"Perfectly Formed Arse": Casino Royale at Fifteen (2006-2021)

Hmm, might have to change the title but struck me today as I was browsing the forum that CR is itself an anniversary Bond this year. Somehow slipped my mind betweet DAF50 and FYEO40. So I suppose at some point along the way we'll pay homage and this thread will be the anchor.

Scary how the years pass.

Hard to believe DAD (and the Nightfire game) will be turning 20 next year. Yikes!

Hard to believe indeed.

I remember feeling trepidation at what a "grittier" Bond would be like, despite thinking DAD was OTT stupidity. I was never a Craig hater when he was announced (I thought he looked the part in that promo shot where they dyed his hair), but nevertheless was worried about what a tonal direction would entail and whether the film would have the same spark.

Can certainly say my fears were allayed when that first teaser came out. "Half-monk, half-hitman" and all that jazz plus the action looked great.

I can remember where I was when I heard the announcement on the radio that Bond was to be played by a blonde actor. My image was literally a blonde Brosnan. The thought of the actor being blonde wasn't the issue for me... but the fact that they were moving on from Brosnan. I was devastated. And what will come as a surprise to no one: I still am.

If I can find it in me to revisit CR06 before NTTD I might review it properly. I haven't watched it since 2017, I think, and it, along with SP, was enough to turn me off Bond for about a year. Then I popped in GE and TB and all was good again. But the frustration with each watch grows, and its contrived nature, rather unbelievable fandom and misguided, baseless parallels to Fleming grates even more.

What a wasted opportunity.

And fuck. 15 years?

I seem to recall thinking that well Craig (based on some of his work) was a good choice, blond or not he had 'acting chops'. Granted Bond isn't Shakespeare but still, like Dalton he had respectable work prior.

I don't remember much of how I viewed Bond 2002-06. Sort of paid attention to it expecting Brosnan back, next thing he wasn't. I stuck to Bondathon's. Second year of uni' when CR came out and I saw it twice -with different groups of friends both times.

That was a few months before I moved to London and Daniel Craig romped up at the Starbucks few metres down from my flat.

Not mad about his taste in coffee.

What I remember is my mate, the only Bond fan I knew at uni, came steaming upstairs and said Craig was downstairs. I dismissed this nonsense thinking my mate lost the plot but later in the Standard there was a photo of him at our local Tesco.

As for Starbucks, apparently it was to get soup (and I guess some coffee) mostly for his ill then-girlfriend who lived in the area.

Some CR love from last week https://www.express.co.uk/entertainment/films/1405246/James-Bond-books-Casino-Royale-Daniel-Craig-Ian-Fleming-007-books

Now, I know it's the [expletive] Express but not the best written article I've ever seen.

Hilly wrote:

As for Starbucks, apparently it was to get soup (and I guess some coffee) mostly for his ill then-girlfriend who lived in the area.

"Will that be a grande or a venti?"

"Do I look like I give a damn?"

Heh, the Starbucks and Tesco chat have reminded me that Craig was in a store when he got the Bond confirmation call. He then bought the various bits and bobs needed to make Vodka Martinis, went home and got pissed by way of celebration.

Makes sense. makes you wonder what he would've done if he had been told he didn't get the role.

Go to Tesco in Maida Vale probably.

CJB wrote:

Hilly wrote:

As for Starbucks, apparently it was to get soup (and I guess some coffee) mostly for his ill then-girlfriend who lived in the area.

"Will that be a grande or a venti?"

"Do I look like I give a damn?"

Or: "Sir, may I have a name to put on the cup?

-Bond, James Bond.

-Shorter name?"

Blunt Instrument wrote:

Heh, the Starbucks and Tesco chat have reminded me that Craig was in a store when he got the Bond confirmation call. He then bought the various bits and bobs needed to make Vodka Martinis, went home and got pissed by way of celebration.

Most Bondian thing he's ever done.

Hilly wrote:

Or: "Sir, may I have a name to put on the cup?

-Bond, James Bond.

-Shorter name?"

The cup comes back with "Bourne, Jason Bourne."

I've always liked stand-up Jack Dee's suggested answer when you're asked that in Starbucks - 'Cup O'Shite'.

I might try that next time I find myself in a Starbucks. They've contrived to foul my name a few times in the past. Or totally misunderstand it.

I remember seeing the announcement which felt bizarre as DAD had been a large hit and pretty well received plus Pierce was due his fifth film and thus never got a proper feeling exit.

From the instant the first promo shot appeared I knew deep in my bones where this was going. I realized where and what I had seen Craig in before and while I still think he’s a good actor and a seemingly decent fellow my reaction was: oh no they’ve got completely the wrong kind of person. They’re going to go off the rails and do something completely modernized.
Then I saw the film and part of me died in the theater in 2006 leaving a scar and heavy heart that hasn’t abated since. When this era ends with NTTD I’ll feel the way Dalton described it: “I felt a weight falling from my body...”

CR ‘06 aka Bourneman Supremacy Begins aka **** the legacy
At least that’s what I feel the title should have been. To be honest I can’t bear to ever rewatch the Craig era. I might force myself to one more time but so far after the theatrical viewings I’ve only seen CR and Quantum once more despite owning all of them on disc and feeling contaminated...

Your disdain for SF is still curious, HGTB. Finally we're watching people have mature, natural conversations again against the backdrop of glamour, exoticism and bizarre. That said, I'm usually thinking about how much better it would be had Brosnan been in it.

It would help if it wasn't a brooding thug in a dinner jacket moping around in a half baked version of a Bourne character cloaked in the plot and look of a Nolan film wannabe...but that's just what I got out of it. I remember sitting in the theater during the climax surprised at the Straw Dogs type conclusion and feeling no connection to events onscreen whatsoever. I think I may have audibly said **** you-you can't have it both ways when the DB5 was suddenly revealed in the garage.

Hmm it might be best to unpack this bit by bit:

HGTB wrote:

It would help if it wasn't a brooding thug in a dinner jacket moping around

Agreed.

HGTB wrote:

a half baked version of a Bourne character

I don't see Bourne in the writing here. This is where the film succeeds for me: the writing of Bond/his characterisation feels akin to Fleming's writing of the character in his latter Bond novels. It's just that Craig can't shake the Bourne character from his first two Bond films.

HGTB wrote:

cloaked in the plot and look of a Nolan film wannabe

I think its narrative is finally a return to classic Bond. It's a spy thriller (not an action film like the previous two/three) at its heart and enriched with great character arcs. There's that sex, benign bizarre and humour (however inept Craig is at playing it) that you won't ever find in a Nolan film. And as for the look, Deakins ensures it never looks like the sterile, soulless affairs of Nolan.

HGTB wrote:

I remember sitting in the theater during the climax surprised at the Straw Dogs type conclusion and feeling no connection to events onscreen whatsoever.

It's a visual metaphor of Bond returning home- which was outlaid after the events of the PTS, working out what his job means to him, what his sacrificing his life for, and what's important to him.

HGTB wrote:

I think I may have audibly said **** you-you can't have it both ways when the DB5 was suddenly revealed in the garage.

In what sense? You can't have such an iconic car in a grungy garage?