A New Breed of Bond...

Rating: 10/10 (18 April 2008)

Casino Royale could very well be one of the best James Bond films of the entire series. In fact, I wouldn't doubt it at all. I've always been a fan of this classic series of films, and you can be sure that I've seen my fare share of the good and the bad. With a film series this large, however, it's hard to conceive that there wouldn't be any one film that wouldn't disappoint in some way. The best way I can classify Casino Royale is this: a "refresher" to the long-lived seriesone that puts the youth back into it and reassures us that James Bond is still the best secret agent out there.
Technically, this film is the first Bond film of the series (chronologically, that is). I know, I know. It's hard to believe that any previous Bond film had any relevance to any of its counterparts other than perhaps a familiar character. But this film sets the record straight, and tells the true and original story of how Bond began his career in the MI6. Originally Ian Fleming's first novel, Casino Royale was never adapted into a feature film before due to copyright issues that forced the series to begin with the adaptation of Dr. No. This film is director Martin Campbell's second go at a 007 flick; the first being Goldeneye (1995), starring Pierce Brosnan as the suave secret agent.
After receiving his "license to kill" from the MI6 and being promoted to "00" status, James Bond (Daniel Craig) follows his leads and prevents the destruction of the world's largest airplane at Miami International Airport, plotted by the deceptive banker Le Chiffre (Mads Mikkelson) to crash the bonds in the stock market of the airline and make a fortune for his terrorist investors. After Bond's intervention, however, Le Chiffre finds himself in a very large debt with some deadly factions of terrorist organizations, and decides to set up a high stakes poker game at the Casino Royale in Montenegro to regain the money of the investors. Bond then travels to Montenegro with the British accountant Vesper Lynd (Eva Green) to play against Le Chiffre and defeat him, forcing him to run to MI6 for protection in exchange for information on the terrorist factions. The result of this high stakes game reveals a double-crossed deception, however, and Bond finds himself in a new game of betrayal and murder.
First off, let's discuss the differences between this film and its predecessors. Before this film, I could walk into any Bond movie expecting to see the same basic plot outline: the film opens up with Bond narrowly escaping some sort of pursuer or other form of trouble. He then returns to MI6, chats with Moneypenny for a bit, gets a new and urgent briefing from M, has Q fill in with some cool new toys, and then it's off to bring down the main villain's plan of "world domination." Unlike nearly all of these previous films, Casino Royale has no Moneypenny, no Q, and allows the superior M (Judi Dench) a much larger role, showing more scorn and distrust towards the unpopular Bond and his "ego-powered" actions on the job. The villain isn't a power monger out for world domination; just a terrorist banker looking out for his own neckmore or less. And Daniel Craig plays a superb Bond: leaner, younger, less sex-addicted, and can manage to pull of sarcastic comments with tact rather than corniness.
When the film began, I was worried that it may very well be the same basic plot outline. I watched contently as the black-and-white opening scene appeared on screen. The scene progressed and reached its short but suspenseful climax, and I then saw the all-familiar traditional 007 opening credits roll: always beginning with Bond spinning ninety degrees and shooting towards the audience down the barrel of a gun. What shocked me was its timing in the film, as we usually see this before anything else. It was at this point that I realized that this was in fact going to be a different breed of Bondone that none of us have ever experienced before. The thought instantly got me excited and drawn in. From that point on, I was literally on the edge of my seat as the film managed to draw my interest further and further in, until I was totally lost in it. I watched in amazement how the originality and suspense of the film unfolded before my eyes. We get to the poker game, and my hands are sweating from the suspense built up by now; I didn't even know how to play hold 'em poker then. But the way that the cinematography was captured - making you feel almost like a player at the table rather than an observer  together with the actors' serious and tact performances brought my attention to a spike. From then on, I wasn't expecting anything to disappoint. I was right.
I truly am blessed in giving the utmost credit and thanks to director Martin Campbell, as well as screenplay writers Neal Purvis, Robert Wade, and Paul Haggis for creating such an excellent film. On top of the plot, screenplay, and actors' performances, the special effects remained loyal to the "old Hollywood" techniques of creation, rather than doing them in post-production; something we see far more these days in blockbuster movies. Not that it's a bad thing, but I truly believe that this series of films among others is definitely one to stick to its real-time special effects to drive the suspense and thrill, and Casino Royale fulfilled that duty fantastically (setting a new Guinness World Record for "most recorded car flips").