Casino Royale was a great reinvention of the Bond character and a great re invigoration of the Bond franchise. It was also a really good film. With a half hour boring film tacked on the end. Then another five minutes of cool.
I can understand why they structured the film the way they did, especially after seeing the new film, but that doesn't change the fact that the pacing in Casino Royale was bad.
The pacing in this new film is much better. It just kind of never stops. It starts right after the end of the last film (OMG! First true Bond sequel EVARZ!). It starts with a car chase. And Bond spends the rest of the film either chasing someone or being chased. Bond is a blond, bruised shark. Always moving forward. Unstoppable.
Which is not to say that there is no character development. This is all about Bond, about his obsessions, his weaknesses. Which is why I didn't use (the overused) Quantum of Soul-less. This is all about his damn soul.
Which is what makes this the least formulaic Bond film ever. I'm refering to the Bond formula, not formula in general. This film follows the Bourne formula nearly perfectly. But there is a nod or two two Bond conventions. There are Bond girls. Both with horrible fashion sense.
There are no gadgets. This Bond doesn't need 'em. He'll beat the fuck out of you with whatever comes to hand.
This film is almost all action.
Shame that the action is so hard to follow.
I'm not saying it is incomprehensible. You can tell who everyone is. You can usually tell what they are doing. But the outcome is almost always a surprise.
"Why did that car drive off the cliff?!?" "Why did that boat flip over and over into the air?!?" "Is that man bleeding profusely from the neck?!?" "Why is that man bleeding profusely from the neck?!?" "Why is everything exploding?!?"
This is a good film put together poorly.
1 comment:
I enjoyed most of it, Danial Craig is a lovable jerk and Dame Dench is always enjoyable. But I really had to cringe at the slow mo chase while an Opera is playing and bullets are flying and glass is shattering and people are dieing blah blah. They're rebooting the sceries with everything modern, both good and bad.
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