Casino Royale

Monday I went to see Casino Royale at the Cinerama. Great film. Spike TV decided it was time to rerun a lot of the recent Bond films, and in comparison it's obvious how far they strayed over the years from what made Bond cool. While I think Pierce did a good job, the stories they had for him basically sucked (except Golden Eye which suffered from being a bit too sci-fi). All the modern films suffer from too many obvious and tired tropes: a parade of sickly-thin naked models in silhouette for the credits, comedic relief from Q, dreamy angst from Money Penny, fancy spy watches, a mini car commercial for the latest luxury vehicle with ejector seats and missiles, and love affairs that are too fast to have any emotional impact.

The new film is a 'start over'. James Bond is promoted to 00 in the course of the story, and while there are a few gadgets the film has none of the old tropes. Judy Dench gets to start the film with a wonderful rant, Bond is clearly a sociopath with the emotional maturity of a little boy yet sympatheic as the orphan grown up, the action is intense, and the film's romance is heart-rending. The great Bond stunts are here, but they look dangerous as hell instead of the "super spies can do anything safely" feel of the previous films. Sure there are sexy women and cars in the film, but they are in the background and not the focus of any scene.

The Stranger's review sums it up best: "And, just like that, drinking and shooting and driving fast and screwing are cool all over again."