Movie Review: Casino Royale

credit: Casino Royale

Trying to say something new about a James Bond film kind of feels like describing a new color of wrapping paper that covers the same product that’s been adjusted or tweaked just a little to make it appear new and exciting. After so many Bond movies that have been released over the years, another new face was brought into the spotlight, with Daniel Craig acting as the main spy that everyone recognizes.

To be fair, he’s a great replacement that has made the movies a little more exciting, as seeing him take on the 007 designation in this movie was kind of interesting. But one thing that kind of defines Bond, apart from his need to always get the lady and always satisfy his own needs, is that he goes against orders and vexes his superiors in ways that should, by all means, get him kicked out of MI6, but for the purpose of the movie gets him commendations and rewards instead.

After a couple of decades worth of Bond movies, this is the right of anyone who’s seen more than a few to say since the truth is that Bond is, for better or worse, an entertaining character that is bound to remain popular for as long as fans are willing to watch. 

credit: Casino Royale

Mads Mikkelsen is a far better villain than the character he’s portrayed.

As an actor, Mikkelsen has taken on several roles that have made him a very big star and well-known to many, many people around the world. But for some reason, he’s given roles that are sometimes a little bit ridiculous since Le Chiffre isn’t the worst villain, but he is still kind of ridiculous.

The fact that he comes off as an individual that looks menacing and acts menacing, and even resorts to torturing Bond at one point, is undercut by the fact that he’s killed kind of pointlessly when Bond and Vesper are liberated from his clutches. The fact that he’s such a well-respected actor makes it difficult to think that he would be treated with such disrespect in this movie.  

Bond appears capable of making any woman break their own rules. 

There’s a debate that’s kind of dwindled over the years as to what it means to be a Bond girl and whether or not it’s a big deal or if it’s kind of degrading, but seeing Eva Green as a Bond girl isn’t too bad, even if she’s supposed to come off as a rather tough individual.

Yet, for all her talk of watching Bond and not getting involved, one could have guessed, even without seeing the trailers, that she would end up falling for Bond and buying into the kind of hype that he’s been known to feed to women over the years. The fact that women try to resist Bond and make it clear that they’re not going to fall for him, or even get angry with him for one thing or another, is kind of amusing since everyone knows the end result, and they know that one way or another, Bond gets the woman he’s after almost without fail. 

credit: Casino Royale

The card game is one of the least efficient ways to combat terrorism. 

Trying to imagine how a government might be so loose and willing to risk the type of money that’s been put into this card game is kind of terrifying since it means that they’re willing to bet that Bond can win against someone who’s bound to be running the game, and even trying to kill him at the same time.

That’s a lot of trust to be placed in the hands of someone that just became a specialized agent since not only is it risking the idea of funding terrorism, but it’s also placing the kind of responsibility on the shoulders of someone that has the least amount of experience at the table and who operates heavily with his ego and his emotions. That doesn’t sound like the type of situation a responsible government would want to find itself in, but as far as a Bond movie, it’s kind of standard. 

The nick of time saves are, well, kind of expected. 

To be fair, it was interesting to see that Vesper didn’t want to be saved, apparently, since she was trying to protect Bond. But at the same time, Vesper being there to keep Bond from dying of a heart attack is the type of nick-of-time rescue that people expect since the main character can’t die.

Of all the characters who have ever enjoyed the benefit of plot armor, James Bond is one of those that appear to be untouchable, at least until it appears to be his time. As far as this movie is concerned, though, it stands to reason that, like always, Bond should have died several times, but his status as an entertainment icon has kept him around this long.