Excellent

Rating: 9/10 (10 September 2007)

This movie is excellent for so many reasons. First, Daniel Craig. I was a bit skeptical but he sold me. I haven't seen a Bond that physical since Sean Connery and he wears a tux perfectly. Second, the filmmakers made the public fully aware that this would be a completely new approach to Bond because the material was new. The 50 year old story was never adapted and shows us Bond before he becomes the Bond that we've known for 40 years. To all the people griping at all the changes, you really weren't paying attention to all the press releases. They made it quite clear that most of the bond trademarks would be gone and, may I say, experimentally, it worked beautifully. The filmmakers made a bold statement to give us Bond at the beginning of his career, working his first assignment as "OO" and his metamorphosis as an agent. The only Bond trademarks we get are a tux, female boss M and his ordering a vodka martini, shaken not stirred, which, I must admit incited a bit of giddiness in me. Craig was perfect. I haven't seen a Bond look that good in a tux since Pierce in Goldeneye. Now, physically, Craig blows them all out of the water. After the opening and Bond had achieved OO status, he engages in a foot chase at a construction site that takes your breath away. You never saw Brosnan or Dalton do this stuff. What's more is that for most of the sequence, it's Craig, not a stunt double, handling the scene and you haven't seen Bond move like this in a long time. Daniel Craig and the filmmakers knew what we wanted to see and gave it to us. Aside from no Q and not hearing the classic line,"Bond, James Bond" until the end, Casino Royale is better than both of Dalton's, half of Brosnan's and some of Moore's without a doubt. Daniel Craig, you should be proud.