A great movie... but not a great Bond movie!

Rating: 8/10 (10 December 2006)

Let me start by saying Casino Royale was a really good movie. I enjoyed it, and I thought Daniel Craig was/will be a great James Bond. The problem was, there was very little in this motion picture that indicated it was a James Bond film. The really slick pre-title action sequence was missing. The Maurice Bender style credit sequence was missing. There was no gadgetry. No Q. No Moneypenny. There was very little humor (even Tim Dalton's Bond contained some humor). They could have called Craig's character Ethan Hunt and called this movie Mission:Impossible IV. In spite of the fact that Casino Royale was jam-packed with action, and and had a better plot than a few other Bond flicks, it didn't seem like I had just watched Bond 21. I don't know where Barbara and Michael will go from here. I assume Bond 22 will further the plot of Casino Royale, trying to get the arms merchants, but I can't even begin to think of where they will go there after. Other than being a great action adventure, there is nothing unique about this version of Bond that will sustain it for any period of time. Thus, I consider the end of the James Bond franchise to be Die Another Day. Again, I enjoyed Casino Royale, and Daniel Craig was a surprise in his portrayal of 007, but there was no feeling of having visited an old friend after viewing Casino Royale. As a stand-alone action adventure, I gave this a rating of 8, but in spite of beautiful photography and a great soundtrack (although I didn't care for Chris Cornell's title song) and Craig's great performance.... as a Bond film I can't give it more than a 5 or 6.