Big and stupid - but with ATTITUDE. The best bond in absolute ages.

Rating: 7/10 (17 November 2006)

The bond franchise returns with a tougher, darker and blonder hero in the form of Daniel Craig. When asked if wants his dry Martini "shaken or stirred?" he replies "Do I look like I give a damn?" It is nice to know that even when the franchise has got to the point of being self-referential, even those little remarks are typical Bond quips. Casino Royale shows 007 right at the very beginning of his MI6 tenure, even before he has achieved "00" status. A crooked banker by the name of Le Chiffre (Mikkelson) is attempting to raise money to fund a terrorist organisation by playing in a high stakes poker game at the Casino Royale. MI6 sends Bond out there to play against him, knowing that if Bond wins, Le Chiffre's organisation will collapse. He is kept under surveillance by the sultry, yet equally austere agent Vesper Lynd.
Casino Royale is a revamp of the Bond series in the same sense that MI:3 was a revamp of the Mission:Impossible series. Everything is noticeably tougher, particularly Bond, himself, who is catering towards the image that Ian Fleming originally envisaged him being  tough is nails, and twice as dangerous. Daniel Craig is well adept at playing psychopaths and crazed bad guys, and his incarnation of 007 has no issue with kicking the living daylights out of his enemies, as is painfully displayed in the opening sequence of him repeatedly smashing some poor sod's face in. He slyly smiles when a terrorist is blown to smithereens by the bomb he attached to the hapless assailant, and murders a bomb maker, when all the surrounding circumstances suggest the best thing to do is drop his weapons, and swallow his pride. But this isn't what our cerebral assassin is meant to be anymore. He's an unflinching killer  the antithesis of Roger Moore. Gone is the light-hearted cheese, and back are the scars. The film is also a lot darker than previous incarnations. There is the infamous torture scene, sure to have any bloke in the audience writhing in their seats with discomfort. And many a plot twist to keep our audience guessing. We even get a glimpse of character depth, as James' career choice is put into perspective for a more substantial existence, even if the ensuing twist sap a lot of the film's momentum.
Yet when all is said and done  this is still Un Film a la Bond  complete with all the throwaway clichés common within typical Hollywood blockbusters. The bad guy's guns never have any bullets left when they finally get to shoot the hero, Le Chiffre is typically rich and surrounded by goons all the time, and the circumstances that MI6 come up with in order to capture him are just completely ludicrous  the way to stop terrorism is to beat terrorists at poker? Terrific. There is never a dull entrance in a 007 film; we are introduced to our first Bond girl, as she rides across the Bahamian beach side on horseback of all things. Nor is there a dull location, as Casino Royale travels through the tropical terrains of Uganda, the familiarly glorious site of London's skyline, the beautiful beaches of the Bahamas and Montenegro for that infamous card game. But even if it is typically empty-headed  this isn't as issue with James Bond. The 007 franchise is meant to be hyperbolic and super-realised. We are not meant to relate to our protagonist, but just be impressed by his dead-cool, icy persona. And boy is Casino Royale cool at times. Those who yearn for some sort of psychological depth to our hero will be disappointed, as will those thinking that this movie at any point attempts to make an intelligent film. What is refreshing about Casino Royale is does not conform to the CGI network imposing itself over modern Hollywood cinema. The action is riotously good fun, and we get stunts galore as well as real explosions and old-fashioned criminal chases, as Daniel Craig literally smashes through walls in Martin Campbell's movie. It is certainly tougher viewing than recent offerings, such as Die Another Day (2002), which was much more concerned with Halle Berry than it was with James Bond. But this is, in effect, a continuation of the things that everyone associates with 007: beautiful girls, fast cars, glorious locales and plenty of explosions. Darker, tougher and more faithful than previous Bond incarnations, Casino Royale is nevertheless an ephemeral experience. If you want a fresh approach to the spy genre  try the Bourne movies. If what you are after is purely empty-brained, head-cracking action, this delivers everything it promised, if not more.