Casino Royale Review
Grand Total: 10
Technical
Engaging 6
Moving +1
Suspenseful +1
An amazing scene (opening chase) +½
Epic in scale +½
Really funny +½
Amazing cinematography +½
Amazing story/plot +½
Great performance/character (Daniel Craig as James Bond) +½
Great music +½
Great writing +½
Total: 10 (12)
Overall impression
Casino Royale is my favorite Bond film of all time and my favorite action movie of all time. It has just about everything: heart, incredible action, beautiful scenery, exotic locations, great music, a fantastic script, a great story, and great acting. The film opens with James Bond (Daniel Craig) being promoted to “double-0” status, meaning that he has killed two people and therefore is ready to obtain a license to kill. This scene is shot in beautiful black and white, with the camera at incredibly suspenseful angles as you know something is up. And yet, the two characters in the scene are calm and collected, just adding to the tension as you wait for something to happen. The scene ends with the famous gun-barrel sequence, which is brilliantly incorporated into the scene, instead of awkwardly shown on its own as in other Bond films. The film proceeds to showcase the best chase scene I’ve ever seen in a movie. The stuntwork and camerawork seamlessly tie everything together, with the excellent score keeping the pace and ensuring that the chase never becomes boring. Bond is chasing this man because he’s a gun-for-hire for some of the world’s leading terrorists. His phone has the code “ellipsis” in its messages, and the first act of Casino Royale is dedicated to figuring out the mystery behind what it means, who sent it, and what the sender plans on doing with it. The film does a fantastic job of showing and not telling when it comes to how James Bond does his investigating, and you always understand exactly what he’s doing, without anyone ever needing to explain it. Casino Royale is a beautiful-looking film, with amazing setpieces and excellent camerawork capturing everything perfectly. Never do you have to guess what’s happening during the action scenes, never do you have to pause to wonder what just happened. Everything is always perfectly presented to you in a way that feels authentic. In previous Bond films, James Bond is a character, someone who could never exist in real life because it just wouldn’t feel natural. In Casino Royale, James Bond becomes human. He’s someone you actually can sympathize with, someone you can fear for. He isn’t just the guy you watch do cool things and never get hurt. James Bond gets hurt in this movie, both emotionally and physically. Daniel Craig brings so much of this humanity to the character, the likes of which I’d never seen before. He gives one of the most authentic performances I’ve ever seen in a film, and definitely does the best job anyone has ever done with the Bond character. Part of that credit should also be given to the screenwriters; Casino Royale has some of the most amazing dialogue, simultaneously hilarious and smart. Another great performance is from Mads Mikkelsen, who plays the villain in this film. He isn’t a villain with an elaborate plot to take over the world. He’s a man who lives in fear of those he owes money to, something that is easy to understand. The “Bond girl” in this film is hardly a typical Bond girl at all, as she’s someone who initially despises Bond and then grows to like him through the story they go through, and not because he’s Bond. This movie brings so much depth to its characters that have previously been the embodiment of predictability and silliness. Casino Royale continues to be the best Bond film because it is, by far, the film that feels the most real and grounded.
Total: 10
Spectre Review
Grand Total: 7 ¼
Technical
Engaging 6
Suspenseful +1
An amazing scene (opening shot) +½
Epic in scale +½
Amazing cinematography +½
Great music +½
Obvious plothole -½
Too long -1
Total: 7 ½
Overall impression
Spectre is Daniel Craig’s fourth film as James Bond, and is the second film to be directed by Sam Mendes, whose previous film Skyfall was a massive hit. I quite enjoyed it, though it doesn’t compare with Casino Royale, my favorite of all Bond films. Spectre continues the story of Skyfall, and picks up with Gareth Mallory (a fantastic Ralph Fiennes) as M, Q and Miss Moneypenny both established, and Bond on a self-made mission in Mexico. His antics cause quite a stir back in England, where M is very disappointed that he cannot control Bond and Max Denbigh, a British intelligence operative who uses Bond’s apparent rogue status as means to eliminate the 00 program and replace it with a new global surveillance program that he would control. Yes, it seems like there is a lot going on and that the movie will struggle trying to fit everything together. In many ways, this film is a narrative struggle, with the focus of the story shifting between Bond’s mission and what is going on back at MI6. In that, this film feels more like a part of the Mission: Impossible franchise than part of the Bond franchise. Let’s start with the positives of this film though. Everything looks amazing in Spectre. The opening sequence makes use of an incredibly long tracking shot that remains unbroken for at least five minutes, despite the fact that Bond is seen walking on top of buildings, in and out of rooms, all while the Day of the Dead celebration is coordinated around them. The film’s cinematography doesn’t let up at any point in the movie. Nor does the acting. Judi Dench played an excellent M, but, for reasons I won’t spoil, Ralph Fiennes now plays M. He does an amazing job, bringing a lot of weight to the character that make him intimidating but never menacing. He made the scenes back at MI6 much better than they would have been, even though they are definitely not as interesting as what Bond is doing out in the field. Likewise, the new Bond girl, Madeleine, played by Léa Seydoux, does a really good job. Her character is given a fair amount to work with, even if she does become the clichéd damsel in distress towards the end of the film. The villain in this film should have been great. Christoph Waltz has a history of meaty roles playing eccentrics, and this film does not break up that history. The reason it is wasted in this film is because Waltz’ character is hardly in the film at all. He’s pretty good in the three scenes he’s in, but the movie is barely focused on him, so we really never get why he does what he does, or how he works. This is the film’s biggest problem; for all of the great acting, beautiful cinematography, amazing action, and great music, the film lacks focus. We are in for a two and a half hour ride that is split fifty-fifty between two stories that aren’t all that related. In other words, you could have completely cut out Max Denbigh and his goal of eliminating the 00 program. I mean, the two stories end up getting tied together, but not until after I was pretty lost. There are a lot of moments in this film where I wasn’t really sure what was going on. This happened a lot when the film would switch between stories. Telling parallel events only works well when there is a very clear connection between the events taking place in one and the events taking place in the other. It is a difficult task for a screenwriter to pull off, and Spectre doesn’t quite do it right. If the film had just greatly reduced one of the stories and focused on the primary one, it would have been a lot better and quite a bit shorter. All in all, Spectre didn’t quite live up to its expectations. Its story was its weakest point, which doesn’t quite spoil the great action, amazing shots, and good acting.
Total: 7