Best Bond

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Martin Campbell's Casino Royale (Columbia, 11.17), which I finally saw Tuesday night (a certain Sony strategist kept me from seeing it beforehand), is more killer than I expected. It's a hard package of smart, not-too-formulaic, tough-as-nails filmmaking with barely a remnant of the smart-ass sexual conquistador attitude that permeated the late Sean Connery, Roger Moore and Pierce Brosnan Bonds. I'd read it was exceptional and had a return-to-early- Connery quality, but I suspected this talk might be overblown. It's not.

Color still from a scene that's presented in black-and-white during the first five or six minutes of Casino Royale

That whole shaken-not-stirred, sexual-smoothie-in-a-tuxedo, Walther PPK stud-with-a-quip thing has been thrown out the window, finally and praise God. The influence of producers Michael Wilson and Barbara Broccoli is finally dead, dead...and ding-dong to that! Wilson-Broccoli have naturally been trying to sell the notion they were four-square behind this new incarnation, but don't buy it. They've been the invisible-car bad guys -- stooge caretakers -- since they grabbed the reins in the mid '90s. The startling coolness of this new film happened in spite of Wilson-Broccoli, not because of them.

Due in no small part to Daniel Craig's totally-unto-itself, ace-level performance, Royale is certainly the best James Bond film in over 40 years and is close to being the best Bond ever. I still feel on some level that Dr. No and From Russia With Love have an old-hat specialness because the early '60s era in which they were made isn't that far removed from the early '50s zeitgeist that informed the early 007 novels from Ian Fleming, and because they're lean and unencumbered by the high-tech, bigger-is-better stuff that began to envelope the films in the mid '60s.

But that's what's so pleasurable about Casino Royale -- the return to low-techitude. No Q, no outlandish gadgets, lots of running and hand-to-hand fighting and straight shootings. I'm too whipped to write well (it's been one of those days) but cheers to Craig, Campbell, screenwriters Neal Purvis, Robert Wade and Paul Haggis. And a big pat on the back to whomever dreamt up the ending, which is the first bulls-eye in the history of the franchise. Every single Bond film including Dr. No and From Russia With Love has ended on a chuckly romantic kick-back note, but not this time.

People actually applauded at the end tonight's screening, which is something I haven't heard from a Bond crowd since The Spy Who Loved Me.

"Letters" in December<< previous | next >>"Borat" sequel....duhhh

Posted by Jeffrey Wells on November 15, 2006 at 12:00 AM

comment #1

caslab says ...

On Her Majesty's Secret Service has a great and very dark ending.

Posted by caslab at November 15, 2006 2:00 AM

comment #2

EDouglas says ...

I just can't imagine what they're going to do next... there's so much that I enjoyed of Casino Royale that can't be done again in the next movie, and I worry that means bringing back the gadgets or cheesy humor. I hope not.

Posted by EDouglas at November 15, 2006 6:18 AM

comment #3

christian says ...

but jeff, you said that bond is dead. forget it. nobody cares. it's over. deceased parrot. move along. he's dead, jim...

i stil think this is jason bond for american fhm readers.

Posted by christian at November 15, 2006 6:37 AM

comment #4

Sam Adams says ...

Which of the 17 different endings are you so fond of?

Posted by Sam Adams at November 15, 2006 6:59 AM

comment #5

berg says ...

wait ... Wednesday night has not happened yet ... must have been one of those Deja Vu screenings

Posted by berg at November 15, 2006 7:08 AM

comment #6

JWEgo says ...

Notice how I cannot stop digging at the Sony bitch who cockblocked me? Of course if I just let it lie she'd get over it or get fired and the new person would be cool with me. But no- like everything else in this biz I hang on to the hurt till it starts to hurt me. Feel for me.

I am Jeff Wells' pigmentally challenged Ego! Bling Bling!

Posted by JWEgo at November 15, 2006 8:12 AM

comment #7

Ian Sinclair says ...

I saw this with someone who has never seen any of the Bonds in theaters, though she's seen them sll on DVD, for I have all of them and to humor me she's had to sit through them all over time. For her, this was hands-down the best Bond she's ever seen, and she may be right. CR is gonna make a fortune.

Posted by Ian Sinclair at November 15, 2006 8:18 AM

comment #8

le corbeau says ...

Incidentally, I just noticed at Costco yesterday that The Quiller Memorandum is on DVD. Talk about the anti-Bond... or Bond turned into an abstract intellectual puzzle, but with real emotional hurt, too. A very strange film-- I didn't really get it until the second time through, but now it's one of my favorite thrillers, partly just because it's so odd and unlike all the others.

Posted by le corbeau at November 15, 2006 8:29 AM

comment #9

slothroplt says ...

QUOTE: "Notice how I cannot...."

Oh, wait. I get it. You're speaking as Wells' conscience and not as your own. Well allow me to extend the conceit to a Charlie Kaufmann-like level and peel one layer deeper -- into your own thick skull --- as your own conscience. Be assured, however, that, since this next portion is an accurate depiction of your mental musings, it will only be visible to you, and will read as only as your very own thought (albeit, a familiar one) in your very own, and very tired voice. It does not appear on the page.

+++++

I'm a pathetic little man with too much time, a lack of self-esteem, an uncontrollable id, a poor sense of humor, and one, tired, worn-out, boring joke that even I have trouble laughing at. I am lonely and it hurts.

+++++

Now go fuck your mother and kill your daddy. Bling. Bling.

Posted by slothroplt at November 15, 2006 9:06 AM

comment #10

Dixon Steele says ...

Jeff, how can you realistically slag off the Wilsons/Broccoli influence on the picture? Like it or not, this is their baby, they picked Craig as the replacement, Campbell as director, developed the script...everything. Sure, Sony had a voice but still...

Come to think of it, you've been crapping all over this picture for the last year or so and now it turns out you were wrong the whole time. Maybe for lunch today you should have anice heaping dish of Crow.

Also, isn't it time to start banning certain cretins from this blog, starting with the ones above...?

Posted by Dixon Steele at November 15, 2006 10:07 AM

comment #11

p.Vice says ...

This confirms it -- I won't be seeing this. The words "Martin Campbell" and "not-too-formulaic" have never before been uttered in the same sentence, and doubtfully will be by anyone else ever again.

Posted by p.Vice at November 15, 2006 10:46 AM

comment #12

christian says ...

well, the brocoli's passed on spielberg and tarantino, so they are clearly afeared of too much change. martin campbell is not what i'd call a stylist.

Posted by christian at November 15, 2006 11:03 AM

comment #13

Idlewild says ...

Wilson and Broccoli have held the series back for years, as this is the type of Bond that both Dalton and Brosnan wanted to play. Instead, they were restricted to the rigid formula and endless one-liners. Ironically, it was probably Brosnan's constant pushing for an edgier Bond that led to his dismissal.

I probably won't be seeing this one anytime soon, though. I agree with the sentiment that this is more "James Bourne" than 007.

Posted by Idlewild at November 15, 2006 12:00 PM

comment #14

Jay T. says ...

You wrote, "Every single Bond film including Dr. No and From Russia With Love has ended on a chuckly romantic kick-back note, but not this time."

Umm... I would say On Her Majesty's Secret Service did NOT have a happy ending, wouldn't you? (Saw it again the other day and Lazenby was underrated, too bad he couldn't have remained Bond instead of Roger Moore taking over).

Posted by Jay T. at November 15, 2006 8:04 PM

comment #15