Bond is back on form at last

Rating: Null/10 (21 November 2006)

After a few lazy efforts in the series, Bond is well and truly back on form in Casino Royale, a film that restores some much-needed swagger to the franchise. I have to admit, I was a sceptic about Craig playing Bond, having never heard of him before he was cast etc etc. How wrong I was. Craig delivers a bravura performance right up there with the best: he can blend subtle humour with all the hardman/cool dude stuff so crucial for a film of this type. The plot in this was fairly simple: Bond has to win big at the casino to stop the baddies funding terrorism with their winnings. Its all done very well, with some really excellent action sequences, especially the epic chase early on when Bond is after some Ugandan bloke with crucial information. What was odd, however, was the idea that Bond has just become 007. We therefore have to more or less ignore the other films and imagine he's starting out again. The movie is much more modern than recent efforts and although this made for a grittier and better quality picture, I couldn't help but miss old characters like Q and Miss Moneypenny, although the latter more or less crocks up as Vesper, Bond's new bird. I'm no fan of Judi Dench and would prefer her to sit out future sequels, but the film was so good she didn't detract. Overall then, this is one of the best Bond films I've seen. So much so that I viewed it twice in three days and may well go again! You should do the same if you haven't already.