A Ball-Breaking, Bruising, Bonanza of a Bond

Rating: 9/10 (18 November 2006)

Just back from the first regional screening. I was absolutely blown away by it. Mrs Freemanist has never been to a Bond picture - from her reaction it will not be her last. She was, like me, engrossed.
Bond attempts to foil international terrorism through tackling financial crime, resulting in a credible love interest, jumping over blazing construction sites, high junks on an airport runway, demolition in Venice and a poker showdown with a difference. Death and freedom, blood and tears, tension and euphoria. It's all in here. And much much more. The running time is almost 3 hours.
Daniel Craig is by far the most charismatic Bond yet and frankly, aided by magnificent scripting, he acts the others - even the brilliant and under-rated Timothy Dalton - totally off the screen. This film has broad appeal beyond the "Bond Club" and it is without doubt the best film I have seen in years. By dispensing with silly gadgets, dated humor and stuffy shots of Whitehall, CASINO ROYALE lifts James Bond out of the cult envelope and posts him up as a deep, driven, complex man who, in this film, exposes his weaknesses as well as his considerable strengths. Bond does not just maintain his Englishness, he actually expands this necessary attribute. Defeated yet sensitive, wise and ruthless with complete credibility in a film that allows him to be a fine, believable, central character.
The blatant product placement for a certain corporate's mobile phones, cameras and laptop computers is a bit of an irritation, but so what? After all, this Company actually owns the studio that produced it.
Good to see Richard Branson in a Miami cameo role. Did you all spot him?? Highly recommended. Well done to Daniel Craig.