Finally!!!!.....a real, modern, Bond movie.

Rating: 8/10 (7 December 2006)

This review is catered toward anyone who either grew up watching Connery and Moore play James Bond in the theaters, or if you are like me watching as a 6 year-old boy TBS marathons that would often have trifectas such as, A Spy Who Loved Me, ThunderBall, and From Russia With Love all on during the same day.
I didn't mind Brosnan as Bond, I minded the scripts, the often ridiculous plot lines, and the blatantly coordinated explosions. I minded the lack of any real emotion in any of the roles, whether they were Brosnan his enemies or his women.
Thus, I walked into Casino Royale expecting more of the same. Boy was I pleasantly surprised. For starters, Daniel Craig, with all the hoopla about a "blond Bond" delivers a subdued and concentrated performance similar to some of Connery's earliest work in Dr. No or GoldFinger. I mean even Connery worked more juvenile smiles or quircky one liners into those scripts then Craig is given in Royale. His face is stoic and at all times impressionless, as if he is playing poker at all times. I like this. He singlehandedly brought seriousness back to the "Bond" character.
Then, there is the script. At first a standard mission to foil terrorist via a high stakes poker game, the layers of this movie are first very simply built up. Good guy, bad guy, love interest, and the impossible duality between falling in love and working for the British Secret Service. Slowly these layers are peeled away, one supposed ending, leads to another, which leads to another. And all along, the plot line is not completely unfathomable like some of the past decades Bonds. Why not? Because the plot lines are driven by human emotions, by deceit and deception, not by crazy villains with incomprehendable plots.
Green and Craig are great. The screenplay is the best since arguably, GoldenEye or to take it back even further, For Your Eyes Only. For Bond fans, GO SEE THIS MOVIE....for people not familiar with Bond, this would be a good start.