by Kris Katz
Brief spoiler-free entertainment reviews

Tuesday, November 18, 2008

007 Casino Royale (2006)

Start from scratch. Strip away the liscence to kill, the shaken martini and fast cars, and even the double-oh from James Bond, and you get a film about a man struggling with hard lessons on the path to become the world's greatest spy. This new iteration of the classic character isn't afraid of dirty work, and more resembles a thuggish assassin with delusions of style than the suave, invincible macho male fantasy of movies past. The humanizing reboot mostly works, focusing much tighter on characterization than explosions, which in turn causes the few action sequences and tricky situations to carry a heft almost unseen in the series. That said, at points the attempt to portray a more relatable, realistic Bond goes too far, especially in the final act which not only feels like a break from earlier parts of the film, but leaps unexpectedly into an entirely different genre. Despite all this, the wager to pick apart the cinematic icon was a wise one, showing a fresh version of Bond who is flawed and fallible, but more exciting as well.

8 out of 10.

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