"Yes...Considerably" - Casino Royale Appreciation & Discussion.

edited June 2017 in Bond Movies Posts: 19,339
OK now this film is right up there in the #1 spot for me (tied with FRWL) and has been since back in 2006.
Craig himself is an inspiration in the role as 007 and plays it to a tee,with the gambling,drinking,eating well,all the traits as Bond should be.

With Mathis and le Chiffre,Obano and Vesper we have an intricate and well thought out film that gives us over 2hours of quality film making and acting by all.

Anybody else want to join me in raising a glass of 'Vesper' to Casino Royale ?
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Comments

  • Indeed I shall! Least of all CR deserves praise for introducing Mathis, one of the most interesting supporting roles in the franchise.

    Shame he was killed and then shoved in a skip really.
  • Posts: 1,092
    It's my #2 and a fantastic action movie in its own right. Set Bond back on a path of awe and appreciation from the general public.
  • Posts: 421
    I love the detail and attention it pays to the novel. The fact that Bond is having caviar and toast in the restaurant across the way from the casino after winning. The way that the car chase really reflects the "black hare and greyhound" nature of the writing of the chase in the book, albeit the film version seems much shorter. Vesper is also a perfectly written character in the film as well, who's modestly sexy (I hope that is an understandable contradiction) and simply beautiful.

    The dialogue is brilliant, witty, and intelligent. Its got much to do with the way that it was acted, but its always interesting. It never falls back on "laziness" or slang, and includes very few Americanisms ("she left her cell phone" being a notable example)

    I think its amazing the way that you can sense the physical and emotional feelings from Bond and other characters. The pain after the stairwell fight. The raw sadness and anger after Vesper dies. Very powerful. The scent, smoke (or lack of!) and sweat of the casino can almost be felt just through watching the poker game.

    One of the best, if not the best, Bond films to date. Love it.
  • edited March 2011 Posts: 11,189
    Currently Royale is #7 in my list. Though I have mixed feelings about Craig as 007, I can't deny he did an excellent job in his first outing. He is helped hugely by the supporting cast and stylish, classy direction of Martin Campbell - a man who seems to really know his Bond.

    The film is certainly one of the more faithful adaptations of a Fleming novel when compared to some of the other entries of the series, however I'm not sure whether it's as faithful as some may lead you to believe (perhaps for good reason?). For the first 40 minutes or so we get virtually no moments from the book in place (plus, 007 was never portrayed as a rookie agent). Bond's poisoning and Vesper's more dramatic suicide are similarly the ideas of the filmmakers. However the basic story as well as the much anticipated torture sequence are still present.

    Having been rather uncertain about it upon its initial release I now appreciate it for what a great film it is.
  • Casino Royale is not only my favourite Bond film (For rebooting the franschise and giving us great characters and a brilliant new Bond), but is also my favourite film of all time (Just ahead of Inception and Saving Private Ryan).

    Martin Campbell (The Director) also made GoldenEye; which coinsedently is my 2nd favourite on the list of Bond Films. I would love to see Campbell do another Bond film :D
  • Posts: 2,491
    yea this movie is great.i dont know who will dislike this movie. but altough this is great movie i think that there is too much action at some scenes,it looks like rushing without idea why.if they had just,just a little less action it would be easily at almost everyone list as #1
  • DarthDimiDarthDimi Behind you!Moderator
    Posts: 23,449
    CR instantly climbed to my top 5 list when I watched it, opening night, November 2006. I've been in love with that film ever since. I find a lot of the criticism people give this film to be very nitpicky. Some say Craig is too muscled, some say he looks like an albino, some say Vesper is played like a spoiled brat, some say the film is too long. Ah well, as long as I can't get convinced by real arguments, I'll stick to my conviction that this is one of the best Bonds ever.
  • CR is definitely a great movie, sitting at number 6 on my current list. It's just a solid Bond entry no matter how you slice it.
  • DaltonCraig007DaltonCraig007 They say, "Evil prevails when good men fail to act." What they ought to say is, "Evil prevails."
    Posts: 15,686
    I'll say this - it's not my least favorite movie. 8->
  • 007007
    Posts: 42
    I have just recently read Casino Royale for the first time and last night I re-watched the movie. The attention to detail is amazing and I love how they have adapted it for the screen. The elements that have been added to the movie fit it really nicely with Fleming's original story. The dialogue is witty and the action is spectacular. Also Eva Green as Vesper was an inspired choice. I love everything about this film and it is defiantly in my top three Bond films with Goldfinger and OHMSS. And how could you forget that amazing final scene =D>
  • doubleonothingdoubleonothing Los Angeles Moderator
    Posts: 864
    Tied in first place with OHMSS for me. Some days I like it more. Today being one of them.

    It's not perfect, but it is damn close.
  • suavejmfsuavejmf Harrogate, North Yorkshire, England
    Posts: 5,131
    007 wrote: »
    I have just recently read Casino Royale for the first time and last night I re-watched the movie. The attention to detail is amazing and I love how they have adapted it for the screen. The elements that have been added to the movie fit it really nicely with Fleming's original story. The dialogue is witty and the action is spectacular. Also Eva Green as Vesper was an inspired choice. I love everything about this film and it is defiantly in my top three Bond films with Goldfinger and OHMSS. And how could you forget that amazing final scene =D>

    This review is bang on.
  • w2bondw2bond is indeed a very rare breed
    Posts: 2,252
    Despite it completely ignoring the Bond formula as we know it, the film works. It is classy, has great performances from a brilliant cast and all the shots are interesting (thank you Campbell). I also like the attention to detail, and the character developing scenes (eg. Dimitrios losing his car, Le Chiffre on the boat) which we don't get in other Bond films.

    The score is no Barry but it's quite grand in some scenes such as him arriving in the Bahamas in the Ford, and the opening Montenegro shot of the train.

    My only issue is that I don't buy the idea that he stormed into an embassy with no repurcussions. And the way he ordered the Vesper felt rushed and squeezed in for the sake of it.
  • Posts: 632
    I loved Goldeneye a lot when it came out, but Casino Royale is so far above that movie in my opinion. Campbell made pure cinema and it's his most effective film. It was hard hitting when it needed to be, but soft and tender as well. Craig gave us a very human 007 and so many quiet, but revealing moments of character. For instance, I love his bemusement when Mendel visits him in hospital. It's one of my favourite Bonds to quote, too. I could go on and on about it!
  • Posts: 498
    JET007 wrote: »
    I could go on and on about it!
    same
  • BondJasonBond006BondJasonBond006 on fb and ajb
    Posts: 9,020
    After the Brosnan era and especially a perfect movie like GoldenEye I was afraid of what would become of the Bond series.
    Tomorrow Never Dies and Die Another Day were both in my Top 10 as well, I never had problems with DAD, I like the comic-sci-fi-feel and the over-the-top action in the big airplane or the invisible car.

    When Daniel Craig was announced I didn't think much about it, I noticed the very bad media coverage he got and was a bit worried by that.

    When the day arrived that Casino Royale hit the theaters I was first and foremost happy to get another James Bond movie after a long 6 year gap.

    The missing gun-barrel was a big let-down, I did not understand why they did that.
    The PTS was less than impressive, but everything after that was so spectacularly great and enjoyable that in the end those problems at the beginning of the movie were small complaints.
    I did find it strange that Judi Dench was still M when it clearly should have been another actor. But as fond as I am of her I didn't mind much.

    After seeing CR two times at the cinema it was immediately clear that this could have been my No 1 Bond movie, but because of the reboot nonsense and the abandoning of the typical Bond iconic moments it wasn't and it isn't.

    It's No 4 which is great out of 23 (24 as I always include NSNA) movies!

    Eva Green is like winning the lottery! She steals every movie she's in and so does she here.
    Without her, that I'm certain of, CR would barely be Top 10 material. She may well be the most important part of CR and she has a lot of screen time which helps.

    Casino Royale is hard to beat. Because for me it's not about Daniel Craig, CR would have worked for me with another actor as well, it's because the many parts are as good as the sum of all parts.
    The cast, the side-characters, the action, the direction, the great score, the locations, everything falls into place perfectly.
    At the end of the movie I'm always pumped and eager to watch another such great thing.
    Sadly, that's not possible within the Craig movies, but there are a few Bond movies that can be watched right after CR without feeling underwhelmed, those being OHMSS, GE and TLD (for me of course).
  • dominicgreenedominicgreene The Eternal QOS Defender
    edited September 2015 Posts: 1,756
    Casino Royale is such an amazing movie, it's my personal favourite movie of all time. My last viewing further reinforced that, having watched all the movies and gotten to Casino Royale just made the whole experience much more powerful than I remembered it. Everything about this movie is pure gold, and the music by David Arnold, despite me not being fond of his work pre-DC, is absolutely amazing. For an odd reason, Africa Rundown sounds much better to my ears than I remembered listening to it before.

    The movie isn't a traditional Bond movie but it's pure Fleming, if not more than the early Connery days. This movie in a subtle way shaped who I am today, as corny as it sounds.
  • NickTwentyTwoNickTwentyTwo Vancouver, BC, Canada
    Posts: 7,518
    Nice, I haven't seen this thread, I appreciate the hell out of Casino Royale. I almost had a heart attack in the theatre out of excitement the first time I saw this, and the PTS culminated into the gunbarrel shot... Must have seen this at least 10 times in theatres.
  • Posts: 19,339
    As I did...it is still,to this day and before it,where a Bond film was clapped as the Bond theme came on at the end,after Bond shoots White,and says those famous words.
  • suavejmfsuavejmf Harrogate, North Yorkshire, England
    Posts: 5,131
    Casino Royale is the kind of once-in-a-lifetime movie you can only make with a franchise as old as this one, because so much of the joy comes in how it riffs on our knowledge of everything that came before.

    Ten years after the release of Casino Royale, the James Bond franchise remains at a crossroads; today, it's not even clear whether Daniel Craig will play 007 again, or who might replace him if he doesn't. But whatever happens to Bond and the Daniel Craig era next, Casino Royale is a towering and singular accomplishment for the 007 franchise: the rare moment when a Hollywood studio actually took a gamble with everything it had, and won.
  • edited March 2017 Posts: 19,339
    Exactly.
    EON had the balls,after DAD,to completely stand the series on its head re the actors,story etc and run with it.
    You have to admire them,especially appointing Daniel Craig as Bond,but what a coup it turned out to be.

    We owe them a lot,they could have played it safe and stuck with a bankable Bond like Brosnan,but they knew the storylines etc weregetting more and more ludicrous and formulaic.
  • Posts: 6,727
    I think they were unhappy with Brosnans tenure as Bond. Financially sound, but the films were poor! Reading Garth Pearces book on the making of TND, they were beset by problems, losing the studio they set up, last minute location changes,not least of which going into production with an unfinished script. Even Brossa apparently took umbrage with Broccoli and Wilson over that. I know all the Bond movies bring their individual problems, but Brosnans tenure seemed more than most. By the time we got to DAD, it was obvious things had to change big time!
  • ShardlakeShardlake Leeds, West Yorkshire, England
    Posts: 4,043
    Craig's best and no. 2 on my rankings just below OHMSS.
  • Posts: 19,339
    Its at #3 for me at the moment,with FRWL #2 and OHMSS #1 ,but they swap positions all the time in my rankings.
  • edited March 2017 Posts: 11,189
    My thoughts in 2017.

    I confess it took me two viewings to appreciate how excellent CR was. Don't get me wrong - I liked it the first time but it seemed very different to what i'd seen before so wasn't sure how to take it. Only after viewing #2 did I realise how bloody good it was. The film seemed to have more in common with Connery and the 1960s Bond films than any of the more recent ones at the time.

    Currently, it sits firmly in my top 3. Yes, there are a few minor well documented problems, but its brilliantly acted and beautifully shot. Daniel Craig is also superb and goes from trained thug to vulnerable charmer effortlessly.

    Finally, Martin Campbell demonstrates a far more sophisticated, confident direction than he did with GE (and I say that as a GE fan).
  • BondAficionadoBondAficionado Former IMDBer
    Posts: 1,884
    CR (2006) feels like the most 'Bondian' film since Connery's time - if not the most.
  • doubleoegodoubleoego #LightWork
    Posts: 11,139
    barryt007 wrote: »
    Exactly.
    EON had the balls,after DAD,to completely stand the series on its head re the actors,story etc and run with it.
    You have to admire them,especially appointing Daniel Craig as Bond,but what a coup it turned out to be.

    We owe them a lot,they could have played it safe and stuck with a bankable Bond like Brosnan,but they knew the storylines etc weregetting more and more ludicrous and formulaic.

    I definitely admire and appreciate EoN for having the good sense to make CR the way they did but to say we owe them a lot is pushing it.

    DAD was a BO success but the films had lost their credibility; it was in their own best interest to creatively course correct.
    Many of us bought our movie tickets and paid to see the film and bought the DVD/BluRay and remain loyal fans despite EoN shortchanging fans with tonnes of Bond content.
  • Posts: 19,339
    Casino Royale is on ITV this Saturday night...its nearly 3 hours long so it doesn't look as though they have cut it much if at all.
  • Posts: 3,336
    One of the best action movies ever.
  • Posts: 19,339
    Totally.

    The memory of seeing it for the first time at the cinema,and witnessing the standing ovation it got at the end ,is burned into my mind.

    Only truly great films get a reaction like that.
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