Better than I expected

I'm really sorry this post is so crappy and minimal...but it's late...I'm tired...and I'm dealing with some personal stuff...I'll try to write more about this movie later on. Maybe once everyone I know has seen it.


Honestly, I'd heard so much pre-release buzz about how good CASINO ROYALE was that I wasn't totally blindsided by how good this film is. That said, even with all the buzz (and a super fan's high hopes) I never dreamed I'd see a Bond film like CASINO ROYALE. Pretty much take everything you know about the last decade of Bond films and throw it out the window. Gone is the predictable formula that seemed so fresh all those decades ago when Sean Connery donned the tux in DR. NO (which by the way is still the best Bond movie). Nothing can top Sir Sean's introduction to film immortality...but CASINO ROYALE comes damn close.

I'll spare you the lengthy plot summary/spoilers. Basically this movie is about a young MI6 agent named James. The movie opens with his "promotion" to double-O status (which of course you only get after killing two people). Bond's first kill is horrific, messy, and probably the most graphic murder ever portrayed in the series thus far. James's new job is very, very difficult. Luckily for him, he's tough as hell. I won't spoil my favorite moment of the movie, but let's just say that a certain long unused American character makes his return to the world of Bond.

Had there never been a movie called THE MATRIX there wouldn't have been a movie called X-MEN. Look at the first X-MEN movie, then go watch the first MATRIX. Yeah...there's some influence there, isn't there? The costumes. THE MATRIX was the best comic book movie NOT based on a comic book. Well, in that same vein...there would be no CASINO ROYALE without a little movie called BATMAN BEGINS. Same thing. This new Bond movie is doing the same thing as that Batman reboot. By injecting new blood and energy...by putting a new spin on what seemed old and tired...Hollywood is re-birthing some of it's best franchises. We the viewing public are the benefactors.

I give CASINO ROYALE five stars for doing what no Bond film since LICENSE TO KILL has done...it showed me something new.