rich_jacko

Yes, sorry, it's another Casino Royale review, which

grok_mctanys and I went to see on Monday night. But I'm only writing this because I wanted to ask, am I the only person who thinks this film was overrated?

Don't get me wrong. It was good; it just didn't live up to the hype. Daniel Craig makes a really good Bond, and I like that he occasionally gets beaten up and that we get to see the vulnerable and human side of him.

But I miss the theme tune and the massive set-pieces, and I think the film-makers did too. There were several one-on-one fights that threatened to get bigger but never quite managed it, and the theme music kept almost breaking out but not quite. Despite having fight scenes bolted on to all sides, the film never quite managed to disguise the fact that it was an action movie centered around - not a nuclear missile or a giant space laser - but a card game.

So whilst it was fun, it was also forgettable. Hardly the OMG-it's-the-best-Bond-flick-EVAH!!! that everyone seems to be making it out to be. I'm neither surprised nor bothered that a tap-dancing penguin has trounced it in the US.

The fight near the start is a classic example of the point I'm trying to make. All that leaping around a construction site (or "Parkour" as all the cool kids are calling it nowadays) was very well done and a highly entertaining action sequence. But it was nothing I haven't seen Jackie Chan, Jet Li or Tony Jaa do a dozen times before, and to hear people go on about it you'd think it was The Most Amazing Set Of Stunts Ever Seen On Screen In The History Of Anything Ever.

What do I know about these "franchise reboots" anyway? After all, I thought Batman Begins wasn't a patch on the two Tim Burton movies. So over to you guys...

[Poll #872783]