Amazing reboot to the Bond franchise.

Rating: 8/10 (28 November 2006)

Casino Royale is the first James Bond movie based on a book since The Living Daylights, and the first really good Bond movie since GoldenEye. After acquiring his 00 status, Bond is sent to a casino in Montenegro where he must beat a man called Le Chiffre in a massive game of Poker. If he wins, Le Chiffre will go down, but if he loses, the money will go toward terrorism. Bond ends up falling in love with the accountant sent to help him, Vesper Lynd, as he must deal with Le Chiffre and his men constantly trying to put him down. This is certainly not the most action packed of the Bond films, meaning it actually has a story, which is always good news.
Casino Royale certainly lived up to the hype I felt for it. Everything in this film is good. Unlike the past couple of Bond films, this movie mixes a really good story with some great action scenes. Bond's mission seems pretty simple, he has to win a poker game, but the things that happen before, during, and after the game are awesome. This is a complete reboot of the Bond series, not connected to the past 20 films at all, but the film makers wisely kept Bond traditions alive. They had the song (even though it wasn't the best Bond theme) and the clever opening titles, they had the one liners (though in this movie they were awesome and funny instead of terribly corny), and just when I was getting worried he wouldn't say it, they squeezed "Bond, James Bond" at the end along with the classic theme. They even thought up a new and refreshing gun barrel sequence. This film goes quality over quantity, and that automatically makes it good in my books. Le Chiffre isn't the most exciting villain Bond has ever faced, but he is cool. Vesper Lynd makes an attractive and appealing Bond girl.
The performances are great. When Daniel Craig was cast, most everyone had their doubts. I was a Craig supporter and I had my doubts. When I saw the movie, he blew me out of the water. Looks wise he's nothing like what Ian Fleming intended, but behaviour and attitude wise he was perfect. No one will ever top Sean Connery in my opinion, but Daniel Craig is the best Bond since. Eva Green gives a good performance as Vesper Lynd. Mads Mikkelsen gave a great performance as the villain Le Chiffre. He portrayed the evilness well, and his eyes contained pure enjoyment whenever he saw Bond fail. I also liked Jeffrey Wright as the new Felix Leiter.
Overall, this is one of the best Bond films in a while, and I hope Daniel Craig continues to pump out movies as great as this.
8.5/10