Craig is an ace

Rating: 7/10 (12 December 2006)

Four years and 200 candidates later, the new James Bond is here. I couldn't remember of a more intense search for a new actor than the Bond search. This story could almost fit in a movie of its own. But all's well that ends well. And the curtain rises for Daniel Craig, aka "James Blond".
Initially, Craig gets evident attention for his blond hair and his sea-blue eyes, which are not typical from the 007 agent. But these physical doubts vanish when we see what Craig really is able to do. Because the James Bond that we watch here has accomplished his most fabulous task to date: looking more like a human being.
"Casino Royale" begins by presenting a recently promoted James Bond, who finds himself blamed by the MI6 for a wrongfully executed mission. But Bond has a chance to redeem himself by winning a high-stakes poker game in Montenegro's Casino Royale against Le Chiffre (Mads Mikkelsen), a banker who finances global terrorist organizations. If Le Chiffre loses, his organization will collapse.
Bond is accompanied by Vesper Lynd (Eva Green), a Treasury agent who's assigned to watch over Bond and help him win the game. Eventually, Bond and Lynd fall in love and the game becomes more and more dangerous.
The story is very complex, but that's far from being a shortcoming. I think we've all had enough of black-and-white stories filled with colorless villains and allies. Le Chiffre is a good villain, but the fact that more hidden crooks are present and play various roles in the story adds some spicy stuff.
If Daniel Craig has been chosen for the main role, it's not for nothing. His interpretation is gorgeous and because he suffers more in this movie than any other actor before him, we can only fall for him. I'm not saying that it's good seeing Bond suffering and being devilishly tortured in that famous cargo scene with Le Chiffre, but the realism that it brings transform the Bond franchise into something very different. A large gap has been created between "Die Another Day" and "Casino Royale".
This movie relies less on gadgets and other stupid stuff, but it's not completely thrown away. The screenwriters made their chores by showing us that a cell phone can do a lot of things today. It's something that we all knew, but this kind of stuff is great to see.
The action scenes are spectacular (but this phrase isn't surprising, is it?). It begins with this relentless chase in Madagascar. The crane sequence is astounding. In this scene, we don't see vertigo. We feel it.
However, I don't like that James Bond jumps from crane to crane and then to small buildings without pain like he does. He's a British agent, not Super Mario!
The car accident that Bond gets after he wins the poker tournament is completely over-wondering. The sequence of rolls and flying debris is probably the best of its kind that I've ever seen.
I also liked the suspense created by the poker game. I don't know anything about card games, but I know when a scene is suspenseful. And this was suspenseful.
And finally, the opening sequence is one of the very best ever made for a Bond film. The surreal animated images of Bond shooting spade-shaped bullets and targets becoming roulette wheels is catchy. And that's a small word.
The accompanying opening song has been criticized because it's an alternative rock song, which is supposedly not in the spirit of James Bond. I disagree with this statement because Chris Cornell's "You Know My Name" is a great song. And because Bond is evolving, I think that the title song should evolve as well. I'm not saying that as an alternative fan (because I'm not an alternative fan). I only say that an adventure happening nowadays should not only LOOK but also SOUND nowadays.
I just hope that the producers Barbara Broccoli and Michael G. Wilson will recognize what was wrong with the previous films and what's great about this one. With these thoughts in mind and with Daniel Craig as Bond, it would only be a matter of time before the series could really be dubbed as a royal flush.