Casino Royale (2006)

 

Remember how people lost their shit when Daniel Craig was announced as the new Bond? 

Really: they were foaming at the mouth because Craig is blond with blue eyes. Talk about priorities. People on the Internet are weird, okay?

Heck, we got a pretty hot smoking film.

After the unfortunate event of the last Pierce Brosnan-film, the producers and studio rightly took the idea of bringing it back to what Bond was like in the books by Ian Fleming: real, gritty, a bit of an arsehole at times, but above all dedicated to the job. You know: what he does, isn't pretty, but he's just so good at it. 

This is a gamble that pays off multitudinously, as 'Casino Royale' is one of the best Bonds in the franchise, even if you might need a couple of viewings to fully appreciate it. I know I did. 

It starts off in black-and-white, as this is sort of a reboot and we're back at the start of Bond's career as a double O. It's low key, but it works. The fight scene in the bathroom is brutal and I can imagine a lot of people weren't ready for this take on the character. It is awesome, though. Then it's off to Bond's first mission as a full agent in Madagascar, looking for a bomb maker. This leads into one of the most exhilarating chase scenes you will find, fully exploiting the chops of a freerunner. It is also shot in  comprehensible fashion, something that often gets overlooked, alas. 

Meanwhile, shady banker Le Chiffre is handling a shit ton of money from some African warlord, as handling criminal money is his main occupation. He wants to enlarge his finances by buying and selling stock and manipulating events in his favour. The latest is an attempt to sabotage the launch of a new aircraft, which Bond stops. This puts Le Chiffre in trouble, as he lost hundreds of millions of dollars that are not his own. 

In order to recuperate some (if not most) of this money, he hosts a high stakes poker game in Montenegro, where Bond will attempt to flush him out. He is aided by Vesper Lynd, who works for the Treasury and who might just be the only woman that can compete with Bond on an intellectual and verbal level. 

Of course they are taken with one another. But it's not played out like a clichéd love/hate-story. They first grow to appreciate each other and then slowly fall in love. Yes, that is a nice change of pace. 

It all comes to a gnarly confrontation between Bond and Le Chiffre, where Bond doesn't come out on top, but plays within plays and plots within plots reveal themselves, leading to a surprising finale...

This is good stuff. It starts with some high octane action, then slows down to a more mental form of action during the poker game and then picks up again. But everything is shot, framed and edited excellently. Heck, the pacing works and as this is - except for a few believable gadgets - a lot more grounded than before, it focuses more on character development. It also helps that the actors on display here are all top notch. Craig is a brilliant Bond, he just does a different spin on it. But remember how people hated Roger Moore after Connery left? Eva Green is a great actress and here she is wonderful as Vesper. Her banter with Craig is razorsharp and yet feels natural. And if you get the always excellent  Mads Mikkelsen as Le Chiffre, then how could you go wrong? 

It's tough to find any downsides to this one. Maybe the shift towards this more hardcore and real Bond can be a bit jarring at first, but that is also why it is probably a good idea to give this one several viewings before making up your mind. It does get better if you have seen it multiple times, as I wasn't really convinced after the first time, but now I consider this to be great. 

You could also still hate it, if you like. But there's no denying that as far as action/spy films go, this is good stuff.