Reel Rumbles #18 – “Casino Royale” vs. “The Bourne Identity”

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8 Responses

  1. Blake says:

    I have to agree, but I hated Bourne at first because it was such a departure from the book. I a far from unbiased.

  2. johnmason says:

    Casino Royale is better than The Bourne Identity, but not better than The Bourne Supremacy or The Bourne Ultimatum.

  3. Ah yes, it’s great to see a Reel Rumbles focus on the spy showdown that’s been nickering at my subconscious since I (belatedly) saw Casino Royale a while back.

    I say nickering because I don’t really mind making up words (although I just looked it up and it might have something to do with horses) and because I’m a devout fan of the Bourne series. I’m captivated by the chase scenes, the in-close scrapping, the gotcha moments, the characters, and even the theme music, and it made me a fan of Matt Damon, about whom I was more or less ambivalent before this role.

    I’ve never been a Bond guy. Not that I didn’t like it, but I just don’t have a history with it. Casino Royale was the first one I’ve seen for many years (I missed Brosnan’s, perhaps to my benefit, it would seem). But it was so well crafted, such a riveting balance of action and drama, that I was blown away.

    Therein lies my nickering. Casino Royale was good enough to be a landmark action movie for me, surely one of the best of its year — I’ll have to check my Flickchart for the specifics on that. But somewhere in the recesses of my mind, I realized that it was threatening Bourne and its sacred goodness. I don’t guess I’ve ever actually gotten the matchup on Flickchart, because I don’t know what I would’ve done.

    But that dovetails with a couple other considerations: it’s been a while since I’ve watched Bourne now, and I need a refresher; and when I rank, I tend to make one of the three movies the flag-bearer for the series (usually Ultimatum), which isn’t unique to Bourne for me. So to rank specifically Identity or Supremacy against Royale is tough. But when it comes to series, Quantum of Solace besmirches the good name of Casino Royale, unfortunately.

    This all naturally prompts a final question: who would win in a fight, Bourne or (Daniel Craig’s) Bond? An important consideration indeed.

  4. Fergus says:

    Bourne wins everyday for me.

  5. rosie1843 says:

    As much as I love “THE BOURNE IDENTITY”, I love “CASINO ROYALE” a lot more.

  1. December 16, 2010

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