Movie Review Black Los Angeles

BlackNLA Movie Reviews

*****THE REEL DEAL: Reviewz from the Street*****

by Edwardo Jackson

BIASES: 30 (yikes!) year old black male; frustrated screenwriter who favors action, comedy, and glossy, big budget movies over indie flicks, kiddie flicks, and weepy Merchant Ivory fare

CASINO ROYALE (PG-13)

MOVIE BIASES: Sold. Pre Sold.

MAJOR PLAYERS: Daniel Craig (Munich), Eva Green (The Dreamers), Judi Dench (Die Another Day), co-writer Paul Haggis (Crash), and director Martin Campbell (Goldeneye)

I admit, I had my reservations about the new Bond. No, I'm not one of those hypersensitive, socially retarded, Internet mouth-breathers who devoted column inches in the blogosphere to protesting a new (gasp!) blond Bond. I was concerned that Brosnan's idyllically smooth Bond couldn't be matched by the talented, if less-heralded Daniel Craig. But that's the point. From seeing the first trailer to hearing
worldwide pub from the producers' camp about rebooting Bond to a younger, rawer, newly double 0ed status, I bought in. The product of my intellectual and emotional purchase? Quite possibly one of the best Bonds (film and actor) of all time.

Having sloppily achieved 00 rank in Britain's MI6 spy agency, James Bond's (Craig) first mission goes so awry due to his reckless, arrogant nature, his frustrated superior M (again, a truly superior Dame Judi Dench) puts him on leave. While on alleged holiday in the Bahamas, Bond starts a domino effect of events that lead him back to active duty, this time playing in a high stakes poker game with the premier terrorism financier, Le Chiffre (Mads Mikkelsen). If Bond wins, he can bring down an international terrorist network. If he loses (with the 10 million pound buy-in of the Crown's money), Bond and Great Britain will have directly financed global terrorism.
Keeping her eye on the money is Treasury official Vesper Lynd (Green), whose beauty and bitchery keeps Bond's eye on her.

In a word, this new Bond is GANGSTA! From the very cool, black & white opening where Bond earns his 00s to the action-smacked Venetian sequence in the end, Bond 2006 is a very unpolished one, a guy who wears crappy tropical shirts early on, gets hurt A LOT, and whose silently domineering ego runs amuck. "A blunt instrument" who has a jackhammer intelligence to him yet still a suave, enviable use of spycraft and technology, Craig's semi-brutish Bond has a swagger about
him at all times, even when he may be out of his depth as a rookie 00 agent – not too unlike the #1 collegiate draft pick on a pro team. More on him later.

As the 21st entry in the most successful film franchise ever, "Casino Royale" spends lavishly and wisely, living up to its glitzy title. The script is a luscious, character-driven actioner fashioned by Bond vets Neal Purvis & Robert Wade (Die Another Day) plus series newcomer Paul Haggis (who is just, oh, the reigning TWO-time Academy Award Screenplay winner – a first) that dares interrupted the girls, guns, and gaming to put Bond's ego and heart under a microscope. The party
line is that "Casino" shows how Bond became Bond, illuminating his beginnings as a (married) womanizing, daredevilish, borderline alcoholic. And it is all fascinating.

So, too, is Martin Campbell's assured, inventive direction. In complete command of his exotic locales, even more exotic talent (Parisian Green, Bosnian-born Ivana Milicevic, Italiana Caterina Murino), and good old fashioned, CGI-free stunts, Campbell employs a superb David Arnold musical score to add another layer of excitement to the proceedings.

His actors don't disappoint, either. Green exemplifies independently-minded sexitude, particularly in Vesper's VERY sexy first pas de deux with Bond on a train. The scene's a veritable chemistry set of two combustible, psychoanalytical intellects sparring verbally and visually in an attempt to psychosexually conquer the
other ("I'm the money," Vesper introduces herself. "Yes," purrs Bond. "Every penny."). Mads Mikkelsen's asthmatic Bond villain isn't your garden variety megalomaniac but just a finance geek, one who doesn't believe in God but does believe in "a reasonable rate of return" (he does have an eye that weeps blood, however; they had to give him SOMETHING, right?). Even Dame Judi appears rejuvenated, as her M no longer has a longstanding, personal history with Bond to be his cheerleader. To M, this new, untested 007 has an ego that needs to be
broken and he cannot be trusted until it has been.

But let's get to Craig. Daniel, Craig. His Bond is buffer than yours. He's a brawler, easily the most sculpted Bond ever (ladies, plenty of beefcake for you to dine on in this flick), and he still has a lot of rough edges, from his blocky, upright running style that looks a lot like a white Michael Johnson crossed with Tom Cruise to his
ferociously inexact hand-to-hand combat style. Yet Craig's low-key confidence, which he ramps up to a sublime, quietly unrepentant arrogance for Bond, muscles its way through the film as much as his ripped torso. It's essential to Bond's marathon poker scenes (he's hailed as the best cardsharp in the Service) where a player's ability to bluff and bully makes or breaks them. He handles the dry humor very much like his new, fruit-laced martini creation (he hasn't graduated to "shaken and stirred" ones yet) and emotes as believably as any Bond could in the most nakedly emotional James Bond film since the one where they murdered his wife (acted by one-off Bond George Lazenby - let's not say its name).

Add in the best filmed attempt at poker I can remember (yes, even better than "Rounders," in my estimation) and "Casino Royale" more than lives up to its name – it exceeds it.

@@@@ REELS
(FOUR REELS)
An urban legend/instant classic.

Like what you read? Agree/disagree with The Reel Deal? Think he's talkin' out his...HUSH YO' MOUF! (I'm only talkin' about The Reel Deal!) Email him at ReelReviewz@aol.com!

Edwardo Jackson is the author of the novels EVER AFTER and NEVA HAFTA, (Villard/Random House), a writer for UrbanFilmPremiere.com, and an LA-based screenwriter. Visit his website at www.edwardojackson.com




			BlackNLA Movie Reviews ***THE REEL DEAL: Reviewz from the Street*** by Edwardo Jackson BIASES: 30 (yikes!) year old black male; frustrated screenwriter who favors action, comedy, and glossy, big budget movies over indie flicks, kiddie flicks, and weepy Merchant Ivory fare CASINO ROYALE (PG-13) MOVIE BIASES: Sold. Pre Sold. MAJOR PLAYERS: Daniel Craig (Munich), Eva Green (The Dreamers), Judi Dench (Die Another Day), co-writer Paul Haggis (Crash), and director Martin Campbell (Goldeneye) I admit, I had my reservations about the new Bond. No, I'm not one of those hypersensitive, socially retarded, Internet mouth-breathers who devoted column inches in the blogosphere to protesting a new (gasp!) blond Bond. I was concerned that Brosnan's idyllically smooth Bond couldn't be matched by the talented, if less-heralded Daniel Craig. But that's the point. From seeing the first trailer to hearing worldwide pub from the producers' camp about rebooting Bond to a younger, rawer, newly double 0ed status, I bought in. The product of my intellectual and emotional purchase? Quite possibly one of the best Bonds (film and actor) of all time. Having sloppily achieved 00 rank in Britain's MI6 spy agency, James Bond's (Craig) first mission goes so awry due to his reckless, arrogant nature, his frustrated superior M (again, a truly superior Dame Judi Dench) puts him on leave. While on alleged holiday in the Bahamas, Bond starts a domino effect of events that lead him back to active duty, this time playing in a high stakes poker game with the premier terrorism financier, Le Chiffre (Mads Mikkelsen). If Bond wins, he can bring down an international terrorist network. If he loses (with the 10 million pound buy-in of the Crown's money), Bond and Great Britain will have directly financed global terrorism. Keeping her eye on the money is Treasury official Vesper Lynd (Green), whose beauty and bitchery keeps Bond's eye on her. In a word, this new Bond is GANGSTA! From the very cool, black & white opening where Bond earns his 00s to the action-smacked Venetian sequence in the end, Bond 2006 is a very unpolished one, a guy who wears crappy tropical shirts early on, gets hurt A LOT, and whose silently domineering ego runs amuck. "A blunt instrument" who has a jackhammer intelligence to him yet still a suave, enviable use of spycraft and technology, Craig's semi-brutish Bond has a swagger about him at all times, even when he may be out of his depth as a rookie 00 agent – not too unlike the #1 collegiate draft pick on a pro team. More on him later. As the 21st entry in the most successful film franchise ever, "Casino Royale" spends lavishly and wisely, living up to its glitzy title. The script is a luscious, character-driven actioner fashioned by Bond vets Neal Purvis & Robert Wade (Die Another Day) plus series newcomer Paul Haggis (who is just, oh, the reigning TWO-time Academy Award Screenplay winner – a first) that dares interrupted the girls, guns, and gaming to put Bond's ego and heart under a microscope. The party line is that "Casino" shows how Bond became Bond, illuminating his beginnings as a (married) womanizing, daredevilish, borderline alcoholic. And it is all fascinating. So, too, is Martin Campbell's assured, inventive direction. In complete command of his exotic locales, even more exotic talent (Parisian Green, Bosnian-born Ivana Milicevic, Italiana Caterina Murino), and good old fashioned, CGI-free stunts, Campbell employs a superb David Arnold musical score to add another layer of excitement to the proceedings. His actors don't disappoint, either. Green exemplifies independently-minded sexitude, particularly in Vesper's VERY sexy first pas de deux with Bond on a train. The scene's a veritable chemistry set of two combustible, psychoanalytical intellects sparring verbally and visually in an attempt to psychosexually conquer the other ("I'm the money," Vesper introduces herself. "Yes," purrs Bond. "Every penny."). Mads Mikkelsen's asthmatic Bond villain isn't your garden variety megalomaniac but just a finance geek, one who doesn't believe in God but does believe in "a reasonable rate of return" (he does have an eye that weeps blood, however; they had to give him SOMETHING, right?). Even Dame Judi appears rejuvenated, as her M no longer has a longstanding, personal history with Bond to be his cheerleader. To M, this new, untested 007 has an ego that needs to be broken and he cannot be trusted until it has been. But let's get to Craig. Daniel, Craig. His Bond is buffer than yours. He's a brawler, easily the most sculpted Bond ever (ladies, plenty of beefcake for you to dine on in this flick), and he still has a lot of rough edges, from his blocky, upright running style that looks a lot like a white Michael Johnson crossed with Tom Cruise to his ferociously inexact hand-to-hand combat style. Yet Craig's low-key confidence, which he ramps up to a sublime, quietly unrepentant arrogance for Bond, muscles its way through the film as much as his ripped torso. It's essential to Bond's marathon poker scenes (he's hailed as the best cardsharp in the Service) where a player's ability to bluff and bully makes or breaks them. He handles the dry humor very much like his new, fruit-laced martini creation (he hasn't graduated to "shaken and stirred" ones yet) and emotes as believably as any Bond could in the most nakedly emotional James Bond film since the one where they murdered his wife (acted by one-off Bond George Lazenby - let's not say its name). Add in the best filmed attempt at poker I can remember (yes, even better than "Rounders," in my estimation) and "Casino Royale" more than lives up to its name – it exceeds it. @@@@ REELS (FOUR REELS) An urban legend/instant classic. Like what you read? Agree/disagree with The Reel Deal? Think he's talkin' out his...HUSH YO' MOUF! (I'm only talkin' about The Reel Deal!) Email him at ReelReviewz@aol.com! Edwardo Jackson is the author of the novels EVER AFTER and NEVA HAFTA, (Villard/Random House), a writer for UrbanFilmPremiere.com, and an LA-based screenwriter. Visit his website at www.edwardojackson.com © 2004, Edwardo Jackson