I finally got round to seeing this film last night. I imagine most of my readers (all two of you) have already seen it, though I'm going to write my thoughts anyway.
I'm pleasantly surprised to report the Casino Royale is a true return to form after the mediocre Die Another Day.
Daniel Craig looks and sounds the part, the pacing and plot are excellent, even M (the only thing to survive the Pierce Brosnan era unscathed) got to do a bit more than just give Bond his mission briefing at the start.
The theme tune was easy on the ears and nicely crafted to fit well with the Bond signature tune (unlike Madonna's annoying and shameful effort). However, I don't remember it ever getting any airplay - possibly because I was on the other side of the world at the time it came out.
Only the corniest line ever, delivered by the Bond girl rather than the man himself, let the film down a little (though Bond's next lines recover it well). I won't spoil the surprise - for lack of a better word. It's up there with "I thought Christmas only comes once a year" in the cheesiness stakes.
Overall - SUPERB!
I really enjoyed it. Thank god the era of P.B. is over. He was awful. I was very happy with D.C.'s performance, and I thought he had the right mixture of braun and brain. P.B. was never sauve enough, he was just sleezy. Sean Connery was great, but he was just too spindly, hairy and scottish-sounding to nail the character. D.C. looks to be the best choice yet. Roger Moore would have been ok if he'd buffed up a bit and didn't run like a 10 year old Japanese girl.
I agree with your round-up. It was a top film - even the missus loved it! And she hates James Bond movies.
I thought it was OK but he does look like a monkey.
We all look like monkeys. Shaved monkeys.
I'm off to throw poo at people outside my cage!
Hey mate, first time I've read through blog- thinking of doing my own...
I saw Casino Royale here in Finland, not dubbed thankfully. I have to say i thought it was brilliant, in my mind the BEST bond movie ever made. The only let down was pandering to the current obsession with Poker. The game in the film lasted about an hour in real time it seemed, and i couldn't make out what was going on as i don't play poker!
The Parkour stunts (free running) at the start were amazing though, all done for real, by a guy I actually trained with (a couple of times) and met!! One of the French co-founders of the movement- called Seb Foucan. His name appears in the opening titles. Some of the UK free runners I used to know consulted on the film, designing some of the stunts. If only I'd kept up doing that stuff...