Daring experiment for the Bond series which mostly succeeds very well

Rating: Null/10 (16 November 2006)

I'll admit something first up. I enjoyed the much-criticised Die Another Day, Yes,the Madonna song and CGI were awful,but as a ramped-up,escapist action movie it certainly did the job. However,Casino Royale is a different beast altogether. The opening sequence is is black and white and shows Bond shooting a man,with flashbacks to Bond's first,decidedly messier,killing interspersed. Both the violence and Daniel Craig's intensity are quite shocking. After the eye-popping title sequence,cleverly based around cards,and a perhaps unusual but good title song which does grow on you,we are thrown into quite simply the most stunning action sequence done in years,as Bond chases a man up and down scaffolding,on top of a crane and through an embassy. It's undoubtedly over the top,but really is thrilling,and seeing Bond fall and get hurt a bit is refreshing and helps maintain,just about,believability.
It's possible that action wise the film never tops that scene,but the other three action sequences are all excellent and have superb editing that is fast,furious yet still lets you see what is going on,a lesson to some of today's other action directors. It's almost a throwback to the 60s Bond editing,only quicker. There was a sense in the 80s and 90s that maybe the Bond style of action was a little outmoded,it had certainly been imitated to death. Here,Bond becomes leader of the pack again,and the other upstarts need to keep up.
Daringly,the two and a half hour running time is not devoted to more action but chiefly two other things. The lengthy poker game IS long but maintains suspense even of you're not sure what the rules are and is broken up every now and again anyway. Then there's Bond falling in love. The World Is Not Enough and The Living Daylights had flirted with genuine romance for Bond but On Her Majesty's Secret Service up to now is the only real Bond love story. The time given to Bond's romance with Vesper Lynd is unusual but it needs the time allowed it to become convincing ,and,eventually,moving. After all,the main thrust of the film is not Bond fighting bad guys,or even playing an important poker game,but Bond becoming Bond,and this is brilliantly conveyed throughout.
It is this aspect in which Craig really succeeds. Yes,he is rough and ready at first but that is the film's character. He grows and matures throughout the film,and when he puts on the tux he's earned it and certainly carries it off better than Timothy Dalton,whom Craig is probably closest to. Perhaps the film's villains and girls are not as memorable as one might hope for,but here it's Bond whom you remember,whom the film revolves around,and for this film that's exactly as it should be.
Possible Casino Royale might be embraced by die-hard Bond fans more than general action movie goers,what you won't get here is constant action,silly gadgets,corny laughs {though there is humour,and in exactly the right places,such as during the otherwise horrible torture scene}. What you do get is an artistic triumph,a daring experiment that almost completely pays off,that takes us closer to the character of James Bobd than any other film. Roll on the next one,and definitely with Craig....