the movieGOOMBA

Casino Royal, the latest James Bond flick, really does live up to all the hype. All the necessary Bond elements are there and fully loaded; explosions, lots and lots of guns, fast yet luxurious cars, a crazy enemy, and beautiful women. James Bond isn't half bad looking himself.

I watched this movie weeks ago, but I haven't written about it because I was struggling with whether or not to compare it to other Bond films. Critics, the media, and the population in general can't help but compare Daniel Craig to Pierce Brosnan, but is that really fair? To me, comparing Craig to Brosnan is like comparing Brad and Angelina to Brad and Jenn. Craig is a rugged and coarse Bond. Brosnan is a classy, luxurious Bond. How do you compare those two? I don't think you can. So I won't.

Casino Royal begins with an amazing chase scene, and it helps set the tone for the entire film. James Bond is almost a vigilante in this film, and throughout the whole movie, he struggles with authority. Because this is a portrayal of Bond at the beginning part of his career, Bond makes some very large mistakes in judgement. He's not nearly as smooth and debonair as you'd think James Bond should be, and that's what makes this film unique. James Bond is just a normal human being. He wasn't always a kick ass spy, just a bad ass kind of person.

The only criticism I have for this movie is the thrown together plot. What should have been the climax and ending was actually followed by what seemed to be a "Oh crap, we forgot to resolve that part of the storyline!" so writers added it in at the end to make a sort of secondary climax that was indeed, anti-climatic.

However, since most action films, and Bond movies for that matter, can get by on cute girls, expensive cars, lots of guns, and mind-blowing action, this Bond has won me over.