Plot:

To get to a international banker for terrorists, Bond must try to bankrupt him through a high stakes poker game.

Bond:

Daniel Craig

Girl:

Vesper Lynd (Eva Green)
Bad Guy:

Le Chiffre (Mads Mikkelsen)

Theme Tune:

You know my name – Chris Cornell

The first Bond with Daniel Craig starring, is an action packed, movie that is a lot more realistic than other recent outtings for the super spy. With minimum gadgetry, Casino Royale is a movie that harkens back to Dr. No, where Bond faced his enemies with only his wit and trigger finger to save him. The stunt work is outstanding, with a chase earlier in the movie being one of the moments of the whole thing. Everywhere you look there are beautiful cars and beautiful women, but Bond is first seen driving a Ford and doesn’t bed every girl in sight.

Craig is blonde, blue eyed and certainly a rougher look than Brosnan, Moore and even Dalton who injected a steely eyed persona into Bond. He is physically in better shape than even Connery and he plays Bond with the same confidence that the original Bond of Dr. No and Goldfinger had.

The theme tune, when played against the opening credits sounds like a Bond movie and not just anther hit for Madonna. The opening credits themselves stray from the traditional Maurice Binder style yet retain something of the quality. The credits actually include images of Craig, something not done since Roger Moore in The Spy Who Loved Me, unless you count the afore mentioned Die Another Day.

Vesper Lynd is an interesting chrarcter who captures Bond’s interests but she won’t be compared to Pussy Galore or even Tiffany Case. At least she was better than Jinx.

This is a good movie, not just a good Bond movie where you can ignore plot holes for the sake of the action, but a movie that if filmed with a different lead character, would still stand tall. This is more The Bourne Identity than Octopussy. It is real, brutal, violent and yet, it feels like a Bond movie. Craig as Bond has a big ego, but its becuase he really is that good. Gone are the one liners that had begun to sound stale when spoken, in their place are snappier lines, not so much a play on the situation, more a play on Bond, and who he is. And it works. Craig is convincing as Bond, so much so that it wasn’t until the end of the movie that I thought about who was playing the role.

A must see movie if you are a Bond fan and if you are not, try it, you might become a fan of whats to come.

BTW look out for a walk on role by Richard Branson!

Jeremy Clarkson, once again, has hit the nail on the head, threaded the thread through the eye of the needle and said what is on men’s minds all over the world.

”

Cherie says my attitude is macho and she’s right.

It is.

It might not be very attractive in this day and age. But that’s because I’m a man. I know this because I much prefer Uma Thurman, who’s all woman, to Kate Moss who, from behind, could well be a boy.”

Read on……

Ernst Stavro Blofeld – 3 movies
Karl Stromberg – The Spy Who Loved Me
Hugo Drax – Moonraker
Francisco Scaramanga – The Man With The Golden Gun
Emilio Largo – Thunderball
Auric Goldfinger – Goldfinger
Franz Sanchez – License to Kill
Elliot Carver – Tomorrow Never Dies
Max Zorin – View To A Kill
Alex Trevelyan – GoldenEye

Goldfinger

Pussy Galore: My name is Pussy Galore.
James Bond: I must be dreaming.

James Bond: Do you expect me to talk?
Auric Goldfinger: No, Mr. Bond. I expect you to die.

Diamonds Are Forever

Plenty O’Toole: Hi, I’m Plenty.
James Bond: But of course you are.
Plenty O’Toole: Plenty O’Toole.
James Bond: Named after your father perhaps?

The Man With The Golden Gun

James Bond: Who’d want to put a contract on me?
M: Jealous husbands! Outraged chefs! Humiliated tailors! The list is endless!

The Spy Who Loved Me

M: 007!
General Anatol Gogol: Triple X!
Sir Frederick Gray, Minister of Defence: Bond! What do you think you’re doing?
James Bond: Keeping the British end up, sir.

Moonraker

Sir Frederick Gray, Minister of Defence: My God, what’s Bond doing?
Q: I think he’s attempting re-entry, sir.

For Your Eyes Only

James Bond: Now put your clothes back on, and I’ll buy you an ice cream.

GoldenEye

Xenia Onatopp: You don’t need the gun.
James Bond: Well, that depends on your definition of safe sex.

The World Is Not Enough

James Bond: I was wrong about you.
Dr. Christmas Jones: Yeah, how so?
James Bond: I thought Christmas only comes once a year.

James Bond: I’ve always wanted to have Christmas in Turkey.
Dr. Christmas Jones: Was that a Christmas joke?
James Bond: From me? Never.

(no particular order)

From Russia With Love – Matt Munro
Goldfinger – Shirley Bassey
Thunderball – Tom Jones
You Only Live Twice – Nancy Sinatra
Diamonds Are Forever – Shirley Bassey
Live And Let Die – Paul McCartney & Wings
Nobody Does It Better – Carly Simon (The Spy Who Loved Me)
Moonraker – Shirley Bassey
The Living Daylights – a-ha
GoldenEye – Tina Turner

“Red” Grant – From Russia With Love
Rosa Klebb – From Russia With Love
Odd Job – Goldfinger
Mr. Wint & Mr. Kidd – Diamonds Are Forever
Tee Hee – Live And Let Die
Jaws – Two Movies
Gobinda – Octopussy
Dario – Licence To Kill
Stamper – Tomorrow Never Dies
Zao – Die Another Day

(no particular order)

Honey Ryder (Ursula Andress) – Dr. No
Pussy Galore (Honor Blackman) – Goldfinger
Plenty O’Toole (Lana Wood) – Diamonds are Forever
Tiffany Case (Jill St. John) – Diamonds are Forever
Mary Goodnight (Britt Ekland) – The Man with the Golden Gun
Holly Goodhead (Lois Chiles) – Moonraker
Octopussy (Maud Adams) – Octopussy
Xenia Onatopp (Famike Janssen) – Golden Eye
Dr. Christmas Jones (Denise Richards) – The World is Not Enough
Kissy Suzuki (Mie Hama) – You Only Live Twice

(no particular order)
Goldfinger – Aston Martin DB5

Thunderball – Bell Textron Jet Pack

You Only Live Twice – Little Nellie

Diamonds Are Forever – Mustang Fastback

Live And Let Die – Double Decker Bus

The Spy Who Loved Me – Lotus Esprit

The Living Daylights – Aston Martin Volante

Tomorrow Never Dies – BMW 750i

The World Is Not Enough – Q Boat

The World Is Not Enough – BMW Z8

(No Particular Order)

Thunderball.

Bond attends a funeral and then confronts the dead mans widow only to find that the widow is the supposedly dead man. A destructive fight ensures with Bond leaving on a jet pack.

The Spy Who Loved Me

Bond is involved in a dramatic ski chase, at times skiing backward. To evade his pursuers he ski’s off a cliff. He falls for what feels to be forever before opening his chute which reveals a union jack parachute.

Moonraker

A space shuttle is stolen from the back of a 747 during flight, incinerating the plane. Bond takes a plane ride only to be thrown out of the plane, without a parachute.

For Your Eyes Only

Bond is a passenger in a helicopter that is controlled remotely by Blofeld. Bond climbs out of the helicopter to get to the pilots seat then takes control and lifts Blofeld who is in a wheelchair, onto the skid of the helicopter and drops him down a very tall chimney.

Octopussy

Bond flies a micro plane, which is fired upon by a missile. Bond evades the missile by flying through a large hanger just as the main doors are closing. The missile, following Bond in, doesn’t make it through the hanger which explodes spectacularly.

The Living Daylights

Bond, along with two other agents, parachute onto Gibraltar to test the defenses. The other two agents are killed by an enemy agent who leaves a note in Russian. Bond chases the assassin which leads in the end to a land rover driving off the road and falling far down towards the sea. Bond opens his parachute to get out of the back of the vehicle before it explodes.

GoldenEye

Bond, along with 006 try to blow up a chemical weapon plant in Russia. Bond does a bungee jump down the face of a dam and then drives off a cliff on a motorcycle chasing an unmanned plane, catching it and gaining control before the plane smashes into the ground.

Tomorrow Never Dies

Bond is spying on an arms bazaar on the Russian border, sending back pictures of whats for sale to MI6. The Navy jumps the gun and sends a cruise missile before realising that there are nuclear weapons loaded on a plane at the bazaar. Bond has to steal the plane and get it away from the bomb blast while dealing with the backseat co-pilot.

The World Is Not Enough

After a pile of money explodes in the depths of MI6, Bond jumps in a jet boat and chases the assassin down the river Thames. After a brilliant boat chase, Bond hangs on to a rope hanging from a hot air balloon before falling onto the Millennium Dome as the balloon explodes.

Die Another Day

Bond surfs into North Korea, gets captured by the army. He escapes on a military hovercraft which gets chased by three other hovercraft, through a minefield. He manages to survive by is captured again and put into prison in North Korea.