instant bond classic

Rating: 9/10 (3 April 2007)

The James Bond franchise has been thrilling audiences for forty-five years and has grown to become the second most successful film series of all time ("Star Wars" is number one). Even though the last film, "Die another Day", was a formidable effort, most of the Pierce Brosnan Bond films clearly showed that Ian Fleming's creation was simply running out of steam. With "Casino Royale" Brosnan has been replaced with Daniel Craig, the sixth actor to officially portray the character, and he literally breathes new life into the iconic role, to the point of showing a dimensionality to the character rarely seen in the previous chapters. The film does feel like the result of a conscience effort to revamp the series, ala "Batman Begins", even in its similar presentation of it as a Bond movie prequel. The story introduces us to Bond in a pre-title teaser sequence far more raw and gritty than what the cycle of films has shown previously, as we find him earning his oft-mentioned license to kill. What follows is a much more straight-forward storyline than the usual contrived and convoluted tripe these things usually call a plot, possibly because it's the first one based on an Ian Fleming novel in twenty plus years, specifically the first Bond novel. It's contemporary Bond at his best, recalling several great moments from the original run with Sean Connery in the role (as well as containing a few cameos from those films), but standing well on its own with many unexpected, impressively choreographed sequences that feel more inevitable in the context of the story than is often the case. Craig has crafted Bond into more of an empathetic leading man than simply a large than life caricature, and there's an amazing range here that takes Bond from several poignant and intimate moments to moments of intense brutality. This is a James Bond film to over joy fans, and to gather up plenty of new fans.