“Slick, smooth, and lethally rugged.”
I grew up watching Roger Moore as James Bond, and my dad always said there was only one true Bond, Sean Connery, but I have a feeling this new generation will argue we are both nuts – there is indeed a new Bond, Daniel Craig is spot-on as the lethal agent of his Majesty’s Service. Carrying his Walther PPK and dispatching bad guys with ruthless efficiency appears instinctual as he seeks to learn more about the sinister organization that not even MI6 was aware existed.
This is by far the most realistic Bond movie I have ever seen, never did I find myself rolling my eyes or thinking, yea right! Bond and his cohorts, and even his enemies, pull off some amazing stunts and physical acting, but nothing that smacked of super-natural – as many of the Bond films have in the past. It is pure venal strength and machismo that get Bond through his encounters, and while there was no Q, it didn’t really detract from the film. In fact, I can imagine Q has been removed from these new Bond films, because he added a kind of plucky, unnatural feel to the films in the past, and you realized you were being entertained – you knew you were watching a fiction, with Bond always farting around with Q in his lab, tinkering and never reading instructions. Craig’s Bond wouldn’t dream of messing around with lethal technology in such a trivial fashion – if it can kill you, you better understand it, period.
While Moore’s Bond was debonair and Connery’s was wry, Craig’s is efficient, almost like a machine – brutally programmed to accomplish the mission, his way, or no way.
The cinematography in this film will turn even a novice into a follower; there was some brilliantly edited juxtaposition with the Opera Tosca while Bond is doing what he does best – getting results. The editors should be praised, and even old Connery fans will get a kick out of Director, Marc Forster’s nods to the classics. There are a few scenes that were painted into the film that were obvious hat’s offs to the past.
The part of femme-fatale, Camille, was executed passionately by Ukrainian phenom Olga Kurylenko with a burning intensity not seen in many American actresses – with the looks to back the talent. The other cast members did well not to get in the way of the action, I could laud their praises, but space is limited, and there were no stand-out supporting characters that warranted further scrutiny. One thing I didn’t like, the Fryer Putz dude (you know who you are) and the fact that M was essentially acting like a field agent and not the pencil pushing weenie we all expect.
What I really loved about this film is that they continued directly where the last movie left-off, he has captured the traitor Mr. White, who betrayed him in Casino Royale. The film starts out with an action sequence from frame one! There are non-stop action sequences throughout the film only broken by subtle moments of relative calm, albeit with subdued intensity under Bond’s twitching skin. It isn’t until the bitter, cold end that a sanguine peace settles, like the last snow gently falling to the Earth before another desperate blizzard – the next chapter in Bond’s quest for answers.
I felt like a kid again, watching this one, wishing my dad were still here to compare notes with and to debate if this new Bond is the real Bond. Don’t even wait 007 seconds, let alone 007 days to see this film, get your ass in a seat, today!
