Visually exhilarating, but there is something missing

Rating: 6/10 (30 April 2010)

Don't get me wrong I really like James Bond, after seeing the superb From Russia With Love with Sean Connery(my personal favourite Bond), and I really wanted to see Casino Royale as it promised to be exhilarating and exciting. After seeing it for myself, I thought exhilarating yes in terms of visuals but it isn't quite exciting enough.
Starting off with the good things are that chiefly the cinematography, stunts, effects, editing and scenery are absolutely incredible. Also the sound is very impressive, the first action sequence was utterly mind blowing thanks to the visuals and the sound effects. The score by David Arnold is also good and authentic enough, it isn't John Barry, but it has some rousing themes. Mads Mikkelsen makes a brooding and intense Le Chiffre, while Eva Green is stunning and poised as the sexy Vesper Lynd and Judi Dench the brilliant actress she is is a suitably frustrated M.
However, there are some components I didn't like so much; I found that the pacing was very uneven here, after the first action sequence, there are some parts that are fairly pedestrian. Also I wasn't particularly particularly taken with the theme song, it was typical Bond, but it was also so-so. That said though, it is better than the one Madonna sang, what was that song again? Daniel Craig I had mixed feelings about, while he had the intensity behind his beautiful eyes, while he had the body and while he had the grit and athleticism, what he didn't quite have was the charisma. Some of the story is uneven as well, there are some nice, well-constructed parts but there were others that felt unnecessary and not quite so well thought out, the torture scene especially. In terms of dialogue, some of the exchanges between Bond and Vesper Lynd are delicious and seductive, but the ones with Le Chiffre weren't quite so good, some of it didn't have the spirit of Bond.
Overall, not the best Bond in my opinion, but it is not unwatchable or anything. 6/10 Bethany Cox