A Brand New Bond, definitely not just another 007 redo.

Rating: 8/10 (15 March 2007)

Having seen every James Bond since DR NO in 1962 (ohmygosh! 45 years ago!) Daniel Craig offers the first real challenge to Sean Connery, and might prove better than Connery when we get used to him. The acting, story and action scenes are excellent; the cinematography the best of 2006.
As many people know, Sean Connery hated James Bond. He said he likes Scotch not martinis, hates wearing a tux or other dressed up attire, and prefers making love to his own wife, not to dozens of oversexed glamor girls. When Transamerica coaxed him into Diamonds Are Forever it wasn't the $7 million, it was approaching him with the idea of using that money to create a trust fund for the education of Scot children.
This isn't the first time the Casino Royale title was used. In 1967, another studio owned the rights to that Ian Fleming title. Rather than trying to find a Sean Connery substitute, or even make a good try, they created one of the great rip-offs in movie history. It was a deadly stupid slapstick comedy, with David Niven, Woody Allen, others; playing 4 people named James Bond and creating a boring mess.
No sense making further comment on the new (really the only) CASINO ROYALE. See it. DVD's are $2.65 or less; it's worth 5 times that much.