This weekend we finally got to the movies to see the new James Bond movie Casino Royale, with actor Daniel Craig as the new James Bond.
I liked it, it had some great action sequences and really took me by surprise a few times, which is fun.
However, I have to say that this movie is a pretty wild departure for the James Bond franchise. I mean, long gone are the days of a tuxedo-clad Connery, Moore or Brosnan.
Daniel Craig's younger Bond is more brash and dirty - he actually reminded me quite a bit of 24's Jack Bauer in his "shoot-first-and-blow-up-lots-of-bad-guys, ask-questions-later" mentality.
I mean, had Bond had to torture M's son to get vital information about a terrorist plot to blow up M Force One, I would have bought it. Totally within character.
It's funny too, how similar the "Casino Royale" poster above is to this promo shot for the new season of 24:
Anyway, I'm not ragging on this movie at all, there were a few parts that I almost cheered at, Bond was pretty brutal and well, I still am American and like me some brutal heroes. Good ol' cowboys like Jack Bauer or Die Hard's John McClane. I mean, you'd never see Jack Bauer swooping in wearing a jet-pack with his tuxedo, and I wouldn't expect this new Bond to do, either.
You know what else is weird? This new trend of having bad-ass women characters in the Bond flicks. The last few have had the bimbo character, but also the intelligent, witty and sometimes deadly women, such as Halle Berry's Jinx or even Michelle Yeo's Wai Lin or Densie Richard's Dr. Christmas whatever. Wait, no, she was a bimbo pretending to be smart.
Poorly.
This time around Eva Green's Vesper Lynd is a pretty snappy character who puts Bond quickly in his place. Even if she's wearing waaaay too much lipstick in this photo.
All-in-all? Good time. So check out the new Bond, still fresh after 20 sequels.
