James Bond reboot? Casino Royale trailer is online

[trekgeezer]

Okay, I guess this is a reboot from the conversations in the trailer . Looks like this is his first "00" mission.

I'm not sure about Daniel Craig, but I know I didn't like the firing of Pierce Brosnan. Craig does look like a very dangerous character though.

Casino Royale trailer

[dean]

I'll watch the trailer when I have the time, but Casino Royale was the first Ian Fleming Bond novel, so it would be just plain stupid to not have it Bond's first missions, since that was a large part of the novel.

I really liked Brosnon as Bond, but after seeing Layer Cake, I think Craig definitely has the personality to pull off Casino Royale.  Whilst I'm a big Bond fan, the Bond series has been stale for the last few outings, and just had no substance.  I'm hoping that Casino Royale will fix that, by making an entertaining film but also a darker, more brooding Bond of which I think we need more of.

[Mr_Vindictive]

Saw the trailer for this Thursday night while watching Nip/Tuck.  Looks like a blast in my opinion.  It's actually the first Bond film I've gotten excited about in a long time.  I'm a huge fan of Daniel Craig's work in Layer Cake and I have absolutely no doubt that he will be great in this.  I was never that big on Pierce Brosnan.  He was smooth and all, but his "Bond" just never worked for me.

[Yaddo 42]

It's been years since I read a Bond novel, I know Casino Royale was the first book, but was the story his "first mission" say within the Bond narrative universe? I read way back, and I don't think I still have my copy.

Reboot Bond, interesting idea, but not sure if treating this film like his first mission works for me, especially since it appears to be a contemporary film. Maybe if they call it the first mission for this "Bond".

See, my personal way of explaining the different actors playing Bond is that "James Bond" is the identity that comes with the "007" designation, call it a cover identity or job title. That the name James Bond is always there and that the agent picked to become "007" then lives his life as "James Bond" until killed, retired, or removed from the assignment and he must verse himself in what has gone before, mkaing himself aware of what any other agents who has been "James Bond" has experience during his time as 007. I figure/pretend Her Majesty's Secret Service does the same for all of the "00" agents. Kind of like what they seem to do with having replacement "M"'s and "Q"'s, only all involved are to never refer to the "new Bond" or "your predecessor" like they often do with say "M" or promoting John Cleese's "R" up to be the new "Q".

Kind of roundabout explanation for escapist entertainment, but I think I came up with it either trying to explain to people I knew how Timothy Dalton could play a Bond villain in a hypothetical film (I think he'd make a great Bond villain). We've seen other "00"s turn bad and die in the course of missions. Or maybe I just like the idea of David Niven's "real Bond" in the spoof "Casino Royale" from the 60s being annoyed at what they had done with his good name when they got that "other man" to take over.

Craig as Bond? I say give him a shot, I was hoping for Clive Owen at one time. but after Layer Cake and Munich, Craig seems to have potential.

[Shadowphile]

If tghey run out of story ideas all they need to do is film the books.  All they kept were the titles.  Except for Octop***y.  There was an obique reference made to the short story of the same name.

[dean]

Hmmm... some were changed a fair bit from the books, but others like Goldeneye and From Russia With Love recreated them fairly well.  Out of all the book to film adaptations, the one that always bugged me the most was You Only Live Twice.  The others I can forgive [by comparison of course].  Sure the film on it's own wasn't too bad, but it was too different from the novel version, which was much much better.

Anyways, I'm just cranky because I just tried to load the trailer and it didn't work.  I'll have to try again later...

[Yaddo 42]

They used the post-Fleming Bond novels (authorized by the estate) very little, are any of them any good? I've heard the one written by Kingsley Amis, "Doctor Sun" I believe, is pretty good. I have one of the others I picked up years ago around here somewhere, I've skimmed a few pages but never made a serious effort to read it.

I got the impress in the later films still based on books from the series they were just cherrypicking details they liked or thought they could use, like "For Your Eyes Only" which was a collection of unrelated Bond short stories. I saw someone, Michael Wilson possibly, say that the books they had rights to (at the time) had been pretty picked over as source material. Maybe that part of the point of the reboot. Figuring if it works for Batman or Superman, why not Bond. There are young fans now who seem to have never seen any Bond film before Brosnan or possibly Dalton, much less read the books, the short-sighted ungrateful little brats. Yeah, there's some mild stinkers in the Moore era (especially when he got too comfortable in the role); but dammit, there gold in those old films too. Even casual fans seem to be finally coming around that "One Her Majesty's Secret Service" is one of the better films, and might have been the best if Connery had done it.

[Gerry]

dean Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Hmmm... some were changed a fair bit from the
> books, but others like Goldeneye and From Russia
> With Love recreated them fairly well.  

Ian Fleming never wrote a book titled GOLDENEYE.  I believe the movie was named after Ian Fleming's estate or something like that. The movie was based on a completely original (as far as that can be said) screenplay.  Now GOLDFINGER on the other hand was very close to the book.

[dean]

Oops, tired old me wrote Goldeneye instead of Goldfinger.  Although I do have a certain fondness for Goldeneye, typo or not.  But yes, Goldeneye and in fact quite a few of the early Bond films were quite close to the books, with a few notable exceptions like Dr No's death.  Now being buried under a pile of bird poo is a much more dramatic way to die, than slowly slipping...  

Also, the novel adaptation of Tommorrow Never Dies is actually not half bad.  Anyways, I'll make another attempt to view the trailer a little later.