The best Bond movie in decades

Rating: 10/10 (31 October 2007)

Close adaptation of Fleming's first Bond novel. After banker to the world's terrorists LeChiffre has embezzled millions from his clients and lost it all playing the stock market, he sets up a high stakes card game at Casino Royale in Montenegro in attempt to regain the losses before he's found out. Recently promoted to 00 status, James Bond is sent to beat LeChiffre at the card game and bankrupt him, so he will have no option but to turn to the British government for protection, which they plan on giving him, in exchange for everything he knows about his employer.
Things don't go according to plan, however.
The details have been updated from the 53 year old book, but the premise is still the same, and this ends up being one of the closest adaptations of Ian Fleming's original material we've seen yet. Daniel Craig does a great job bringing Fleming's antihero back to the screen for the first time since 1989, and he has plenty of great material to work with here. The screenplay is well written, with plenty of suspense, action, and sharp dialogue, without being overly comical. There's also several references to earlier Bond films (some of the clothing of the henchmen mirrors Licence to Kill and Live and Let Die, the 1964 Astin Martin, etc.) without being derivative of them. Film mercifully avoids the needless and comical gadgets that were so prevalent in some previous films.
Beautifully filmed in central Europe; long, but not overlong; and with a kick ass opening scene set in Madagascar, this is the best Bond film in decades, with one of the best actors to play Bond in the lead.