Okay, I'm weighing in on this thread 6 pages into it. So guess what? I've NEVER seen a James Bond movie...I knew something of the classic themes (the music, the gadgets, the Astin Martin cars, the action sequences, the women) but I didn't really care I guess.
Well, I had heard Casino Royale was really good, and had a gut feeling about it so I went and saw it on Sunday -- and LOVED it! I can't compare of course, but having heard from my friend what the others are like (the never getting his tux mussed up, the flirtation with M's secretary, the beginning always being an action sequence, etc) I think this was a fantastic choice for my first Bond.
I loved Daniel Craig as Bond. I agree with whomever said he runs as beautifully as an Olympic sprinter, and oooh, that chest, and mmmm, those eyes. How did all the other Bonds manage to pull off being so sexy without those two things? Not to mention seeming super-human without the buffness?
I agree that the train scene with Vesper and Bond was fabulously written and entertaining as hell. I like how Barb said it's a look at how Bond begins. Whenever a new actor takes the role though, aren't there explanations or re-doings of the Astin Martin acquirement and martinis and such? And I missed how the martini thing came to be a favorite here -- I thought it was just already a given that he liked them.
The construction site scene is amazing -- and if that person who mentioned parkour is talking about this new "game" where people (mostly teens and young adults I think, mostly male) take on the landscapes of cities as if they are obstacle courses, running, vaulting, jumping and sliding over the various walls/stairs/ramps/etc, then that is what I was thinking too when I watched it. Pretty effin cool.
Okay, has anyone mentioned the walk yet? I don't know if that is how Daniel Craig walks anyway but that has got to be the sexiest man-walk I've ever seen. Like a panther. Yowza!
Re: going homo-erotic -- now that shows some serious originality and ahead-of-his-time thinking for someone just beginning to play Bond....if the naysayers can't take it that he's blond, "too short," and gets blood on his tux, then homoeroticism would be major blasphemy for them.
I can't wait for the next one, and I agree it seems there is a sequel in the air...
Go Daniel Craig and the new James Bond!
p.s. thanks for the pics Lucise! Esp. the last one -- oh. my. god. (I think this shot is the 00's version of early 80s Bo Derek in "10."
p.p.s. I never saw the Zodiac trailer -- must have been in the restroom. Wah!