last night i did something i have been wanting to do for almost 2 years, which was watch the next James Bond Movie. It surprisingly hit theatres quite suddenly. but before telling you what happened last night i want to take you 9 months earlier when they announced who the sixth bond is going to be :
It was down to 4 finalists:
1- Clive Owen
2- Julian MacMahon ( the hunk we all know as Christian Troy from Nip Tuck)
3- Daniel Craig (the gangsta from layer cake and one of the assassins in Munich)
4- some czech hunk
My money was on Julian since he physically would have made a great bond. His performances in Nip Tuck proved he would be able to pull the part, although there is something sacred about 007 that just cant make anyone don the tux and just start shooting through the eagle eye.
We are talking of a legend that has been there for more than 40 years. the most succesful franchise in modern marketing history and one that manages to adapt to the changes and broken the golden rule of movie making that sequels suck. It needs a lot of balls to stand in the shoes of someone like Sean Connery, and your performance would be compared to his...wow can u imagine? your first shot at mainstream spotlight and they're comparing me to connery right away? talk about career russian roulette. Its true, im not making mountains out of anthills look at Dalton? where is he now? Lazenby never got a role again after OHMSS ( On Her Majesty's Secret Service).
Anyways they chose Daniel Craig ( the man in the middle)........a Blond to play the legendary incarnation of Ian Fleming's fantasies. In objection my nick on MSN was Blond.......James Blond for a week.
i said goodbye to my addiction, with all the original creators dead (Fleming, Broccoli , the novels) i shall no longer be a James Bond fan.
I watched Layer Cake a month ago, it was my first time to take notice of Craig. he was good...real Good, but i was still convinced although his perfomance in Layer Cake made me put it up on the shelf with Casino , Goodfellas , scarface and true lies. i still doubted his capability to pull off being Bond. I was later told that he played a role in munich , although i did see the movie i barely noticed him, (typical spielberg, great storyteller, but totally buries his actors) so i watched it again. i respected Craig as an Actor, yet despised the fact that he is bond........i mean its exactly like getting Charlie Chaplin and ask him to portray a mafia hitman......Chaplin is a legendary comedian, but he cant be a good drama actor.
Then came the big day........last night, watching the legendary 007 pull it off for the 21st time ..the opening sequence got a 3 on my scale...the theme song and its sequence an 8 or even a nine as for the rest of the film....well its kind of complicated, read on
If to you Bond movies are strictly about the gadgets cars and the unbeleivable shit Bond does to save the world and women you are in for a total dissapointment.
But this one is a pretty Good Bond movie in my book, i left the showing feeling grateful knowing that Bond is still in capable hands ( Barbra....Cubby's daughter has not failed Ian's vision)
Craig manages to portray a Bond we have never seen on screen befo
re, he is the Bond i fell in love with and grown up to respect, the James Bond of the novels, not of the movies...that Raw Killer who is pure evil that just happend to be on the side of the Good guys.....that was always what Bond is supposed to be....a Bad Guy, one nobody would disagree that the world is better off without the likes of him, but he happens to be with the good guys. That is the Dilemma that defines the Existence of Bond. You'd rarely feel it in the movies, ever since after Connery and Bond is that suave good looking nice guy that you automatically fall in love with , that is not Bond...that could be superman, or lethal weapon or any action hero, but Bond is no Hero...he kills people !
killing people is not heroism......yes he does it for a good cause since hes sanctioned by the Queen.......but then again he still is an assassin,
Anyways back to the Sixth Bond.....Daniel Craig , that Bond you see in Casino Royale is a grittier more raw Bond...very dark and sinister...its not about the bling bling to him, hes about getting the job done and for a lot of moments throughout the movie, you forget that he is the Good guy.
What Craig also adds is a depth of Character not experienced since Connery...yes the producers on several occasions tried to make Bond real by being defeated sometimes, take Die another Day for example when he was tortured for months.....that failed miserably and showed Bond as weak........ppl there is a difference between getting caught, and being weak about it.....this is very clear in this one. Since Bond gets beaten up alot in this one, and is even tortured......he still is tortured Bond style......and it looks soo spontaneous, he isnt acting.....he is Bond.
that scence where hes "got an itch" and the "last hand almost killed me" classic Bond attitude man........
Like the title says Danny, i owe you an apology......i didnt think you could pull it off without dissapointing me
Sorry....
For all you people out there, who hate Bond and think its a load of bull........go see Casino Royale then make your judgement........FYI the novel Casino Royale is the first Novel Ian Fleming ever wrote, it was supposed to be the first Bond.......but it never was an EON production. this supposedly shows you Bond from the begining . the very begginging. I dare you to not like it.
And in response to someone out there, (you know who you are) i just want you to know...i am not Bond nor am i trying to be him.......Bond is Me and trying to be me.......
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