The most sickening word in the English Language

[Gatac]

Ha! Now you've jinxed it.

* I actually miss Q, too. But Desmond's dead, I didn't like Cleese doing it, and really, I think we should let that one go.

* Well, a habit has to start somewhere, doesn't it? According to the book, he gets to insist on the whole "Shaken not Stirred" thing precisely to prevent future poisonings.

* Because he's the terrorist Le Chiffre hired to blow up the airliner. When Bond took him down, he had to hire the other guy, but Bond was able to foil that by knowing a part of the plan Le Chiffre had prepared (the code to get past the security door). That ruins Le Chiffre's investment plan, and THAT kicks off the casino plot.

It's actually fairly straightforward if you pay attention to the scene before the chase, where Bond sees our parcour master receive the SMS with the password / code.

* Shit happens. I actually liked that touch - made it seem more like real gear and not the flawless gadgets we've become used to.

* He's confident that it won't come bite him in the ass. Only it does, once more establishing the central theme of the movie: Bond has to work to get things done. He's almost there on the "cool hyper-competence", but not quite. No more cakewalks.

* If M didn't trust Bond, she'd have him wash out. She's certainly not 100% behind him, but no matter the tongue-lashing she gives Bond about the chase, it's clear that it's more about the situation itself getting out of control than Bond's actions. He's merely the most convenient target for her anger, but really, MI6 screwed that one up with support personnel lacking in stealth and manpower. There wouldn't have been a chase if they'd sent more people to take the guy down.

M's complaints, though - that's like shouting at your cats for scratching your couch. It's what they do, to a certain extent. Bond had to catch parcour guy. He wanted to do it stealthy, the guy got spooked, Bond had to improvise and his first thought was to the mission, not the exposure.

As I said above in the chase scene, Bond does score one for the home team in getting the password - the way he does it isn't smooth, but it works. Bond in Casino Royale is much more about powering his way through obstacles, and that's exactly the refinement M wants to give him. That's where he'll grow. As for the poker playing, that's what we call a mission-critical skill. It's absolutely imperative that the agent they send can hold his own against Le Chiffre - you don't send your second-best man for that. The misgivings and reservations M still has don't detract from the fact that Bond is a damn good field agent by any measure, and it's silly to bench him for a screw-up that isn't even, strictly speaking, his fault.

Anything else?

Gatac

[ijdgaf]

Good job. I might have simply replied to all with a different philosophy. Simply put, Casino Royale is a character piece (with a few huge action set pieces thrown in for good measure, sure). You can nitpick it if you want with your Trek-refined nerd ray. But you're sort of missing the point in the process. It's about watching the humble, flawed beginnings of a character. Somebody who's basically an archetype in the first twenty movies is actually given motivations and realistic direction to allow him to become (more or less) the character we all know and love.

[Nate the Great]

Hey, you can't slam Cleese. He only got one shot at doing a "real" Q. The first time he was R, still getting his bearings. In Die Another Day he was great, or at least as great as someone other than Desmond could do.

Q: You should be able to shoot through that in a couple of hours.
Bond: Only took a few seconds, Q.
Q: I wish I could make you Vanish.

My point is just that there HAS to be another poker player at MI6. Maybe only 90% of Bond's talent, but one who's better qualified and more trustworthy.

As for the defribulator pack, it was too complicated to trust to anyone who needs the thing to use. What, they can't just have a removable backing to reveal adhesive to stick the WHOLE THING onto your chest. Whap the Big Red Button (TM) and zap away.

I'm all for incompetancies as a 00 agent licensed to kill, but the tell thing should be part of the beginning course. Don't reveal secrets about your enemies to anyone other than direct superiors while a mission is underway. He could just say "I know his tell" and move on. What, Leitner wouldn't have trusted him to leave at that?

[Gatac]

I can slam Cleese all I want. It's our national sport!

*cough* Really, though. Don't like him as Q.

Better qualified? I shudder to think of the man at MI6 who's got more raw competence than 007. I don't think the "James Bond is a maverick, but he gets results, and that's why he does all the important stuff" theme is new to the movies.

Seeing how I don't know the intricacies of defibrillator construction, I'm perfectly fine pretending that the wires and pads are there for a reason.

Aw, come on. Does James Bond ever *not* brag? It was either that or a bad Poker-related pun/quip. Also, I'm relatively certain that the producers thought the concept of a "tell" might need more exposition. Now that I look at the scene, I could've done without it, but I didn't even notice until you mentioned it. So, eh.

Gatac

[Burt]

Originally Posted by Gatac

I can slam Cleese all I want. It's our national sport!Gatac

Really?
Ok.
Just don't don't mention the war.

[Nate the Great]

No, you can't slam Cleese! Putting aside Monty Python, he's still a Britcom icon and a world-class comedian in his own right.

"I shudder to think of the man at MI6 who's got more raw competence than 007. I don't think the "James Bond is a maverick, but he gets results, and that's why he does all the important stuff" theme is new to the movies."
Okay, that's "prime of his career" 007. Casino Royale 007 is a newbie to the whole 00 thing. He's supposed to be trained, but not unstoppably competant.

[ijdgaf]

My single biggest complaint about the movie is the silly back-and-forth "explain it to the retarded audience" bit between Vesper and the traitor guy during the audience. Struck me as lazy storytelling and not giving the audience enough credit.

My second biggest complaint is all the Sony product placement. Jeez, we get it Sony.

Other than that, I got nothing.