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entertaining u newspaper: your weekly guide to entertainment
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Seen, Heard, Noted & Quoted
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by rick grant rickgrant01@comcast.net
B+ Rated PG-13 144 min
In this rejuvenated Bond picture, filmmaker Martin Campbell started out with a blank sheet of paper, pretending that the last 20 Bond pictures didn’t exist. Campbell set out to reinvent the franchise, showcasing Daniel Craig as 007, set in the beginning of Bond’s career as a British secret agent. Despite the fans negative reaction to the casting of Craig, he delivered a physically rugged 007, with chiseled features, and much more macho bravado.
Craig effectively remolded Bond as an ex-special forces soldier who wears modern casual clothes but looks smashing in a tux or a bathing suit. Craig presents a body-builder’s physique –a man of steel. Yes, Craig’s Bond will appeal to all age groups of women, who will swoon when he gets it on with Eva Green as Vesper Lynd, who jumps his bones with lustful enthusiasm.
More significantly, Campbell has upped the ante on the violent and bloody scenes featuring Bond using his karate skills and his license to kill without hesitation. His trusty silenced Walter PPK is continually in use. Bond never misses. His first shot is the kill shot. Undeniably, this is the best Bond picture yet-- updated and upgraded. Judi Dench is a cast standout as M, 007’s boss at MI6. Bond’s military training serves him well, but M is worried about his indiscretions. In one sequence he is seen on a security camera tape, which could have compromised his anonymity. But he gets the job done quickly and efficiently.
Bond’s mission in this film is to stop a financial backer of terrorism, Le Chiffre (Mads Mikklesen) who is a winning high stakes poker player. Bond decides that since LeChiffre has such pervasive contacts, he would know Bond’s identity. So Bond goes into the caper under his own name, feeling confident he can beat LeChiffre at poker and take his money. Ah yes, this guy has hedged his bets and has complex contingency plans for any outcome of the game. He’s playing Bond and vice versa.
Adapted from Flemming’s first novel, Bond earns his 007 rating by first assassinating two bad guys marked for termination with extreme prejudice. Then, his first real assignment begins, shadowing LeChiffre in Madagascar. Soon, he ends up in the Bahamas at LeChiffre’s very high stakes poker game. Bond is accompanied by an MI6 financial advisor, Vesper (Green) who is overseeing the $10 million pounds Bond is using to stake his game. Of course, she is drop dead gorgeous, and after Vesper first gives Bond the cold shoulder, she can’t resist this hunk of burning love.
After some hair raising foot-chase scenes and violent gun battles, producing a high body count, the middle of the film features the poker game held at an exclusive Bahamian resort. LeChiffre uses faux tells as clever ruses to throw off his opponent. Bond falls for it, and loses $5 million. Vesper is reluctant to give him the rest of the money, but 007 assures her he can beat LeChiffre–relieving him of the pot, which could be as high a $100 million.
As in other Bond films, no one character can be trusted, and there are twists and turns in the plot as Bond has to get out of some tough spots. Product placement is more subtle in this movie, but we see Sony products, (Columbia is owned by Sony) a new model of Ford, and the latest awesome Aston Martin, which Bond ends up driving, but without the gadgets.
Although Bond is a trained killer, he has an appealing vulnerability that will go over big with women viewers. Unlike the other Bonds, Craig takes a beating in many scenes, ending up seriously injured and bloody. Heck, the other Bonds barely got their suits or tuxes wrinkled. Roger Moore never got a scratch.
In today’s world, we have new and more determined enemies-- crazed radical Jihadists who are vicious terrorists who are hell bent to kill large numbers of innocent people to take over the world. In one showcase stunt scene, 007 must stop a terrorist from blowing up a prototype airliner with a bomb and a gasoline truck. This sequence sets new standards for edgy and dangerous stunts.
Overall, Campbell has done what he said he would do–reinvigorate the Bond franchise. Craig is the best 007 yet. He’s not a caricature of a secret agent. He’s a butt-kicking real-man who can get the job done, and bed beautiful women with great sexual prowess. Who could ask for anything more?
Choosing a new James Bond is an arduous process, fraught with potential PR disasters. This list of potential Bonds after Pierce Brosnan left the franchise was reported to have grown to 200 hundred names. When Daniel Craig was announced as the new James Bond, it caused an uproar with longtime fans of the Bond franchise, as well as with fans of Pierce Brosnan. First, fans complained that Craig didn’t have the correct look for the part, citing Ian Fleming’s description of Bond as dark-haired. They also attacked his look as “thuggish” noting that he hadn’t played a part like this before. A website petition instantly sprang up, urging those unhappy with the choice to boycott the movie and sign the on-line petition as a form of protest. The public outcry didn’t faze the studio because they were “re-booting” the series anyway, looking for a different kind of Bond.
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