Harkers back need to step forward...

Rating: 8/10 (30 November 2006)

"Where are the naked girls in the opening credits? Why is Bond blond? Where are the gadgets? Where is all the usual Bond stuff that makes us feel safe and doesn't challenge any conventions?" I honestly don't understand all the griping and complaining about Casino Royale. Granted, it is a departure from the typical Bond film - there are no underground lairs, no army of henchmen and no Rolex watch that can detonate bombs, fire lasers and make the toast at the same time. But so what? Isn't it refreshing to find that someone actually took the time to read Flemming's original novel and think to themselves "Hey, this is a pretty good spy story without all the extra flourishes. And that Bond, he's a pretty brutal kinda guy." Casino Royale brings (in my opinion) some much needed reality to a franchise that, quite frankly, was getting silly (the dude with diamonds in his face??? Please).
Craig does a fine job, convincingly playing the agent who slowly gains in confidence and arrogance as mission after mission goes by. And to my mind, the torture scene only serves to show us the true mettle of Bond - something that none of the other Bonds have had to deal with. Yes he gets hurt. But that makes him more impressive in my eyes.
As a Bond film, there are flaws, but there's no real need to point them out - every film in the long-running series has glaring omissions and continuity errors. Again, so what? Go see the film. It's fun, it's exciting and you might even like it...