The trailer for the latest James Bond movie, “Casino Royale” premiered last night and you can download it here. While I remain decidedly neutral on the casting of Daniel Craig as the latest incarnation of the secret agent with a license to kill, what really bugs me about “Casino Royale” is the return of Dame Judi Dench.
“Casino Royale,” the first Bond novel penned by Ian Fleming, has a rookie 007 going out on his first mission. This jibes with the studio’s line that this is a “fresh take” of the Bond franchise, ala “Batman Begins.” I’ve no problem with that. In fact, it sounds very cool. Where it jumps the shark for me is the return of Dench as M. Heretofore the Bond movies, sans “Never Say Never Again” and the spoof version of “Casino Royale,” were all part of the same continuity. So is this more a total reboot of the franchise — there never was a Goldfinger, a Dr. No, or Project Thunderball — and we flush all James Bond history to this point down the toilet? I do have a problem with that.
My largest concern over Craig isn’t his acting or even his blonde dew, it’s just that he doesn’t look the part to me. His craggy features and pouty lips are more like a male Laura Croft (“Tomb Raider”) than the suave, debonair spy that Fleming created all those years ago.
I admit I was thinking along similar lines when I saw the preview. Had it been just another Bond movie, I would have had no problem with Dench as M. But the character on film is rather firmly rooted in the 1960s, and if this is meant to be his first adventure, you can’t have a female M. The only alternatives are to recast a male M (seeing as both Bernard Lee and Robert Brown are now dead) or, as you said, to ignore all preexisting Bond history (except possibly the Brosnan films, which also starred Dench).
BTW, I’m sensing that Connery is your favorite Bond actor, seeing as all your “there never weres” come from his tenure. I’m still on the fence regarding Craig.
Ha! Got you!
My favorite Bond films are “From Russia With Love,” “Thunderball,” and “The Living Daylights.”
My favorite Bond is Brosnan, tied closely with Dalton (he mirrored the Bond of the novels perfectly) and then Connery. It’s a close 1-2-3 though.
Oh, back to the original point, I’m fairly surprised they didn’t recast the role of M. Is having Dench really that important in drawing an audience?
If they’re going to “reboot” the franchise then they should do so with full conviction. Keeping Dench seems to fly against the entire concept of “Casino Royale.”
absolutely agreed. dame dench, as lovely as she is, stands out, and makes my brain go, WTF? good-bye suspension of disbelief, good-bye immersion in the movie.
dalton, in the living daylights, is my favorite. brosnan isn’t quite as good, but he’s awfully charismatic, isn’t he? i place him equal or maybe a bit sub-par to connery.