HLJ's Movie Blog

Casino Royale

It's difficult to write about Casino Royale without mentioning Daniel Craig's appearance, so I will get that out of the way. He has amazing blue eyes and is very well put together. Okay, got that out of the way. Now, on to the movie.

Casino Royale is a different kind of Bond film. You've probably read that or heard that elsewhere. It's true though, so don't go into it expecting that you will see a film that is exactly like the previous ones. It's a risky endeavor to try to reinvent Bond on the big screen, but I think they did a good job of it. It's more violent that any other Bond film. The violence isn't spectacular explosions and gunfights, but the kind that involves two people trying to kill each other any way they can. I was actually surprised that the film was PG-13 because of the intensity of some of the fights.

My one real disappointment with this film was the music. Again, the producer/directory/composer wanted to reinvent Bond so they reinvented the sountrack. This means the classic Bond theme doesn't get played in variation upon variation in the movie. This may be a good thing. In some ways, this was a bit of a disappointment, but I can understand their thinking. The opening song was in my opinion, kind of lame. Then again, those opening credits and music are iconic, so it would be tough to come up with something amazing. My favorite opening song is "Goldeneye" by Tina Turner. She totally rocked on that song. Chris Cornell, formerly of Soundgarden, just doesn't have that kind of voice, or fame. Perhaps this is exactly why they chose him to sing the song.

Finally, Daniel Craig is gorgeous and has pretty blue eyes! You actually can't miss these facts. The director did a lot to make you notice it. You may not know this, but he can actually act and has been in many other films before. Some of them, I've even seen. Check out my blog entry on Layer Cake, which has a few of his film roles listed there.