Casino Royale

Bond is ba… Boring :( 

 Although I appreciate the change of direction (new Bond actor, prequel style story) I found it irritating and boring. Not so much in terms of lack of gadgets or explosions, but more in terms of how it was all presented.

 The pacing of the film was pretty poor and reminded me of Star Wars Episode I, in that it starts out well then nosedives soon after. It promised so much in the opening 30 mins and had lots of good story angles… then dives out and we are treated to late night Channel 5 style poker game watching, possibly one of the dullest games to watch. It seems the director could sense this would be a dull part so we are treated to random acts of violence to break it up which add a little to the story but not a great deal. So much more could have been made of the initial action scene, but it was wasted which is a great shame.

 The overall story while plausable was sadly very unBond like. The trouble is that Bond films have a niche in that no one expects to have to think too hard and expects certain plot elements (a decent nemesis, a grand finale etc). While this effort has its points in terms of storyline I found it all too predictable. This wouldn’t have been bad if it was the average Bond film where you are expected to find it predictable, but this tries to hide behind a “We’ve got a good plot line and twist you’ll not get” facade, which doesnt work and is painful in places.

I can see what they’re trying to do. They’re trying to get to Bonds roots, to explain how he became how he is, however it is done in a bit of a clumsy way and does much to alienate the fans, reminiscent of TV execs trying to find the “new audience” in Sci Fi series.. and just pissing off the fans and missing any new viewers as well. It feels ham fisted. A brave attempt but missed the mark somehow. It was a close thing tho.

I quite liked the last Bond. I even have it on DVD. The trouble with this new one is… its just not Bond. Its trying to be a bit Bourne Identity but becoming more a Bond Indentity Crisis! Actor wise I cant fault Daniel Craig as his performance is very good. Its just a pity the story sucked so much. I hope to see a marked improvement on the next one.