I know what many of you are thinking. Who the hell is this new James Bond guy starring in Casino Royale? I know I’ve seen him somewhere before. Yes. Yes you have. You’ve seen him all over the place. His name is Daniel Craig, he’s talented and charismatic as all hell, and he’s the veteran of almost 50 films and television shows in his 14-year career (no small feat – that’s an average of at least 3 roles a year). But it’s only within the past two years that he’s really begun to be noticed by audiences over here in the states.

You’ve no doubt seen at least a half dozen of his films, movies like Elizabeth, Lara Croft: Tomb Raider, Road to Perdition and The Jacket. But let’s talk about a few of his more recent, larger and more prominent roles.

Layer Cake. This is the movie that made audiences stand up and take notice, earning him the roles you’re just now coming to know him by. A wonderfully dark, comic gangster film directed by Matthew Vaughn (producer of Guy Ritchie’s Gangster opuses Snatch and Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels). Craig simply owns this film as a small-time drug dealer trying to work his way up from the middle in the British criminal underworld. If you love a good crime film and you haven’t seen this yet, you’ve done yourself a great disservice, my friend, and you should go out right now and correct that grievous error.

Munich. When Steven Spielberg taps you for a role in his film, you damn well better take it and run with it. In Munich, Craig is almost unrecognizable as the team’s wheelman, the driver who’s got to get them in and out of their attacks in short order. This isn’t just Spielberg’s best film since Schindler’s List, it’s one of his best ever. Dark, brooding and heavy, this film has a lot to say. And even though Daniel Craig doesn’t – he still lends an amazing presence to the film.

Renaissance. Not yet released in this country, Craig lends his voice talent to this trippy, gorgeous, French Sci-fi film-noir animated film (yes, you read that right), which plays out like the bastard child of Blade Runner mating furiously with Ghost in the Shell. A bit slow for most audiences, sci-fi and animated film buffs will fall in love with the original look and feel of the film.

Infamous. In theatres now, this film is getting the snub from most audiences because it covers the same material as last year's Oscar-winning other film about Truman Capote, titled simply Capote. Despite the fact that this is the better, more accessable film for those who know little to nothing about Capote. Craig plays the sensitive, artistic murderer that Truman Capote falls in love with and turns in one of the best performances in his career. Equal parts sensitive, frightened and brutal, Craig churns out a raw intensity that showed me that this guy’s gonna be huge in the next few years. Even if you saw Capote, this one is absolutely worth tracking down.

Casino Royale. The guy is Bond. Really, really Bond. This is the Bond that Sean Connery referred to as being a bit of a bastard. Cold, methodical and arrogant, Craig plays Bond in a way no one has attempted before. All of the tongue in cheek softening of the character that happened when they transitioned the character from the printed page to the silver screen is scraped away, leaving a James Bond that feels exactly like the one from the early books. While some may not like their Bond without the camp, others, especially those turned off by the silliness of the Bond series, are gonna take to this in a big way. This is a true reinvention of James Bond, and Craig, if he sticks with it, will become the James Bond for a whole new generation – and may well be remembered as one of the best.

I love this guy. He’s got a wide range, a terrific screen presence that he can tone down enough to fall to the back when he needs to, and he puts power into everything he does. He hasn’t done his Academy Award film yet, but I’ve got a stiff fiver in my pocket that says the studios are lining up to give him one. Expect to see his name in the Best Actor category sometime in the next three to five years.

C. Robert Cargill
--------------------------------------
Check out a more "animated" Cargill at www.reeldealreviews.com

Austin-based Cargill, who "... not only loves, but owns, The Cutting Edge," writes on Movies and DVD two times a week.

Recommend (0)

|  Comments (0)

|  Email

|  Share

Share  Facebook Digg del.icio.us