Film Round-Up #24

Like many, I grew up watching the James Bond films. Roger Moore was the man in the tuxedo during my younger years but of course the Connery-era films continued to receive frequent screenings on TV as well, and I loved them all. It has been a while since I saw most of them though, so I figured it might be a decent opportunity to watch them all through again. Uncharacteristically, however, I have not started at the beginning but rather at the end, so here's a look at the four films (so far) to feature Daniel Craig's version of the world's most famous super spy!

Casino Royale (2006)

The first film for a new James Bond is always going to attract a lot of attention. Even more intriguingly in this case, it would be the first proper adaptation of Ian Flaming's first Bond novel. It begins just as Bond is earning his 00 status. Soon after, he inadvertently thwarts a dastardly plan by Le Chiffre (Mads Mikkelsen), an evil terrorist-funding banker. In an attempt to recoup his sizeable losses, Le Chiffre sets up a high stakes poker tournament - a tournament in which Bond is entered with instructions to win, or at least stop Le Chiffre from winning, with help from Mathis (Giancarlo Giannini) and CIA agent Felix Leiter (Jeffrey Wright). That doesn't mean the film is one long poker game though - we visit Uganda and Madagascar, then the Bahamas before arriving in Montenegro for the tourney, and also take in the sights of Venice too. Of course, Bond also finds time for some recreation by bedding Solange (Caterina Murino), a bad guy's wife, and Vesper Lynd (Eva Green).

The latter is a treasury agent who is there to protect the buy-in cash but, shockingly, it doesn't stay all business for long. There's some amusing banter between her and Bond, whom she of course finds obnoxious and reckless (but shags anyway), and her ample cleavage gets to help out during the poker game too. Despite some fantastic action scenes including a frenetic parkour-powered pursuit, a brutal hand-to-hand fight, an eye-watering torture scene, and a traumatic crash involving Bond's wonderful new Aston, it's the dramatic scenes that really make this new Bond stand out. Craig was a good choice for this new grittier take on the character and his first film is a gripping look at the early days of the no-nonsense secret agent as well as an interesting look at how he almost didn't become the hero we know so well to begin with. Mikkelsen and Green are also great in their respective roles and help make this one of the best Bond films of recent years. A fantastic start... 9/10

Quantum of Solace (2008)

The sequel arrived quite quickly for Bond film standards, and was also unusual in that it continued on from Casino Royale almost directly, with an angry Bond looking for revenge for the death of Vesper at the climax of that film. He is joined by Bolivian agent Camille Montes (Olga Kurylenko), who is on her own long-standing revenge mission after her family was killed when she was a young girl. Their targets converge when wealthy businessman and member of the secret organisation known as 'Quantum' (a.k.a. Spectre), Dominic Greene (Mathieu Amalric), deigns to assist exiled Bolivian general Medrano (Joaquín Cosío) return to power in his homeland in exchange for a seemingly barren piece of the Atacama Desert. Bond's vengeful rampage doesn't please M (Judi Dench) though, and after again enlisting the help of Mathis, he finds himself confronted by the amusingly-named consular staff member, Strawberry Fields (Gemma Arterton), who has orders to send him home.

Remarkably, she isn't able to make this happen (although she does fall into bed with him almost instantly) and so Bond and Camille are left to continue. It might sound like the film is set entirely within Bolivia but their Quests of Fury actually take in a surprising number of locales including Italy, Haiti, Austria, and Russia. There is more action than its predecessor (as well as more violence) including an opening car chase swiftly followed by an even more impressive rooftop pursuit and then a frantic speedboat chase, but at times it almost feels like that's all it is - an action film as opposed to the finely-crafted spy thrillers we've been used to over the years, and it wasn't as well received either. I've always thought people's apparent disdain was a bit harsh though - an action film it may be, but it's a bloody good one, and has enough elements of the usual Bond splendidness to keep most viewers happy. Perhaps the biggest problem was that it had Casino Royale to live up to... 7/10

Skyfall (2012)

There was a bit of a longer break this time, but Bond did of course return... briefly, only to get shot by a more arse-kicky version of Miss Moneypenny (Naomie Harris). Presumed dead, he boozes away a few months only to return in poor condition when the MI6 HQ is bombed. After struggling to get fighting fit, he sets out in pursuit of the only lead into the attack which takes him to Shanghai, then onto Macau. After nearly being eaten by a Komodo dragon, he meets the culprit in a spooky ghost town who turns out to be cyberterrorist Raoul Silva (a bleach-blonde Javier Bardem), a former MI6 agent who has something of a beef with his old boss M (Dench once again) whom he resents for disavowing him. With M identified as the target, Bond takes her to his family's creepy, deserted estate in the misty Scottish Highlands which is called... Skyfall (cripes!). No saving the world this time then!

Skyfall was, I believe, pretty well received by fans and is notable for several reasons. Not only does it introduce Moneypenny and Q (Ben Whishaw) to the series for the first time in the Craig era but it also gives us a more personal look at M and Bond himself, the former of whom is also under pressure from Gareth Mallory (Ralph Fiennes), chairman of the ISC, who aims to retire M and overhaul how the MI6 operates, making dinosaurs like Bond obsolete. As well as Moneypenny and Q (both of whom are great interpretations of the much-loved characters), there is more fanservice too - older fans will be pleased to see the classic silver Aston Martin DB5, for example (complete with gadgets), but probably the best thing about Skyfall is Bardem's charismatic bad guy. He doesn't get a huge amount of screentime but steals each scene he's in with ease. A slightly different format to the usual Bond fare then, but superbly entertaining and full of memorable moments... 8/10

Spectre (2015)

Our most recent visit to Bondville was three years ago now and its title was clear confirmation that we were heading in the direction hinted at earlier in the series - the dastardly Spectre crime syndicate is back! Bond, however, isn't sent to take them down as you might expect, and is instead suspended from duty after destroying half of Mexico City while following his own leads (unofficially of course) into the mysterious organisation in the film's superb opening sequence set during the Day of the Dead. Obviously, Bond disobeys the new M's (Ralph Fiennes) orders and, with Q's help, heads to the continent, taking in both Rome and Austria in his pursuit of Spectre. It is not a fruitless one but the ghastly Blofeld (Christoph Waltz) is already wise to Bond's self-imposed mission and sends his hulking brute of a henchman, Mr. Hinx (Dave Bautista), after him. He stills find time for some R&R though, naturally, shagging both the widow of a guy he killed (immediately after the funeral) and the daughter of former adversary Mr. White, Dr. Madeleine Swann (Léa Seydoux).

I believe there was perhaps a little more expectation from this entry in the series than some of the earlier ones and that was entirely down to the return of Spectre and the iconic Blofeld character who hadn't been seen properly since the 70's. Waltz was a good choice though, and it's nice to see a couple of nods to Donald Pleasence's famous version of the despicable villain. It is a very pretty film too, mainly thanks to Rome and Austria which look particularly gorgeous. The former hosts a superb car chase with Bond in his amazing new (and unofficially appropriated) Aston Martin and Hinx in some mental Jaguar concept car, and the latter features a crazy car/plane mountainside chase too. Despite this and the explosive opening, I still felt the film took a little while to get going and was not as immediately engaging as it's predecessor, and nor did it have as much emotional resonance overall, but it has some memorable set pieces, another fine performance by Craig, and a superb (if rather silly) final act, making it yet another decent Bond adventure... 7/10

Next stop: the Pierce Brosnan years which also consists of four films :)