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Casino Royale (2006)

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Movie review

From Time Out London

Bond: ‘A vodka martini, please.’ Casino barman: ‘Shaken or stirred?’ Bond: ‘Do I look like I give a damn?’ It’s a sharp and knowing line – probably penned by Paul Haggis, the talented, final scriptwriter of this highly enjoyable ‘back-to-basics re-boot’ of the 007 franchise – that not only simultaneously acknowledges and confounds audience expectations, but also neatly confirms that Daniel Craig’s intriguing and charismatic tyro agent is cut from quite different cloth to his Savile Row-tailored predecessors.

Ian Fleming’s titular 1953 Cold-War source novel presented a proto-Bond; and it’s interesting how much licence Cambell’s confidently directed action thriller takes with it. Gone is the RN commander; as the jagged, handheld, monochrome opening sequence of Craig drowning his first ‘kill’ in a blood-strewn public toilet shows, this Bond’s a tough, no-nonsense, Mondeo-driving product of the ‘who dares wins’ SAS school rather than the snobby naval wardroom, and he has some of the social contempt as well as the pumping thighs, bulging pecs and inflated ego to prove it.

Cobra-baiting in Madagascar, car-chases in Nassau, Montenegro, Miami – there’s enough globe-trotting to please the purists. But, notwithstanding the fine CGI/special effects, best used in the climactic set-piece involving a disintegating Venetian palazzo, Campbell has cut down the gadgets and gizmos (not to mention ‘Q’) to inject some needed ‘realismo’ back into the action sequences, steering a neat line between romance and thrills. Eva Green’s Vesper Lynd – a government accountant assigned to keep an eye on the millions Bond stakes in the crucial poker game with Mads Mikkelsen’s pleasingly sadistic terrorist-banker, Le Chiffre – proves a sexy sparring equal to the increasingly smitten and vulnerable Bond, having been donated an audacious amount of screen time. The politics are coy, David Arnold’s score is maybe underwhelming and Phil Meheux’s cinematography merely efficient, but otherwise ‘Casino Royale’ kicks new life (literally as well as metaphorically) into the ageing hero.

Author: Wally Hammond

Time Out London Issue 1891: November 15-22 2007

User reviews of this film

Magmabulle said...

Posted on Jun 09 2008 11:19 The best Bond movie ever made in my opinion, it is less cliché than other Bond movies, it is darker, and more suspense than ever before. There is a constant debate about Daniel Craig as James Bond, and I am one of those who believe that he is the best one ever.

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dan said...

Posted on Jan 31 2008 13:29 Having read the novels and been around when Dr.No first came out I'm a couple of generations away from today's Mr Bond, so please read my comment in that light. James Bond as portrayed by Sean Connery and later Roger Moore, were truer to Bond of Ian Fleming's novels. They were suave, cultured, a little amoral, and everything the modern James Bond is not. Daniel Craig is a 'chav' version, a bit of a thug with a pseudo hard-man expression, and a mobile phone stuck to his ear. Only a chav James Bond would play Texas Hold'em; chemin de fer a bit too complicated for this knuckle head. The frantic editing and ridiculous plot quite in keeping with the trash action films churned out these days. I saw it a week ago, and if I could remember anything worthwhile that lingered in my mind about this film I would say so. Not even worth one star in my book. Sorry.

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Technoguy said...

Posted on Jan 10 2008 15:29 Casino Royale is a stripped down muscular back to basics story with excellently filmed sequences and a kick-arse hero. CGI effects have been replaced by tough action editing and real actors acting. This new post- Bourne Bond is energetic and earthbound. Gritty realism makes events believable: this character bleeds and is vulnerable. Renewal has been accomplished by cutting away at a franchise bloated by cliche,mannerism and techno-gadgetry. We get back to the making of 007,Bond's formative psychology. The sinewy Craig literally sweats for his lines, thankfully without the polish of the later Bond and the stale menagerie of gimmicks. Bond Begins.

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