What about taking liber-ties with a fictional character? This can have even bigger risks when the character is James Bond, hero of the movies’ longest-running franchise. But the series had grown so absurdly detached from reality that it had nowhere to go but down to earth. “Casino Royale,” the 21st Bond movie, is set in the present but takes us back to Bond’s roots as 007. It’s a radical–and welcome–reinvention. Daniel Craig’s muscular secret agent is a tough, brutal hombre who, when asked if he’d like his martini shaken or stirred, frankly doesn’t give a damn. In addition to being the most virile Bond since Sean Connery, Craig’s an actor who can suggest multiple layers of feeling. He’s both the coldest and the most passionate Bond we’ve seen. Eva Green plays his beautiful ally in our hero’s desperate (and, of course, globe-hopping) attempt to stop a very nasty banker (Mads Mikkelsen) from funding terrorists. For once in a Bond movie, there seem to be real emotions at stake in the love story. Double entendres and futuristic weaponry are both mercifully absent here. Craig and Co. have given 007 a new license to kill.
–David Ansen
title: “Movies Real Life Reel Lives” ShowToc: true date: “2023-01-13” author: “Edward Holmes”
What about taking liberties with a fictional character? This can have even bigger risks when the character is James Bond, hero of the movies’ longest-running franchise. But the series had grown so absurdly detached from reality that it had nowhere to go but down to earth. “Casino Royale,” the 21st Bond movie, is set in the present but takes us back to Bond’s roots as 007. It’s a radical—and welcome—reinvention.
Daniel Craig’s muscular secret agent is a tough, brutal hombre who, when asked if he’d like his martini shaken or stirred, frankly doesn’t give a damn. In addition to being the most virile Bond since Sean Connery, Craig’s an actor who can suggest multiple layers of feeling. He’s both the coldest and the most passionate Bond we’ve seen. Eva Green plays his beautiful ally in our hero’s desperate (and, of course, globe-hopping) attempt to stop a very nasty banker (Mads Mikkelsen) from funding terrorists. For once in a Bond movie, there seem to be real emotions at stake in the love story. Double entendres and futuristic weaponry are both mercifully absent here. Craig and Co. have given 007 a new license to kill.
