Daniel Craig - Not a bad Bond after all

Now, before I begin I must admit that I have not seen many of the early Bond Movies (though I fully intend to see them all someday), and it’s been a while since I’ve seen any of the Pierce Brosnan movies, so I can’t really compare Casino Royale to the other movies, but I will do my best to review this movie as it ties in with the rest of the series.

I never saw Casino Royale in theatres; a decision which I now regret. At the time I was disappointed with the casting of Bond. I had loved Pierce Brosnan and was upset that they hadn’t asked him to reprise the role. Then I was even more upset that his replacement would be an actor who doesn’t look anything like the stereotypical image of Bond I’ve had in my head my entire life. I just couldn’t imagine James Bond with blond hair and blue eyes. I love Daniel Craig, I just never would have pictured him as Bond. Until now.

At first I was worried that this movie might seem confusing, or disjointed in a way, since they were telling the an origin story in the present day, as if the first 20 movies never happened, but I thought they did a great job telling the story. My brother had a little trouble wrapping his head around that premise, but it never bothered me at all.

I loved the opening black and white sequence. It really set the tone for the entire film and made it feel very much like a spy movie right from the beginning. I think that is my favorite part of the entire movie just because of the feel of that scene. I also loved the opening theme sequence. I think it was much more creative than the previous ones, and I must say I appreciated the fact that there were no half-dressed women in this opening sequence.

Craig’s Bond is much more rough around the edges than the Bonds we are accustomed to. I know some die-hard fans may not appreciate that, but I think it works seeing as this was basically an origin movie. He hasn’t yet gained that suave, debonair personality that we tend to associate with Bond. But I really liked the more raw feeling that came with this movie.

Another thing that I liked about this movie was that they didn’t try to find an actor to replace Desmond Llewelyn as Q. The man will forever be remembered as Q and there is just no way to replace him. And his replacement, R, wouldn’t have made any sense in this film, since it would have taken place while Q was still working for MI6. Along the lines of Bond technology, I actually liked the fact that this film didn’t rely so heavily on all the gadgets Bond usually carries. I know the gadgetry has become almost synonymous with Bond films, but I liked the deviation from that this time around.

It was kind of fun to see how they played with the typical Bond stereotypes in this film. Such as, his preference for martinis “shaken, not stirred.” When the bartender asked him if he would like it shaken or stirred he just looked at him and replied, “Do I look like I give a damn?” You will James, you will. Also, this film sort of explained Bond’s aversion to using aliases, which is something I always wondered about. Why did he always use his real name? Simple. If the bad guy does his homework he’s already going to know who Bond is anyway, so there’s no use for an alias. It actually kind of makes sense.

Finally, I loved the final scene of the film. When we see James, and that oh-so-familiar theme music starts playing you can feel it. He has become Bond. This entire movie was about James Bond becoming the agent we all know him to be, and that final scene made it clear that he had completed the transition. I loved it.

Now, after watching “Casino Royale” I’m completely sold on the idea of a blond-haired, blue-eyed James Bond and I’m looking forward to the next film, which, according to imdb.com, will also star Daniel Craig.

So if you haven’t seen this Bond film yet, or you’re hesitating because you’re not sure about its star, then I would definitely recommend renting it. You may just change your mind about Daniel Craig as Bond. I certainly did.