On Pierce...and Daniel

Rating: 8/10 (17 November 2006)

I rarely participate in these things, but I felt compelled to share my thoughts after watching (and enjoying immensely) Casino Royale. Pierce was a great Bond (my third favorite after Connery and, yes, Dalton), but unfortunately for him, he didn't get the best scripts (they simply kept getting worse (GoldenEye was his best outing by far--if only that one had David Arnold and Aston Martin involved!). I liked Daniel Craig (in Layer Cake, specifically) before he signed on, but like many, many others, I was very skeptical he could pull off being 007.
Now, I eat my words. Daniel's casting makes complete sense. Pierce could never have done Casino Royale. The script would've needed so much altering, you would have a completely different movie, and likely hundreds of miles further away from the original novel. In this movie, Bond is sloppy in his methods. He falls in love--and even RESIGNS because of it! He is also a double-O rookie, so this is where he figures himself out. We now understand why he is so good at what he does, why he doesn't have relationships (except, of course, for Tracy in OHMSS). The action is--and I can't believe I'm saying this, though it's the way it should be-- the best I've ever seen in any Bond movie. And while the classic bookends of gunbarrel- following-studio-logos and Bond-ends-up-with-girl aren't there, the ending is genius. I should've seen that obvious line coming!
Mads was a weak, Gothy Le Chiffre, the theme song could've been better, and a few other minor complaints, but overall a solid "8". Similar to Batman Begins, in the way there's logic to almost everything, Martin Campbell really nailed this one. I hope EON lets him helm more Bonds.