Close to the books in place, but not close enough

Rating: 7/10 (7 December 2006)

Casino Royale starts brilliantly, very close to the books, where Bond is what he is - a ruthless killer with a heart of stone. After all I'd heard about this film being the best since the sixties and Daniel Craig being an equal to Sean Connery, I had my hopes high. The problems only came at the 1:45 - 2 hour mark, when the plot just ground to a halt. Suddenly, we went from action and excitement to a slow love story that killed the last half an hour, in my view.
If this movie had ended at 2 hours long, I would have called it the best Bond of all time. Instead, it'll have to just be in the top five. Its still a lot better than Bond has been for a long time, but it just felt like the script needed more work. There needed to be a clearer line through the movie of what was happening. Too often, writers think a confusing, twisting story is the same as an intelligent, twisting story. If it doesn't make sense, then the twists don't count.
Overall, I really enjoyed this film, I just felt it fell short of the hype. Daniel Craig is excellent, but in 'Layer Cake' is where his brilliance really shines.