The Name is Bond, Without Bond

Rating: 9/10 (29 November 2006)

The Doctors Broccoli,Wilson Campbell and Haggis reanimated the Bond-Franchise by letting the patient die and decided to have a new baby instead...
Casino Royale is full of witty and insinuating dialogues and both action and Bondvs.Villain scenes that will be well remembered: briefly, it had all things old Bonds had and the last Brosnan-Bonds lacked of. At the same time, they're showing us things Bond has never done before - and which Bond was never considered to do, leaving the audience alone with the question if the guy on the screen actually is Bond, or if all the cleverly used dialogues/Action scenes should rather cover up the fact that Craig isn't handsome, tall and has slightly more charisma than Dalton.
The answer is easy: this guy has almost nothing in common with Connery, Moore etc and if it was not for the famous "Bond"-line we wouldn't recognize him. Why this is still a great movie? Because the way Craig portrays Bond totally makes sense. So does the whole movie by not taking place before the Cold War, by not showing us Q and Moneypenny: It's about a blunt instrument on his way to become a charming, smart but emotionally cold killing spy, and nothing else. This is a "Character-Bond" movie. And it's almost perfect, since Craig is less the traditional Bond rather than his own Bond.
...Whether Craig is really capable of conveying the image of the "Bond" we knew and loved or not, Bond 22 will show - which is necessary because once you started a character development you better bring it to an end. Otherwise this is an unfinished symphony.
Hoping the Best, this receives 9/10.