Director: Martin Campbell
Genre: Action, Adventure, Thriller
Rating: A
I loved this movie. That's something I haven't said about any of the Bonds so far, but I did. There was a lot going on, but at the same time it was so simplistic that I was able to really get into it and completely follow what was going on. Plus, there's the whole Bond (Craig) in the blue swim trunks thing - this is something that they've done a couple times with Bond girls, but never really with a Bond, and really never before has a Bond looked so good.
The plot here is pretty simple: Casino Royale is an origins story for our Bond and serves to really reboot the series - all of the stupid shit that Bond got up to in the previous films no longer counts. I like that, he got up to a lot of stupid shit and the idea that each movie was related to the previous ones was getting to be a bit much. On one of his first missions Bond prevent a terrorist attack at Miami International Airport, during which time Bond foils the plans of banker and terrorist financer Le Chiffre (Mikkelsen). This leaves Le Chiffre under pressure to recoup his clients money, which leads to him setting up a high stakes Texas hold'em poker tournament at the Casino Royale in Montenegro. Reenter Bond, who is sent to enter the tournament by MI6. He's put into touch with Vesper Lynd (Green), who is a Treasury agent and provides the $10 million buy-in, and René Mathis (Giancarlo Giannini), Bond's contact in Montenegro. Also introduced to us here is regular Bond acquaintance, CIA agent Felix Leiter (Jeffrey Wright), who is also playing in the tournament.
I loved this movie. Have I said that yet? The lead in was a bit much, but that's pretty typical of a Bond film. Once it got into things, with the Casino and what not, it really got rather solid. The way it juxtaposed the seemingly intense poker scenes (which, I suppose would have been more intense had I known absolutely anything about poker) with the intense action scenes was great. There really was no moment in this that I found myself staring at the screen going "are you fucking serious" - which is not something that can be said for, really, any previous Bond film. It's not hokey or lame, or ridiculous and over the top. There are a couple moments that kind of push it, but the film always reeled things in before crossing the line.
The other thing that I really liked about this movie was how much it alluded to previous ones, while still being original. There's a lot of moments that remind you of earlier Bond films, including Bond walking out of the water in the blue bathing suit, but none that make you want to roll your eyes and go "I've seen this before." This is something that really continues on throughout the Daniel Craig films and is, in my opinion, really well done. Also, have I mentioned that I love Judi Dench's M? She's just absolutely awesome, and continues to be awesome in Casino Royale. Which, really, goes without saying, it's Dame Judi Dench.
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