James Bond’s newest adventure Spectre hits theaters today so it’s time to celebrate. Over at CinemaSins, the guys celebrate by making fun of the Daniel Craig James Bond films. Rude! When Casino Royale was released back in 2006, it was heralded by fans and critics alike as a rebirth for the James Bond franchise. It was a great film that everybody loved. Well, maybe it’s not quite as good as you remember.
The one thing that this video makes perfectly clear is that the whole Texas Hold ’Em craze was utterly out of hand by this point, but we just hadn’t noticed yet. The commentary on the poker matches during the movie sinning is actually rather insightful. We never see Bond stay in with a small pair and fail to make the set (not trips, it’s called a set). His hand is always an obvious hand to play or utter crap. CinemaSins has a standing rule that states that "you need to read the books" is not a valid argument ever and in generally we agree but our biggest problem with the movie, and this was at the time, was that they replaced the game they actually play in the novel, baccarat, with poker. We know nobody, especially in America, has any idea how to play baccarat but screw them. It’s an infinitely sexier game, and that’s the point, right? The poker scenes actually make the movie feel dated now. Nobody cares about Texas Hold ‘Em anymore. Nobody cared about baccarat ever, but that would make it timeless.
As with many of these fun videos, the movie being sinned is actually pretty good overall. The poker game is seriously overdone, but the return of the series to more realistic roots was a welcome change of pace. Daniel Craig really is a very good Bond, and Eva Green is... well, Eva Green is Eva Green, which is all anybody ever need ask of her. Part of what made Casino Royale so good was simply the surprise of it. After Pierce Brosnan’s run as the character had devolved into an absolute cartoon, Craig’s version was refreshing to say the least. Craig has been a fairly solid James Bond (we’re all just pretending Quantum of Solace never happened, right?) and while Spectre doesn’t appear like it’s going to be the runaway smash that Skyfall was, it looks to be at least a solid outing for what may be Craig’s last ride.
Did this make you rethink your opinion? Is Casino Royale as good as you remember? Are you looking forward to checking out Spectre?
