James Bland

Rating: 3/10 (24 November 2006)

First things first...I'm not a huge Bond film fan but with an open mind, an admiration for Daniel Craig's acting ability and the endless praise heaped upon this film in mind I went to see Casino Royale. The first 15 minutes of the film are the best - from that moment on nothing stood out as memorable - it also featured a laughable, weak bad guy with a trademark scar on the eye and dodgy accent. I know Bond is supposed to be a little tongue in cheek but after the stories of this showing a different side of 007 I hoped for more. The story was all over the place, the product placement annoying, the characters forgettable and the film far too long. I thought Bond villains used lasers and sharks to torture special agents not a wicker chair and a brick on a piece of rope - whats next a Chinese burn?
That said Daniel Craig's performance probably stopped me from leaving the cinema early.
I tend to judge films on how much I am looking forward to buying the film on DVD when it comes out - so there's £15 saved then.
To quote Alan Partridge "stop getting Bond wrong"