Casino Royale

I was never a big fan of James Bond. I like Goldfinger and thought Sean Connery was excellent. But after that it didn't hold my interest. The movies being released when I was growing up had state-of-the-art special effects, yet some of the Bond films looked a bit dated. And there were all those scenes with sexy women. When you're a kid, those are the most boring parts of a movie. (And when you're an adult, sometimes they still are.) Not that I only want to see non-stop action. If the characters aren't interesting, then the action is even less so.

The announcement that the James Bond franchise would be "rebooted" with Daniel Craig in the lead role didn't sound so bad. A couple of franchises had recently and successfully gotten the same treatment, most notably the Batman franchise. I was also familiar with Daniel Craig's previous work, so the whole idea seemed promising.

Casino Royale was the first novel by Ian Fleming to feature the character of James Bond. The rights were tied up for years, thanks to a 1967 spoof featuring Peter Sellers. Once it became available again, and the producers decided to go with a younger Bond, it made complete sense to begin with the original story.

So who is the best James Bond? He’s been portrayed by Sean Connery, George Lazenby, Roger Moore, Timothy Dalton, Pierce Brosnan, and now Daniel Craig. Connery was the first to stake a claim, beginning with Dr. No in 1962. But I’d be a fool to involve myself in that pointless argument. What I know is that Daniel Craig is simply wonderful as Bond in Casino Royale (2006). He’s smart, sleek, cool, and tough—everything we want James Bond to be.

The film opens with a brief black-and-white sequence revealing how Bond achieves double-O status, gives us the opening credits, a short introduction of the villains, and then launches into one of the most sensational chases I’ve ever seen. Bond tracks a bomb-maker to Madagascar, his cover is blown, and he ends up chasing the criminal mostly on foot through a construction site and all the way to the Nambutu embassy. This sequence is worth noting because it features Sebastian Foucan as the bomb-maker. This is the man who brought parkour, or “free running,” into the public eye. It’s been used in a dozen movies since. All on its own, the chase is worth the price of admission.

Judi Dench returns as M, Bond’s boss. She gets a more substantial role this time, and Dame Judi makes the most of it. After she gives Bond a stern lecture, he flies to the Bahamas (good old Bond country) and begins connecting the dots between villains in a worldwide conspiracy. He is even presented with the prospect of spending the night with a beautiful woman . . . but doesn’t. In a refreshing twist, this Bond is all business.

In his search for baddies, Bond encounters a memorable one: Le Chiffre (The Cipher), played by Mads Mikkelson with a bleeding eye. Nothing sinister about that, right? They eventually face off in a high stakes poker game in the fictional Montenegro. By this time Bond has picked up a new companion in the lovely form of Vesper Lind (Eva Green). She represents the British government’s money which allows Bond’s entry into the game. They are joined by the clever Mathis (Giancarlo Giannini), who knows how to get around the local law enforcement.

The real centerpiece of the movie is the poker game. The poker scenes are interesting because they’re full of close-ups of faces, cards, and meaningful glances, without boring the audience. And now I have to leave the story behind lest I reveal too much.

There are a lot of details to admire. The locations are spectacular. The writing is top notch. The music gives us the familiar Bond theme when it’s needed and compliments the story the rest of the time. The characters are memorable and effective. And the action is high quality. Much of it is impossible, of course, but the filmmakers have striven to make this James Bond seem more human; he’s able to get winded, injured, and surprised. He also gets all the best lines. When a waiter asks if he wants his martini shaken or stirred, Bond’s response is priceless.

There’s really no way to rank the Bond films because such a thing is subject to our own personal opinions. Well, my opinion is that Casino Royale is among the best of the lot.