CASINO ROYALE RULEZ!!!

Brian & I saw CASINO ROYLAE last night and it was SOOOO GOOD!!!

A qulifier, though... I love the Bond novels! It is concievable that someone who only likes, say, the campiest, silliest Roger Moore era Bonds might not enjoy this movie as much. The character Jaws is not in this, and no vehicles turn into other vehicles.

But if you like the more realistic, darker Bond, then you should really enjoy this reboot of the series!

Martic Campbell directed CASINO ROYALE. He also directed GOLDENEYE, which not only introduced Pierce brosnan as Bond but also brought the franchise back from obscurity! hen he directed THE MASK OF ZORRO, which brought the character of Zorro to new audiences!

Campbell RULES!!! The man knows how to tell a story, and how to tell it WELL! And he brings humanity to these superhero types of characters! (Not just him, obviously... First and foremost the writers, then the actors... But the director can certainly muck it up! Did you see X-MEN 3: THE LAST SAND?)

When I kid Roger Moore was Bond. And I dug him because he was Bond. As a kid I had no interest in Sean Connery because... well... I was A KID, and he was the "old Bond" the Bond my father prefered, lol. And Roger Moore had a car that turned into a submarine!

But then I got a little older (and a bit more open-minded) and my dad pointed out that Sean Connery had a car with an ejection seat and guns and a bullet-proof shield in the back! So I watched GOLDFINGER... over and over and over and over.

Okay, so Dad knows a thing or two about Cool. I'm all ears.

Well then he tells me that Bond was originally books, but that the movies are different than the books. A Lot! He prefers the books because they're mysteries, though he enjoys the movies too.

Bond was ORIGINALLY a literary character?! Well then I goota check out the originals!

The ORIGINAL Bond was a badass!!! He smoked and drank whiskey and killed people! Not like shoot them once and they fall down dead Storm-Trooper style, but KILLED THEM! Sometimes he used his bare hands! And sometimes the bad guys caught him! And tortured him! But Bod never gave up the info!

So in my teens I was able to embrace a world with "Alternate Universe" Bonds. here's the literary james Bond, and there's the cinematic james Bond. Both are fun, just in different ways.

Then in the late 1980s Timothy Dalton was announced as the new Bond. And he said he was gonna go Old School!

And since I was familiar with the novel, I knew what that meant and I was EXCITED!!! Bond the assasin, rather than Bond the superhero!

And I like the Dalton Bond movies. They were poorly directed, so most people just walked away going "He's not as good as the other guys" but it WASN'T Dalton's fault! If you can separat his performance from all the rest of the movie, HE KICKED ASS!!!

Then they announced Pierce Brosnan as the successor to Dalton.

I was disappointed.

I LOVE Brosnan's work, all of it! But I felt like they were just doing it because he played a Bond-like character at the start of his career. But Remington Steele was only superficially Bond-like... He was stylish and suave, but he wasn't that bright and he CERTAINLY wasn't a cold-blooded assasin!

But then I saw GOLDENEYE!!! And alfears melted away! I like all of Brosnan's Bonds. THE WORLD IS NOT ENOUGH is weak -- like Moore's OCTOPUSSY or Conery's NEVER SAY NEVER AGAIN -- but that's no fault of Brosnan's! Brosnan's Bond can seduce a random hotty in a casino, or kill a man with his bare hands and not shed a tear.

So when I heard about Daniel Craig taking over the Walther PPK, I DID NOT protest.

First of all, I knew that Campbell was returning to do this movie! A good director makes sure he has a good cast and a good script. Good directors KNOW they can't polish a turd, ya know?

Second of all, I protested Brosnan, and then he became my favorite Bond. (Though I will ALWAYS respect and admire Timothy Dalton's contribution to the character, and I just WISH he could have starred in a Martin Campbell Bond flick!!! He'd STILL be Bond if Campbell had directed LICENSE TO KILL!)

So this new Bond was blonde. SO WHAT? At least he's not American. THAT would be a poor choice. (Although I believe George Lazenby is Australian, and he was my favorite Bond for a long time!)

The REALLY important issue is that BOND IS BOND! Finally movie audiences can experience the Bond that literary audiences have been able to enjoy since the 1950s!

This Bond is a real flesh-and-blood man, but he's smart and skilled... AND FALLIBLE!!! This Bond makes mistakes! And learns from them!!!

Sorry if I'm going on a bit, but I LOVED this movie, and I hope it makes a killing at the box office and Daniel craig is Bond for a long, long time!!!

LONG LIVE BOND, JAMES BOND!!!