You can probably guess from the avatar that this is not going to be a negative review, and you'd be right. It's generally safe to say before I get into it that Casino Royale is a brilliant film and a brilliant James Bond film to boot.
I had reservations earlier in the year about CR and they were mainly born out of the truly disastrous Die Another Day which to me was just a plain bad movie that had plunged the depths of Bond so much as to make him a ridiculous cartoon. I mean, Invisible cars?!
Just no.
Actually, since GoldenEye the Brosnan films have not been particularly great.
And hey, I liked Brosnan. He was just unfortunate enough to be playing the character in some truly badly written movies after GoldenEye which were more sci-fi than super-spy.
It was the trailer to Casino Royale that piqued my interest since it seemed to be showing what was an actual great Bond film. Of course, I've been burned by the pretty looking trailers before but it was at least encouraging and I've been following it's progress since.
What we get is the almost total revamping of the character. Out goes Brosnans suave and debonair Bond and in his place is Craigs cold, dangerous and violent Bond.
This does for the franchise what Batman Begins did for..err, Batman.
The plot centers around the beginning of James Bonds career as he tries to out maneuver and bankrupt a major financier of terrorism at a high-stakes poker game at the Casino Royale in Montenegro. This is for all intensive purposes an origin story of Bond as a Double-O. Craig's 007 is a portrait of what someone who is an agent in the most highly dangerous line of work could possibly be like. We are given a real personality to identify with. Craig is acting gold in this one, which is actually somewhat of a surprise to me since I didn't rate him that highly in Layer Cake. But here he slaps down all naysayers quickly and efficiently. There is a depth to his character which has never been seen in a portrayal of Bond since Dalton. And yes, I know what you're thinking and I do love Connery and what he brought to the role and there is no doubt that he is has been the watermark Bond that everyone just falls short of.
Until now.
If there was one word to describe Daniel Craigs performance it would have to be "raw."
Actually, "raw" is a good word to describe the whole movie. Every punch, kick, smash, crash and crack is played for realism. The fights are brutal, you actually feel the impact and pain instead of getting these Hollywood style "look how cool we are" scenes. And in the case of recent Bond movies; laden with Star Trek gadgets and lame pyro explosions. This is a serious action film —intelligent and intense, while extravagantly entertaining.
Despite a mini-difibulator a few mobile phones and the obligatory Aston Martin this is pretty much a gadget free Bond. As I mentioned before, Invisible cars just don't exist in this films playbook.
I know there is a small and vocal group of Bond fans crying about the way that Casino Royale is a complete departure from form and that Daniel Craig looks nothing like Bond should look like and blah, blah, blah, blah...
A perfect example of judging a movie before actually seeing it.
Because yes, there is no doubt that Casino Royale is a departure, but in every single instance it is for the better. Even the main baddie, Le Chiffre isn't your normal megalomaniac, "lets start World War III" lunatic. He isn't even the most evil guy in the film. Casino Royale succeeds in not only being a great piece of cinema but also in kick-starting an ailing franchise into total overdrive.
We still have the Bond girls, the cars, the action. But this is a cheese free meal. I'm used to rolling my eyes while watching a Bond flick but that moment just didn't come this time around. And that's not to say that it is a totally perfect film; I think there are a few superfluous moments that could of been trimmed down for time that didn't really add anything to the main drive of the story - It clocks in at 2 hours 24 minutes - but these are minor quibbles at best. We are taken on a journey from start to finish and by the end credits you know why Bond is like he is, or "will be." We are able to identify with his motivations since the type of character that Ian Fleming wrote in the early novels and the way Craig portrays him coupled with what Bond goes through all come together to create something more than a super agent driving around in.....AN INVISIBLE FUCKING CAR!
Did I mention there are no invisible cars in this movie?
Look, it's one of the best Bond movies ever made. We are in for some great flicks with Craig as 007.. Go see it.
I really can't award this movie anything less than a 9/10. It's that good
