Casino Royale Theme: You Know My Name - Chris Cornell

I'm not that big of a James Bond fan but I respect the franchise. Think about it: a more or less Hollywood film franchise with a British hero that has lasted 40 years and still makes an impact on the culture. It's pretty incredible that these films are still so popular.

The last few films, however, have only been passable. Pierce Brosnan was a darn good James Bond but the movies seemed flat. Even lovely Halle Berry in Die Another Day wasn't enough to save that clunker. In fact, you knew it wasn't going to be that great going in just because of that awful Madonna song!

I like Madonna (her old stuff, at least) but that DAD theme was not happening. I appreciate that she went somewhere other than the Shirley Bassey route but a poor excuse for techno does equal Bond in my ears. While I'm not big on Bond movies, I LOVE the openings. Full of sexy women in nude silhouettes mixed with guns and killer visuals and awesome music, Bond openings are often more fun than the movies themselves. The last opening was interesting as we saw Brosnan Bond being tortured during the opening, but I'd have preferred a slightly more traditional opening and a much more traditional song.

So its pleasant for me to feel that this new Bond movie, Casino Royale, the film in which we see the beginnings of Bond, looks to be the best Bond film in years. And it's even better to hear this brand new Bond theme. It's a rarity in that instead of having a woman sing, they chose Chris Cornell, ex lead vocalist of Soundgarden and Audioslave, to create the new song. As you probably heard already, its a gritty, hard rocking song but one that still sounds very much like a traditional Bond song. Mix that song with a new Bond (who actually looks like the man Ian Fleming envisioned in the books) and a plot stripped of tacky sci-fi lite trappings, and you get what should be a huge hit.

Unfortunately, I have other movies to get to. I have yet to see what is being haled as the true masterpiece of the year, Borat!, and I'm also dying to see Will Ferrel's new comedy for the smart set, Stranger than Fiction. And I have to see Darron Aronofsky's The Fountain on day one. Seeing it any later will not be allowed.