the BLOND BOND is BLOODY GOOD

Call me CONVINCED.

BOND is BACK.
and how!

From the mesmerizing opening credits-
classic Bond-film style, but less cheesy;

the trademark shot of 007 firing into the camera
which starts of every film in the series;

the thrilling Bond theme music;

everything that you've grown up loving about 007
is all here in the first 5 minutes of CASINO ROYALE.

But so much grittier & bloodier
than you've ever seen.

Let all your reservations about this Blond Bond
come to rest; although I was rooting for Clive Owen,
Daniel Craig is The Man.

His Bond is not yet the gadget-laden gimmicky 007
we've enjoyed in the latter movies of the series;
His Bond is still James, newly promoted to Double-O status,
as Ian Fleming painted the agent in the original book.

This is Bond before he became
suave like Connery,
cartoonish like Moore,
dour like Dalton,
or slick like Brosnan.

Craig's Bond is an unfinished agent:
raw and inexperienced,
but definitely, already a KILLER.

Yet,
at this nascent stage of his career in espionage,
this 007 still shows vestiges of the human underneath;

and in that regard,
he's most like the overlooked, underrated
George Lazenby (the only 007 secure enough to wear a kilt)
in one of the best,
yet the least seen Bond movie ever:

On Her Majesty's Secret Service

And if you're looking for other Bond regulars,

no need to worry, they're all here:

Judi Dench is back as M. And make that M for Majestic!

Felix Leiter, CIA agent, is here as a "Brother from Langley".

The Aston Martin? Check!

Ms. Moneypenny? Listen closely, and you'll hear her.

Shaken, NOT Stirred Martinis? Do I look like I give a damn?

Well, watch the movie and find out for yourself...

It's one of the Best Bonds. EVER.

Sean's still tops for me,

but sorry Pierce, you're down to #3!

Here's the original cover of Ian Fleming's landmark novel:

And here's an excellent synopsis/review
of the very first Bond book
from www.amazon.com;


as you'll see,
the new film hews very closely to Fleming's story,
with only the italicized words below
changed & updated for the new film:



"M", head of the British Secret Service,
hands Commander Bond what appears on the surface
to be a posh assignment:
thwarting an enemy Russian spy, Le Chiffre,
in his attempt to win an exorbitant 50 million francs -

KGB funds which he had lost through an ill-advised investment
in a chain of brothels.

Agent 007 lives an intensely hard lifestyle,
and he's known to be the best gambler in the Service.

He's therefore assigned to break Le Chiffre's bank
at the baccarat tables of the Casino Royale, in the French Riviera.


SMERSH,
the Russian Secret Service in charge
of all diplomatic killings for the Fatherland,
is right on to Le Chiffre.

Though he's very desperate,
Le Chiffre happens to be a first rate baccarat player.

He plans on winning that 50 million francs at any cost,
employing a couple of potent assassins
enforced to help see it through.


Though James Bond must face Le Chiffre
as a force of one at the baccarat table,
he has his own team of assistants:

Rene' Mathis of the French branch,
American CIA agent Felix Leiter,
and the beautiful Vesper Lynd of the S branch of British Intelligence.

Vesper is officially the very first Bond girl -
and she utterly mesmerizes our master spy:
he sees her as an entity of wonder.

Truly,
this story does not own any of the qualities
that could easily be made into a movie.

But there's plenty of tension, plenty of action,
and quite a lot of romance to boot.

However the tension is mainly in the climatic card game,
which, minus the author's excellent descriptive prose,
would appear tedious on the screen;

the action is definitely intense,
but includes a harrowing torture scene
which should not be witnessed by the squeamish;

and without the advantage of
being able to follow the thoughts of our hero,
a film version of this story might easily cause the romance
to appear as carelessly thrown in.


Vesper's an intriguing Bond Girl, though.
Her fateful role exacts a twisted surprise ending,
whicch inevitably sets the tone and atmosphere
of Bond's future relationships with women.


This is perhaps the only book of the series wherein Bond
takes a good, hard look at the moral portents
of his own place in his profession -
sort of a teasing glimpse into the window of his heart -
but only that peek -

as it seems thereafter shut fast and hard.

Keen, sharp, dark and moody:
James Bond remains ever the quintessential Man of Mystery.