Movie Review (2): Casino Royale

By Colin MacLean Nov 17, 2006, 14:16 GMT

We shudda listened to Daniel Craig when he said, “Give me a chance.”

Craig was a distinguished actor with a string of excellent films behind him (‘Layer Cake,’ ‘Munich’) when he was anointed to the position of James Bond.

“A blond Bond?” screamed the British tabloids – noted for their reticence and subtlety. They called him James Bland. Even Mr. Potato Head.

Craig stands vindicated. He is a menacing Bond for our times, retooled, brutal and ferocious, and the best since Connery hung up his Walther P99 9 mm.

And, quite possibly, a better actor.

You certainly can’t keep your eyes off him.

Casino Royale turns the long-running franchise (21 films and counting) on its ear. And much of that stunning rejuvenation is due to Craig.

Bond still looks great in a tux, but Craig, no pretty boy he, is more Steve McQueen (whom he resembles) than Sean Connery. With the brush cut, coarse features and lethal blue eyes, he is a return to the visceral vision of creator Ian Fleming. 

This Bond drinks too much. He’s a cat-eyed, cold-hearted killer and his taking of a human life regains the revulsion it once held when “licensed to kill” was a shocking concept.

He is also vulnerable in a way the character hasn't been for 30 years. This is not the superman Bond had become, but a man who could (and does) get hurt physically and emotionally. 

It doesn’t take this Bond long to establish his credentials – the famous pre-credits opening sequence has him winning his 007 delineation by brutally offing two adversaries.

In fact, if you are looking for a style of film to tie this one to, take a look at the lean and sinewy style of Matt Damon’s Bourne series. 

The movie has taken the essence of the original character and set it down into the wired world of today. There is no SMERSH here but an international business conglomerate that is financing world terror.

Even the Bond girls are capable of more than just servicing our hero. One falls for him and you yearn to whisper to her – “Never fall for Bond. Didn’t you see ‘On Her Majesty’s Secret Service?” 

The daring-do is still there. There are the spectacular stunts and insouciant quips – although they are muted by writers Neal Purvis and Robert Wade, and re-written by the ubiquitous Paul Haggis (‘Crash,’ ‘Flags of our Fathers’) who are looking for high drama rather than high camp. 

The film can be forgiven for a little image busting. When Bond asks for his famous vodka martini, the barman murmurs, “Shaken or stirred?” 007 snaps back, “Does it look like I give a damn.”

Judy Dench returns as “M”, Bond’s keeper, and the controlled center of his chaotic universe.

The plot unfolds in many and complex ways and it would be unfair to reveal them here but you might subtitle this film Bond Begins (as in Batman Begins) because you see how, betrayed by his human emotions, he would become the killing machine of the subsequent movies.

As he says, “You do what I do for too long and there won’t be any soul to salvage.”

We look forward to seeing considerably more of Daniel Craig in the future.

Opens worldwide November 17. MPAA: Rating PG-13 for intense sequences of violent action, a scene of torture, sexual content and nudity.