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Eternal sunshine of the rambling mind

Sunday, November 19, 2006

Hail the new Mr Bond !

When I first saw Daniel Craig's pic (I havent seen any of his earlier movies), I was surprised at the choice of the latest actor to portray Mr 007. I thought this surely will hasten the end of the Bond saga. Kahan dashing PB aur kahan ye jerk ! I also read that this is the movie where Bond becomes 007 and gets his "license to kill", so I expected to see a movie set in the real olden days and hence sans all the modern day stunts, gadgets and a toned down version of the regular Bond paraphernalia.

But well, this evening proved me wrong on both counts. Since I had a wonderful saturday evening to enjoy but nothing much to do in the cold, the movie at the nearby Mall seemed the best recourse. When I climbed the three floors and reached the ticket counter, I almost decided to go for another movie "Stranger than Fiction"- its storyline sounded intriguing, but decided to check out the latest Bond flick and be ready to dismiss the latest agent from her majesty's service as an also-ran.

Folks, this is definitely one of the best Bond movies I have seen and not just because of my low expectations to start with. Pierce B was totally dispassionate and devoid of emotion, all too suave, cool headed and clinical. I read somewhere that George Lazenby was perhaps the only Bond who wasnt devoid of emotions and the only one who marries a woman, albeit for very short time. But Craig comes across as both a macho guy carrying out all the stunts and possessing the charisma required of James Bond, but he is also refreshingly human and emotional. He is intense with a simmering anger within him and is raw and uncut.
Craig plays a Bond who actually falls in love with a woman and decides to trade in his license to kill for the license to marry and live a normal life. He even delivers mushy romantic dialogues with convincing emotions. Also, this is a Bond who thinks on his feet, sometimes ridiculously so in contrast to his rival in the scene. Kudos to Craig's acting, he has been able to shrug off the older actors' legacies and create his own persona of Bond.

Chronologically, I expected this movie's plot to be based before all the previous movies. But surprisingly there are terrorist organisations in the plot, fancy Sony Ericsson cellphones (Its a Sony production, remember?) and flip phones, advanced GPS systems etc and yet the amount of money at stake in the plot is quite small by today's standards - its about 100 million. I bet this movie cost much more to make. So I am confused.

The plot is refreshingly simplistic - Bond is not out to save the world. A terrorist banker, who by the way weeps blood (every Bond nemesis needs to have his own peculiarities), plays a dangerous game by using his client's money to short an airline's stock and then attempts to blow up the aeroplane company's latest prototype to reap rich profits. But ah well, he didnt account for Mr Bond, did he? Agent 007 displays his usual skills at hanging on to the treacherous sides of an oil tanker, rigged with a miniature explosive and homing in on the airplane - its target. He of course turns the tables on the terrorist and prevents the blast. So now Mr Chiffre (our wily speculator) is left short of about 100 odd million in cash and his clients on his back demanding their pound of flesh or the money back. But his clients are no mean Armani-wearing businessmen but African rebel militia (conveniently termed as "terrorists" considering today's no-tolerance towards terror approach) wielding machetes and ready to chop off hands and wring necks at the drop of a hat. So Mon. Chiffre tries to use his skills at poker to recover his dough. The stage is set for a high-profile, high stakes game of poker at a "Casino Royale", with Bond at the table too, bankrolled by the British govt and chaperoned by a witty and provocatively seductive MI6 accountant. Of course, Bond outwits our poker king and leaves him high and dry, but not before plenty of drama, action and emotion to entertain the viewer. So now I think since Chiffre will become a turncoat and seek sanctuary with MI6 to save his own skin, its time for the curtains to fall on this episode of the exploits of the Queen's agent but the director surprises me with still more meat in the plot. The film finally ends with a flourish, with the signature Bond introduction which I was thinking would never come.

The best portions of the movie were the repartees between Bond and Vesper Lynd (Eva Green), esp the ones when the meet for the first time in the train and in the car on th way to the casino. The cinematography is very good too in the movie with many breathtaking landscapes and locales. The house by the cliff and the ocean in the end of the movie is amazing. And perhaps for the first time, the heroine in a Bond movie has a role with some meat on it.

So folks, I think we are going to see more of the new James Bond, ruthless enough to slit throats without mercy and vulnerable and human enough to love - all with a depth of passion of his own. Oh boy, the ladies are going to love him !

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3 Comments:

At 11:37 pm, November 19, 2006, Blogger Harsh said...

Hmmm... after ur review, i've decided to watch this movie, after all!!! Had similar thoughts, as you, before reading ur blog :) :D The only difference I wud miss is, I wud watch it in on my lappy, instead of the Dolby digital of Crown/Multiplex screens of PVR... :( :( sigh!!!

 
At 12:08 am, November 20, 2006, Blogger Mystic Rose said...

you bet! :)

 
At 7:11 pm, October 14, 2008, Blogger mystic rose said...

so where are you? email me.

 

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