Casino Royale

We went to see James Bond last night. I enjoyed it. I'm going to post a few comments/reflections here - I hope this doesn't spoil your own enjoyment of the film if you haven't seen it yet! (And I definitely recommend seeing it.)

There were about five different allusions to different forms of gambling in the opening five minutes or so (a pinball machine that reminded me of fruit machines, putting money on the outcome of snake/mongoose fight, a game of cards, the stockmarket, and something else, possibly another reference to cards). So the scene was set.

I wasn't too taken by the music ("Remember my name" or something like that), but I did quite like the graphics for the opening sequence. I'd already read that there were no women in the sequence, apparently the first Bond film not to feature Bond girls in that opening credits, so I wasn't surprised by that; instead there were quite seventies-like drawings with the suits of cards being shot out of guns etc. Quite stylish, I thought.

One thing I noticed more than before was quite a lot of product name-dropping, which was especially noticable in the light of pre-Casino Royale advertising. For example, there is a scene where Vesper Lynd asks James Bond about his watch. "Is it a Rolex?" "No, it's an Omega," he answers, and you know he's about to say that because you've seen the Omega advert quite a bit beforehand. Bond doesn't ask for a martini - instead he asks for "two shots of Gordons", one of tonic, this and that and a slice of lemon. Or whatever makes up a martini. He specifies the champagne (although I can't remember what it was, not being a connoisseur of champagne), and of course there is the Aston Martin.

Well, what about Daniel Craig as Bond? I was convinced. Not only because of the long, lingering shots of Bond as he emerges from the sea, Ursula Andress-like, I should point out! He has a good mix of seriousness and lightness, his humour is witty, not too obvious, or too often, he is very physical - lots of running, jumping, chasing, falling, climbing, as well as fighting and killing. The torture scene is very physical too. The first chase scene, on foot, is very well done - although perhaps a bit too much like a Playstation game! I can see it working very well with a joystick.

H thought that Daniel Craig is so good he should get an Oscar; he also thought that this Bond was quite a "masculine" Bond, in that there are few women and few sex scenes; however, I pointed out that the long close up shots of Bond smouldering might be said to make this a more woman-friendly Bond, with the female viewers definitely in mind! The one weakness is perhaps the relationship between James and Vesper, which is strong in some scenes and not so in others. One good scene takes place as they both sit in the shower.

Finally, I was surprised to see Richard Branson very briefly - he was blurred, walking through airport security, over Bond's shoulder, and I whispered to H, "Look, it's Richard Branson!", but by then he was long gone. Thought I might have imagined it - however, afterwards, H said he'd read that Branson had a part as an extra, so I'm pretty sure, with that beard and hair, that I saw him. Which leads me to reflect on what part H might have had if he'd gone along as an extra when he had the opportunity during the summer. One of those sitting round in a tux watching the Baccarat game, perhaps? We'll never know ...

Hope you go and see Casino Royale, hope you enjoy it, hope you post your comments about what you thought!