Decent, but ultimately a disappointment

Rating: 6/10 (17 November 2006)

The famous secret agent's first mission as a '00' agent. He must win a high stakes poker game at a luxurious casino in order to thwart the operations of Le Chiffre, an elusive criminal who funds the world's most dangerous and richest terrorists by playing the stock market.
It has been 4 years since everyone's favorite spy has been on an assignment and here he is, back on the job. Well, continuity-wise, this is a flashback in the series as it is Bond's first mission as 007, but for fans that should hardly matter, since it's all about seeing Bond doing what he does best. And Daniel Craig fits the role quite well with his more rugged approach to the role. He's suave and handsome like the previous actors who have played the spy, but is undoubtedly better at portraying the cold-hearted nature of Bond's job. The rugged looks, cold expression, and intense fight scenes push Bond into a slightly more realistic world and the action is hardly glamorized here. It is just serious and intense stuff, no holds barred. Having seen all the other Bond movies, I have never seen Bond so bloody or have that "holyshit that nearly killed me" look.
However, that is not the Bond that people have come to love for the past 40+ years. Another problem is the plot. It is a pretty big deviation from the previous Bond formula - very little gadgets, no Q, though continuity-wise within the series this makes sense, but gives the film a sense of dullness especially since it takes place in present day, not 1962 when gadgets were in fact rare. Also the villain and his presentation is a huge disappointment. Bond plots have usually revolved around hot political topics (oil reserves, ethics of news reporting, drugs, terrorism), but in their own fun way, and here we get another interesting topic - funding for terrorists. But the film never takes it to the fun and ridiculous heights that Bond has been to before. The plot seems contrived and, especially by the end, confusing and silly. Even as a Bond film it doesn't hold enough water as it should with the story and characters taking some really dumb turns by showing James Bond as a 3D character with inner and outer struggle. Bond has only outer struggle - stop the villain. It's what makes him an enjoyable escapist character. Also the big card game (of Texas Holdem, nonetheless) is shown in a surprisingly dull manner with little style and barely enough tension to merit such a key moment.
Then there is the ending, which is tuned for the next entry in the same vein as many other blockbusters films of today. That is yet another deviation from the Bond formula. Innovation is good, but the fact of the matter is Bond is formulaic and has been for over 40 enjoyable years. Even Shakespeare's sonnets are formulaic so formula isn't bad, it's the playing with the details and creating new rhythms and rhymes while presenting new ideas is what fans want.
Casino Royale senselessly tries to show Bond as a more realistic character which he is most definitely not, but it remains a fairly good action film that spares the audience CGI that Die Another Day, for instance, overused. --- 6/10
Rated PG-13 for violence and intense action