I've just gotten back from watching Casino Royale in Gold Class and I feel the need to quickly blog my impressions and thoughts of the movie before they permanently escape from my brain. Insert the usual warnings about spoilers here, but i'll try my best to make my points without ruining the plot at all.

I guess if I had to sum up my view on the film in one sentence it would have to be: It was a great movie, but it wasn't a Bond movie.

It had a great plot, great actors, and i would have to say it is one of the best Action/Thrillers that I have seen in recent history, but the movie just wasn't a Bond film, and right now I'm not totally sure if that is a good or a bad thing.

Firstly, the intro to the movie with the opening credits, although well done, did not contain any of the usual James Bond naked-but-cleverly-covered ladies dancing and swimming etc that has been done in just about every Bond film I can remember (and I have seen them all), which is a massive break in tradition. Starting just from that the film did not seem like a James Bond one.

Secondly, and most notably for myself, the James Bond theme (the music that is) is not present anywhere in the movie except for the last 5 seconds and the closing credits. WTF? That more than anything else made it definitely not seem like a Bond film.

Thirdly, Daniel Craig just doesn't cut it as Bond. It's not just his looks, but the looks are definitely important though, and he just doesn't have the Bond look: blonde hair and blue eyes cannot ever pull off James Bond. Although there were glimpses of the Bond swagger and charm, I just didn't feel it in the movie. Plus his accent just wasn't right, it almost sounded American, and it was far from the sophisticated British accent that Bond just has to have.

The usual Bond one-liners were there, but were way too far between and not nearly present enough, although the ones they did have were quality and were far more discrete and humorous than they have had in the immediately previous Bond movies.

Now I know that this movie is meant to be a prequel, and the desire to 're-introduce' Bond in this movie was more than evident, but there just weren't enough similarities to convince me that it had more than just coincidental ties to the James Bond legacy.

I think i'll leave my analysis of the movie at that, but definitely go see it and make up your own mind.

You might have noticed earlier that I said we saw the movie in Gold Class. We have seen a movie in Gold Class before, but that was at the Indooroopilly cinemas and I was less than impressed at the time. Using vouchers that were given to us for some forgotten occasion long ago which were expiring soon, this time we went to the Garden City cinemas.

This experience was definitely more of a 'Gold Class' feel, the waiting area was bigger and better, the staff were nicer and friendlier, the food and the seats were great, and to touch it off, the movie just suited the occasion. Very happy with that indeed, but I wouldn't actually pay for it myself.

I've got a bit more stuff to blog, but I think I'll leave it for a later, more saner, time.