Bond Begins

Rating: 9/10 (20 November 2006)

Every now and then, a beloved and established series will veer off course, having strayed too far from what makes it tick, and requires a reset. "Batman Begins" and "Metal Gear Solid 3" are two good examples of such a reset, and interestingly enough, are both origin stories. After the last couple of Bond movies, it was decided that this long-standing franchise was in dire need of such a re-boot, and EON promptly went to work. The result is Casino Royale, one of the best Bond movies in recent years, and some might even go as far as to say one of the best Bonds ever. Time will tell, but as of right now, I am inclined to agree.
It was an uphill struggle, as many complained when Daniel Craig was chosen as the "new Bond". But Craig's performance here will silence the naysayers, or at the very least call their credibility into question. He manages to give Bond, as many others reviewers have no doubt pointed out before me, an aura of danger and unpredictability. This early Bond is somewhat more reckless and untamed than we're used to seeing. A diamond in the rough, if you will.
Speaking of recent entries in the series: The movie itself feels somewhat restrained compared to what we've seen lately (although it has some pretty big action scenes, the construction yard chase and the airport run, for example, the former of which is going to be very hard for anyone to top in terms of pure kinetic energy and excitement), i.e. no ice palaces being melted by high-tech space lasers, no megalomaniac villains hell-bent on world domination or destruction, and so on. Instead, Mads Mikkelsen provides us with a more down-to-earth villain, one who doesn't much care who he works for as long as he's making money, and no-one interferes with his operation.
Some people have complained about the running time (145 minutes), which to be fair, is quite a bit for an action movie. Personally, I had no problem with the running time, or the fact that the film is divided into distinct parts, rather than the usual A-to-B progress that most Bond movies have. (Perhaps the complaints regarding this have something to say about moviegoers' atrophying attention spans?) Another common complaint lies with the theme song ("You Know My Name", written by David Arnold and Chris Cornell, and performed by the latter). While I agree that the montage that accompanies it could have been stronger, I can't really find any major faults with the song itself, having listened to it several times to see if I've missed something. Interestingly enough, the song's detractors seem to be in agreement that it is worse than, say "The World Is Not Enough" or "Die Another Day", which doesn't do much for their credibility, in my opinion.
But I digress. The bottom line is: Casino Royale is great piece of entertainment. And in the end, that's what you and I go to Bond movies for.