Casino Royale

Ah, so I finally saw the new Bond flick, Casino Royale, starring the latest Bond, Daniel Craig. After hearing quite a few reviews declaring this as the best Bond since Sean Connery, I was obviously excited. Also hearing what Neil and Schwartz thought of it, raving how great it was, made me even more excited for it. But what do I think of it now that I saw it? Eh. Yes, thats about it. The story was OK, the action scenes were pretty cool, but the lack of many things really brought it down. (*WARNING* - the following may include spoilers, don't read it unless you have already seen Casino Royale or don't plan on seeing it for a while!)

The Pros of the Movie
The movie really started off kind of cool, black and white, and mysterious. I also like how Bond is being promoted to 00 status, and on one of his first missions he pisses M off so much that she wants to get rid of him. The fight scenes are what I would have to say were more badass than previous. Bond actually gets hurt, his tuxedo is bloody, he almost dies, he gets tortured but is still a badass. And the ending is probably the sweetest part of the film (and just about the only redeeming factor for the last 20 mins) as he sneaks up on the guy and does the usual "Bond, James Bond" quote. Also, when he makes up the martini and orders one without caring if its shaken or stirred was a plus.

The Cons
OK, no Money Penny, I can handle that. No Q though?!? WTF! And this leads to my next problem, where the hell were all the gadgets? Now the Aston Martin was cool as hell, along with the extras in the dash, but he doesn't even drive it 5 mins in the film! And the one real car chase lasts about 20 secs. Now there were many running scenes while Bond is on foot which were cool, but why give him such a sweet ass car and not even really use it. I do not know.

And the girls. Now the latino chick in the begining was pretty hot, but the main female role? I don't think so. Chiffre's g/f did turn sluttier and sluttier from scene to scene, but I don't think she even had one spoken role, let alone was in more than 3 short scenes. And the main female role's name is Vesper. What happened to Pussy Galore?!? And the only somewhat sexual induendo was talking about his pinky. Nothing compared to "I thought Christmas only 'comes' once a year".

And what kind of Bond villain gets jumped by a couple of freedom fighters in his hotel room. He doesn't even have a cool back story, just an eye that bleads? His henchmen weren't even crazy asses. Just some bald guy that wasn't even intimidating with a crazy ass Daniel Craig running around.

Conclusion
So did I enjoy it? Yes. Did it beat out Goldeneye as my favorite? No way in hell. Daniel Craig is a baddass, and was a pretty sweet actor, but I think they showed off his body more times than the girls. And throughout the movie, I kept forgetting it was even Bond with the lack of gadgets, suaveness, and sex scenes. The locations were exotic, the cars kicked ass, and they even brought back Felix which hasn't been in a Bond movie since the Timothy Dalton era (probably my second favorite Bond). Rating the movie, I would give it an 8/10. Rating it as purely a Bond movie though, I would probably have to lower it down to a 6/10. Please comment and let me know your thoughts!