Sunday, March 11, 2007
Casino Royale vs 300So what the hell does 300 have to do with Casino Royale, and vice versa? The answer is nothing. I just happen to watch both movies in the same day, that's all, and liked both.
Let's start with Casino Royale. As we all know, it's the 21st James Bond movie if you don't count Never Say Never Again, which isn't an official James Bond movie, and let's just leave the production politics out of this. The first thing you have to know about Bond movies is that they are guy movies. How so? Well, as you probably would've noticed if you're smart enough, James Bond is the kind of character that they always use these words to describe,
"Women want him, and men want to be him."
So he's a hero that couldn't save the world more than he already has. He's charming, handsome, sleek, smooth, smart, athletic, and in some occasions, vengeful. However, I regret to report that the new (5th) actor they had chosen to play the role of James Bond, Daniel Craig, fits none of the above descriptions. Then again, this is no ordinary Bond movie either. Let me explain.
Casino Royale is the first of Ian Fleming's Bond novels, and the story revolves around a much younger, more reckless, more arrogant and more hot-headed James Bond. Being newly promoted to the Double-O status, young Bond did things the shoot-first-ask-questions-later method, causing endless problems for his superiors as well as himself.
As a movie, I can see nothing wrong about it. The story, typical of regular Bond movies, is about Bond trying to save the world, and in this case, it involves a game of Hold'em Poker, which makes it a rather interesting story, unlike other bond movies that revolves around diamonds, nukes and other stuffs related to terrorism. I guess the only problem with this movie is still Daniel Craig himself. Here's a photograph of Craig:
Well as you can see here, while he's not horrifyingly ugly, he's not exactly Bond material now, is he? Of course, his eyes are beautifully blue, and his hair gorgeously blonde, but that does not make him the best looking Bond, does it? His head is rather round, his eyes "beagled", his nose is... well, fairly rounded, and that smirk on his face... He's more of a Le Chiffre (the main villain in Casino Royale, in case you're wondering) than James Bond, wouldn't you think?
And besides that, what do we usually look for in Bond movies? Right, Bond girls. In this movie I'd say both Eva Green and Caterina Murino are beautiful, but I don't know why Eva Green keeps reminding me of 毛舜筠 (Mo Shun Gwan), a Honkie actress. Here are photos of both:
Well, see the resemblence?
Of course, one of the most important elements in Bond movies is the Bond mobile. Throughout the history of James Bond movies, Bond mobiles has always been British sports cars, including Aston Martins and Lotuses (or is it "Loti"?), and in several occasions, the Bimmers (Z8 and M5, if I remember correctly). In this movie, it's the Aston Martin DBS.
Now ain't she a beauty?
Well, too bad, Bond crashed it, setting a Guinness World Record for most cannon rolls in a car by completing 7 turns. And the most saddening part of the story? They crashed not 1, but 3 DBSes just to achieve that crash! Man, that ain't no way to treat an Aston, yo! Why couldn't they just use CG or something?
Anyways, it's a terrible shame that the Aston only appeared like... 2 times before it crashed. When James Bond's love interest Vesper Lynd was kidnapped, he jumped into the Aston and sped off along the curvy country roads, and just when we were anticipating an exciting car chase, Bond crashed the car to avoid running over Vesper Lynd who was left tied up in the middle of the road. Even though it's a shame the Aston had to die, the crash was very well excuted and very believable.
So, overall, I'd give a rating of 7 to Casino Royale. Out of 10, of course. Despite Daniel Craig, I'd say this is a proper James Bond movie. The motion graphics of the intro is very nice, too.
Alright, finally we're done with Casino Royale, let's move on, then, to 300.
Right, so basically, 300 is a movie based on Frank Miller's graphic novel, 300. The story is about King Leonidas of Sparta who sparked a conflict between Sparta and Persia because he refused to surrender his country to the Persian King Xerxes who has an army massive and strong enough to conquer half the globe.
King Xerxes. You can see from his elaborate makeups and piercings that he means business.
However, on seeking the blessing of the high priests, the Oracle (sort of like an impersonation of the Gods) prophecized the fall of Sparta, and because it was Sparta's law that the King must follow the words of the Oracle, the King was forbidden to wage war against the Persians. However, being determined to protect his land against invasion, Leonidas brought along 300 of the finest Spartans as his personal bodyguards for a "stroll" to the Hot Gates, the northern part of Sparta.
Gerard Butler as King Leonidas and the sexy Oracle
This is how you create the falling dominoes effect by the cliffs.
There, Leonidas chose to place his 300 at a bottle neck at the entrance to Sparta where the massive number of Persian army would be rendered useless because of the hiatus in the path. There, they fought boldly and intelligently, successfully killing thousands and thousands of Persians until Ephialtes, a deformed but spared Spartan betrayed Leonidas by leading the Persians to a small goat path that enabled them to surround the Spartan elites, leading to the death of Leonidas and his 300 finest soldiers.
Overall, what I can tell you about this movie is that it is very beautiful. The story is rather simple. However, the screenplay and CG effects were extremely fascinating. I especially liked the part with the charging rhino, even though it had yet to show us its powers before it died at the feet of one of the Spartans. Everything was made to look almost the same as Frank Miller's graphic novel, and it was a success. Not only had they created magnificent backgrounds by replacing the blue screens, they had also taken care of all those minute details, including the lightings and all. It's an excellent movie. 8 out of 10.
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