Simply the best

Rating: 10/10 (20 November 2006)

I began this series with Goldfinger as a youth in Lubbock, Texas, and was knocked out. Before yesterday, I thought From Russia With Love was the truest to the Fleming novel of all the Bonds, with Dalton's Licence to Kill coming a close second.
Then I saw Casino Royale. This is the Bond that fans of the novels have waited for and it doesn't disappoint. It's truer to Ian Fleming's vision than any of the previous films: dark and violent, with richly detailed characters.
Sean Connery can exhale at last: the crown has found a new and worthy successor in Daniel Craig. He's at least as good as Connery and possibly better, inasmuch as his is a three-dimensional portrayal with no hint of smirky condescension to the role (which, generally speaking, broadened to the point of parody with Connery's successors--Timothy Dalton being the lone exception).
I take issue with those snobby reviewers who dismiss the plot as an excuse for the action set pieces; this time it's essential, and takes a clean, logical course from the first jaw-dropping chase to the tragic conclusion. The action is spectacular, but I was just as involved by the story.