything that is in the film, must be in the film, for all 144 minutes (a Bond record).

Daniel Craig, in case anyone was wondering, has every promise of unseating Connery as the definitive Bond. He already makes Connery, a former Mr. Universe competitor for Scotland, look like a wimp. He takes more of a beating than any Bond before, and he takes more chances with his life than any human ever should, even for Queen and country. He gets cuts, bashed, beaten badly, and tortured. Amid it all, Craig gives his Bond the best dark humor of the series. A couple of the actors have tried to show the nearly sociopathic cruelty of the character. Craig revels in. This ain't your papa's James Bond.

Having just said that, there is more pathos in Casino Royale than even the final scene of On Her Majesty's Secret Service, a stronger Bond girl that any except (possibly) Diana Rigg's Tracy, and more powerful fights and chases than, well, most films I have ever seen, even outside of the franchise.

The teaser is tight, essential. The first half hour will make the best Bond action of the past feel like an insufficient warm-up. The poker game is perfect, even thrilling. The ending, which often feels just a few minutes off, is pure Bond. True Bond fans will see it coming when the real finale one arrives, and newcomers will appreciate it.

One last note: Chris Cornell's title song "You Know My Name" may well be near the top of Bond tunes.

I pity those who, by choice or circumstance, do not see this sooner rather than later. As those who know me can attest, I am rarely one to say, "See this in the theatre," even for Bond films.

See Casino Royale in the theatre. Soon.