"Casino Royale" really is the best Bond film since "Goldfinger"...

Rating: 9/10 (23 November 2006)

And as a more serious and darker sort of film, dare I say it's superior.
Of course, "Goldfinger" was the greatest mix of the Bond formula: outlandish but serious; funny but deadly; beautiful girls and iconic villains.
Casino is a bit more down-to-earth apart from a ridiculous opening (which made some of the scenes in "Die Another Day" look downright plausible). It's definitely a product of its times and is really nothing like most of the previous Bond films. It makes fun of a lot of the previous clichés: "Do I look like I give a damn?!" when asked whether he wants his drink shaken or stirred; and then making fun of innuendo-names such as Pussy Galore in another scene when he jests that his female co-operative should use the alias "Mrs. Broadchest." It makes the others all look like comedic spins on similar material. Kind of like the difference between Burton's Batman and Nolan's. Burton's were more joyous and campy - whereas Nolan's was a dark, stirring vision. Ditto here.
Craig is very good. I enjoyed Brosnan in the role for the types of films he was making, but apart from GoldenEye I thought his Bond movies were dire. The last was terrible - Halle Berry and face-shifting villains and invisible cars? Bleh.
Craig matches Connery in terms of the way he approaches the character. The only real flaw is that Craig is not exactly what one would call a typical leading man, looks-wise - so when he walks around getting flirtatious attention from women in the movie it does seem strange. This isn't knocking his acting abilities, but part of the icon that is James Bond involves his renowned handsome looks - and Craig looks more like one of the previous film's Czech villains. But forget that - he nailed the actual character, and turned all the other portrayals since Connery's into utter jokes. Compare Roger Moore to the dark, edgy personality in this film - the difference is striking.
Anyway, I really enjoyed it. It's the best Bond in about forty years, give or take. I really grew tired with the past few Bond films and thought they had hit a dead-end trying to keep up with the overblown action spectacles like xXx - but this is a great return to form and, surprise surprise, one of the best pictures of '06 - a remarkable achievement considering what series this film is from. Not often do any Bond films make the critics' top ten lists, but according to the website RottenTomatoes.com, Casino Royale received better reviews than The Departed.
The ending, by the way, was simply great. I will be very interested to see where this series is taken in the future.