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Language : English
Directed : Martin Campbell
Writing credits (WGA) : Ian
Fleming (written by)
Cast : Daniel Craig (as James
Bond) , Eva Green (as Vesper Lynd)
Review
 James
Bond gets a major makeover, and it’s not
just because new leading man Daniel
Craig is filling his shoes. "Casino
Royale" is a revamping of the entire
franchise, an attempt to stay close to
the heart and soul of the original Ian
Fleming novels. Bond still has a license
to kill, but he is missing some of the
gadgets that prompted previous Bond
movies into cartoon action. Bond is now
a serious bruiser. He inflicts pain, and
he’s vulnerable to pain. Bond is now
serious stuff. An action scene early on
set in Africa is typical of a Bond
movie. Craig as Agent 007 has to chase a
suspect bomb-maker through a
construction site that is exploited like
an American Gladiator obstacle course.
It’s a typical, an almost obligatory
action set-piece, that is also
terrifically choreographed, photographed
and edited with panache. It’s what we
expect from a Bond movie. An explosive
action scene also takes place at a Miami
airport, and he’s more of a Die Hard
hero than vulnerable agent for
momentarily.
 Eventually
the movie becomes more grounded, and
more serious. These are the early days
of Agent 007, and the movie wants to
make it clear that it’s establishing an
entire new take on the character. Craig
is a British actor whom has certainly
impressed the critical community with
"Layer Cake" (an entertaining
down-and-dirty gangster movie) and
"Munich" (superb work as a member of the
assassin team). Craig is a sturdy actor
who brings greater depth and inner
turmoil than any previous Bond actor.
Not that Sean Connery has anything to
worry about with his Bond legacy.
Connery’s mystique is untouched.
As for the convoluted plot, it comprises
an entanglement of terrorism, the stock
market and the effects the two have on
global economy. Villain Le Chiffre (Mads
Mikkelsen) wants to cash in on the stock
market following terrorist calamities.
We know he’s a villain because he has
tears of blood coming out of his eyes.
As for the romance angle in "Casino
Royale", Bond is suckered in by
government Treasury Official Vesper Lynd
(Eva Green, "The Dreamers"). Bond still
loves gorgeous women.
Lynd supplies Bond $10 million in cash
to enter a high-stakes poker game that
will be attended by Le Chiffre, as well
as character actor Jeffrey Wright as
American CIA agent Felix Leiter (is this
guy a future Oscar winner once he finds
the perfect role, or what?) There are
mano-to-mano fight intervals with
henchmen, but mostly the poker game
dominates the second act of this story.
The third act is dense with character
detail as well as action, as the casino
money itself becomes a pursuit. Bond’s
ballistic heroism in Venice, Italy where
he literally brings a building down is a
rip-roaring action highlight.
 Still,
I kept wondering, whatever happened to
the SPECTRE plots, with the laser guns
and the larger-than-life villains that
sought world domination? I had really
enjoyed the last Bond movie with Brosnan
with the invisible car speeding across
an ice path while trying to outrace a
laser beam that was being blasted from
outer space. But I guess that’s past
now. Bond movies used to be about
fantasy-oriented action-adventure. Now
it’s a serious spy drama that just
happens to arm a lethal hero with
contemporary weapon devices. I suppose
Bond creator Ian Fleming would actually
be pleased.
Once I set aside my original
expectations of "Casino Royale", and
accept that it was going to be an
entirely differed Bond movie I was then
really able to enjoy the film. I was
most certain that it was much different
once it arrived at the poker tournament
in the Czech Republic – I was no longer
rooting for Bond to kick butt generally
speaking (those feelings were cast
aside), instead I was involved with the
outcome of Bond at the casino. Is Bond
going to outplay and outwit Le Chiffre
at the poker tables? Has Bond studied
Matt Damon in "Rounders" enough times to
understand the art of the check-raise?
The locations are definitely one of the
film’s assets. There has never been a
more luxurious and decadent ambience for
a Bond movie. And it’s not like Bond
movies haven’t trekked over the exotic
in the past. But it was a superficial
Hollywood take on exotic globe-trotting.
When Craig’s 007 travels to the Bahamas,
or Prague, or Lake Como, these feel like
genuinely rich settings filled with real
upscale people. It feels like less fake
Hollywood extras were dispensed on this
project than a typical movie. The final
scene of the movie, by the way, is a
shocker. It is shocking because it
reveals a side of Bond that we’ve never
seen before – a sadist that adheres
first to personal agenda, second to love
of country. I definitely am looking
forward to the next sequel.
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