Casino Royale: Brutality and Reality vs. Emotion
By Guest Writer
- Lord of War and Iron Man
- Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull: Raiders of the Lost Art
- Rescue Dawn: The Missing . . . Ingredient
- The Bourne Ultimatum: Nausea and the Ethics of Cinematic Violence
- The Bourne Identity: Iron Sharpens Iron
- The Bourne Supremacy: Good Spies, Bad Spies, Amoral Spies
I vividly remember my very first James Bond movie. I was sleeping over at a friend’s house, and her older brother and his friends were watching a movie while we did girly things in the other room. As I walked by, I paused to watch…entranced…as James Bond and his beautiful sidekick stormed into a home. The suspense mounted until I was crouched just outside the door, to avoid notice by the boys, who would probably have sent me away. I watched as Bond discovered the body that according to the killer had “disagreed with something that ate him”. I will never forget my horror and morbid fascination.
The “new” Bond is gutsier and grittier than the previous Bonds. The stunts are still incredible, but less impossible than previously. I like it. I realized that brutality and grittiness are key ingredients in a satisfying Bond movie.
The emotional involvement between Bond and Vesper added a dimension to the movie that I haven’t seen in recent memory. It drew me towards a secondary conclusion that in real life, as in movies, sometimes the only thing that softens the brutality around us and makes violence tolerable is the fact that we can reach out to those around us and know that love still exists, too.
The balance between brutality and emotion is a delicate one, often ignored in film. Often unnecessary in film. Think Blade (1998), then compare to Bond films. The balance between reality and emotion is also a delicate one, often ignored in life. But never unnecessary. The main reason that anyone should see this movie is because an effort was made to humanize and emotionalize James. The blood, guts, and stunts will be a huge bonus, too.
by Kristine De La Cruz
Posted by Guest Writer at December 2, 2006 6:27 PM