A new Bond is always cause for excitement, but once the furore surrounding Daniel Craig's casting had subsided, the endless media speculation would all have been for naught if the film itself didn't stand, spin and shoot the audience dead between the eyes. Fortunately, by sticking closely to Ian Fleming's 1953 novel, Casino Royale succeeds on almost every level. Character-driven and engrossing, it’s the first 007 movie in ages that can stand on its own as a self-contained story - satisfying film lovers and Bond aficionados alike. Daniel Craig is probably the bravest Bond casting since George Lazenby. And the gamble has paid off in aces and spades.
The plot is deceptively simple – as the best card-player in the service, Bond is dispatched by his boss, M (Judi Dench, playing the spy-mistress with relish), to Montenegro to bankrupt terrorist financier Le Chiffre in a high-stakes poker game. If Bond wins, the bad guys' piggy bank goes bust, and Le Chiffre will have no choice but to run squealing to MI6. If Bond loses, he will have forked out 10 million of taxpayer's money to the bomb-makers.
Of course, there is a twist in the tale, and it’s provided in the sultry form of Vesper Lynd (Eva Green), a Treasury official sent to look after the cash. Shy, vulnerable and alluring, she is the perfect foil to Craig's overconfident super-spy.
Ian Fleming will never be regarded as one of the world’s greatest writers, but his 007 novels were heady cocktails of sex, love, and danger, with carefully (but generously) decanted measures of glamour, exotic locations and imaginative intrigue. Casino Royale is at its best when it sticks closest to the casual brutality and gleeful misogyny of Fleming's original. Director Martin Campbell, who helmed Pierce Brosnan's Bond debut, Goldeneye, balances thrills and suspense with aplomb, shifting effortlessly from breathtaking action sequences – including Bond's dizzying pursuit of a crane-hopping adversary – to the silent, shirt-sticking tension of a poker game.
For now, Bond is back on form, though, as a particularly visceral sequence in the film reminds us, his balls could be taken away at any time. Back this Bond - and if the studio has any sense, they'll make more like it. Milo Wakelin
Bond is back - and how, with Daniel Craig being lauded as the best incarnation of the role since Sean Connery. Filled with outrageous action set-pieces, including a jaw-dropping free-running opener, featuring credible villains, a delectable and intelligent 'Bond girl' in Eva Green and an ironic good humour, this adaptation of Ian Fleming's first 007 novel is simply the best Bond film in years.
Martin Campbell has action at the tips of his fingers. From the first moment we know that this Bond is something else: Daniel Craig has done him a lot of good. Casino ... more >
Martin Campbell has action at the tips of his fingers. From the first moment we know that this Bond is something else: Daniel Craig has done him a lot of good. Casino Royale’s stunning opening sequence in black and white is gritty and violent — Bond’s double-o status has to be earned. The seamless switch to colour leads to a breathtaking chase on top of two cranes, from which our man emerges battered and bruised. The action is personal and intense and Bond really has to bleed in order to stop an attack on the world’s largest transatlantic jet.
His body shaken but determination intact, OO7’s hunt leads him to Le Chiffre (Mads Mikkelsen), a mysterious banker with an unhealthy connection to the world’s biggest crime lords. The chase brings him to the Casino Royale, where Le Chiffre must win back the money he lost when the plan to blow up the super jet failed. With a government agent by his side, the beautiful Vesper Lynd, played by Eva Green, James Bond falls in love. He brings his new-found strength to the famed card game, where shadowy men of wealth play for tens of millions of dollars. When Le Chiffre fails to win, Bond’s life is in danger and perhaps for the first time we see fear in his eyes. To us he may be invincible, but Bond can still feel pain. This is an awesome piece of work with exotic photography by virtuoso cameraman Phil Méheux, world-class action and movie magic that takes place inside the Casino Royale… < less
