I know it's been said, but this reboot is awesome

Rating: Null/10 (2 June 2011)

It seems a bit silly to review this film as I'm sure everything has already been said about it. "Casino Royale" (2006) is either 21st film in the official Bond movie series, or first one in a new rebooted series. It is based on the first Ian Fleming book, which hadn't been filmed in official series before, though there had been a little known live TV film made in the 1950's and a forgettable spoof made in the 60's.
The movie starts with a chilling black and white intro where British Secret Service agent James Bond earns his 00 license by killing an agent who had been selling information and his contact. We then see how Bond literally blows up an operation of catching a bomb maker, much to M's displeasure. Bond does however also get a lead of plan to destroy an airplane and stops it. This becomes highly inconvenient to Le Chiffre, a banker of world's terrorists. In order to replace the money he lost he intends to win it back by playing cards in Casino Royale. Bond and Vesper Lynd, agent of HM Treasury, are sent to make sure he doesn't win.
The film is directed by Martin Campbell, the same man who updated Bond into a post cold war world in form of Pierce Brosnan in "GoldenEye". That was already a great Bond movie, but "Casino Royale" goes even beyond that. Campbell and the writers reboot the franchise perfectly, updating the 1950's secret agent to the 21st century. The modernization also doesn't really change the story so much. While the movie takes its time before getting to the point where Fleming's book begins, once there it follows the book surprisingly faithfully. The action in the movie is breathtaking. It's back to more realistic stunts than in previous movie, but so intense it puts you on the edge of your seat.
Bond is played for the first time by Daniel Craig. When he was announced as new Bond many people were initially against him, as he didn't look right to the part. True, but many people, I among them, were also against Heath Ledger playing Joker in "The Dark Knight". Lesson of the story: we really should just wait to see the movie before making judgments. Craig is fantastic in the part, really portraying Bond as a blunt instrument who is both proud and conflicted of his work. This is the truest performance of Fleming's Bond since Timothy Dalton and most impressive one since, dare I say it, Sean Connery.
Eva Green plays Vesper Lynd, the first Bond girl from the books. Honestly, I like her portrayal more than how Fleming wrote the character. She is witty and sharp but also more than eye candy and gets through Bond's defenses, which makes her on pair with Diana Rigg for the title of best Bond girl. Mads Mikkelsen plays Le Chiffre, the villain of the movie. Not the most memorable Bond villain but Mikkelsen's cold attitude is appropriately creepy, and reminds me of many early Bond villains from Connery era. Good support is provided by Giancarlo Giannini as Rene Mathis and Jeffrey Wright as Felix Leiter, as well as Judi Dench continuing as M. Not sure why she wasn't replaced but I'm not complaining either, because she's awesome in the part.
The long story short, "Casino Royale" does what it sets out to do: reboots Bond franchise, brings the character back to his roots without out-dating him and is an awesome movie at the same time. This is a full points Bond film.