Casino Royale Teaser: Get Excited

The teaser trailer for Casino Royale is up and running. I have mentioned before that I was looking forward to this film, but now I'm looking forward to winter, and it's not even the end of spring. Already, it is setting itself apart from all the Bond films before it, in at least two noticeable ways.The trailer opens up in black-and-white (as the film plans to) with some atmospheric shots and some moody dialogue between Bond and his boss:

M: This may be too much for a blunt instrument to understand... any thug can kill. I want you to take your ego out of the equation.

Bond: So you want me to be half-monk, half-hitman?

M: I knew it was too early to promote you.

Bond: Well I understand double-o's have a very short life expectancy.

Judy Dench's M has taken the tact of being the disapproving mother for Bond, as opposed to Bernard Lee's take, which was that of an understanding father figure. It was a very different approach for the interaction between the characters, partially instilled because of a politically correct desire to have a wagging finger at Bond's notorious promiscuity. Every film also had an additional character who would ask Bond if all the conquests were enough to silence the voices of the men he's killed, or something melodramatic like that. Usually Brosnan's Bond changed the topic or made a witty repast in those situations.

Daniel Craig's Bond doesn't so much duck the question or get snarky, but takes it head on. He bluntly (to borrow a descriptor from M) let's her know that it's his life being put on the line constantly, and that there's a good chance that there may not be much of that life to live. As such, the normal morays of society don't apply, so bugger off, thank you very much. It's a refreshingly direct approach to the character.Which leads right into the second. Daniel Craig's Bond, in the brief glimpses shown, is a different kind of Bond. As M said, a blunt instrument, but moreso I would say he is dangerous. This new Bond is feral, intimidating and lethal, and for the first time (yes, even including Connery) you get the feeling you don't want to go up against this guy. But you definitely will be lining up to see him in the theater.