MGM/UA Starring: Daniel Craig, Eva Green
Directed By: Martin Campbell
Rated: PG-13
MGM/UA
I had a lot of misgivings about Casino Royale during the lead-up to its release. When Daniel Craig was announced as the new James Bond, I got one look at him and thought they had made a huge mistake. This guy just didn't look like Bond...or at least what people have come to expect him to look like. Then, I heard that Casino Royale was not actually a continuation of the Bond film series, but a "reboot" of the entire franchise. This was to be Bond's first mission as a double-O agent. Everything that came before it was to be erased. Fresh start. An interesting idea--after all, Bond's history dates back to World War II, and he's impossibly young for that. But they were keeping Judy Dench as M...wouldn't that be kind of confusing for the fans?
Then, there was the recent history of the film franchise. Although I thought Pierce Brosnan made a fine James Bond, only one of his films--Tomorrow Never Dies--was really any good in my opinion. Goldeneye was iffy, Die Another Day was only good through the first half of the film, and The World Is Not Enough was easily one of the two worst James Bond Films ever made.
In other words, the odds were really stacked against this film in my eyes. And boy oh boy...was I wrong.
Casino Royale is based on Ian Flemming's first James Bond novel, and the film follows the story very closely. A man called LeChiffre (played by the creepy Mads Mikkelsen) is in the business of hiding the funds of criminals and terrorists and reaping a tidy profit in the process by investing the money on the side, unbeknownst to the owners of the money. When one of his investments goes awry, LeChiffre finds himself short on funds and joins a high stakes card game to win back the money. Bond is assigned to infiltrate the card game and make sure that LeChiffre doesn't win.
Yeah...you wouldn't think that could be the plot of the best Bond film ever made. But it is.
Casino Royale gets off on the right foot by being the first Bond film since On Her Majesty's Secret Service to closely follow an entire Ian Flemming James Bond novel. (Some of the later films, like Octopussy and The Living Daylights contained elements of Flemming short stories, but the main plot of the films strayed from the source material.) Of course, some of the plot elements were changed--Bond and LeChiffre play Texas Hold 'Em instead of chemin de fer, and LeChiffre is laundering terrorist money, not KGB funds. But the bulk of the book remains unchanged for the most part. Casino Royale also takes Bond more seriously than any film in a very long time. While there are humorous moments, the smirking, wise-cracking Bond of the 80s and 90s is gone. Bond is a hired killer, plain and simple. This is something that the filmmakers over the years have glossed over or ignored. Also gone are the gadgets. Bond has state-of-the-art equipment, but nothing outlandish like invisible cars. This rule applies to the villains of the film as well--no plots to take over the world here. No space lasers. Just realistic bad guys with realistic goals.
The acting is superb. Daniel Craig is, without a doubt, the perfect man for the job--his portrayal of Bond is the first one that truly matches the Bond from Ian Flemming's novels. Craig has captured Bond's ability to switch off his humanity and turn into a ruthless killer at the drop of a hat. You can actually see the change in his eyes. It's amazing...and a little scary. For the first time in a really long time, you feel that Bond is truly a force to be reckoned with.
The action sequences are equally amazing. There is usually at least one really good fight in every James Bond film. In this one, there are many, starting with one that takes place before the main title sequence. There are actually too many great action moments to mention here. The tension and suspense are also great. Flemming always had a way to use detailed descriptions to draw the reader into events like the pivotal card game in Casino. For the first time ever, a Bond film has managed to bring that literary prowess to the big screen.
I could go on and on about how good this film is, but let me leave you with this thought. Both times I saw this movie, I was walking out of the theater at the end with the overwhelming urge to turn around, pay another eight bucks, and see it again, right that minute. Even my lovely wife, the biggest hater of Bond films that I know, loved it. It's that good.
See it. You won't be disappointed.
Bottom line: Hands down, the best Bond film ever made.