among the best bond films

Rating: 10/10 (13 November 2012)

Can a series of films last more than twenty entries and still make sense? The answer is no, and therefore the newest movie, Casino Royale, the last non-filmed Ian Flemming novel, is a complete reboot of the franchise. The novel Casino Royale (also the fist novel about bond), takes place during the cold war, so obviously some changes had to be made. First, the setting has been changed to present time, SMERSH has been replaced with a terrorist organisation, and the card game has been changed from Baccarat to Texas hold em, and the fist 40 minutes is completely new. Apart from that, Casino Royale stays very true to the amazing novel. But is it any good? lets find out.
The film starts with a 4 minute sequence of bond achieving his double-oh status. Its completely in black and white, which works well. We also see a different gun barrel, than in the last movies. After that sequence, the title song begins. The song is "you know my name" by Chris Cornell. The song is very good, and also slightly different than other songs. Also, the song actually does not contain any nude dancing women, the very first time since Dr no. Instead, the general theme of the opening song is, fittingly, cards.
after that, the fist act starts. As I said before, the first act is completely original. The movie starts with an awesome chase scene. The chase scene is one of the best chase scenes in movie history. After that, we slowly gets introduced to the movies villain, Le Chriffre, a private banker for terrorists. He intends to make a big gamble on the stock market, using terrorism as his method to win money. Needless to say, Bond stops Le Chiffres plan. Le Chriffre, now broke, sets up a high stake poker game in order to win back his money. Bond is sent to stop him. This is where the novel begins.
The movie does not only do the book justice, it actually improves it. The action scenes is not just good, they are great. The love story between Vesper and Bond doesn't feel forced at all, on the contrary it actually works really well. And don't even get me started on the villain. The evil super-intelligent mastermind Le Chiffre, played amazingly by Mads Mikkelsen, is one of the best villains yet. Its even implied, that he is responsible for the 9/11 attack. He is also played by Mads Mikkelsen, one of the best actors of all time, and is nothing but believable.
But how is the new bond, played by Daniel Craig? When it was announced, that he would play bond, it did lead to much controversity among fans. A BLOND BOND!! *shivers*. But as a matter of fact, he plays the role perfectly. He has charm, he is in good shape and plays incredibly well. I will almost dare to say, that he is just as good as Sean Connery.
When you add all these things together, Casino royale is an incredible movie, good plot, good action, good romance, good bond, good EVERYTHING!. This movie deserves to lie among the best of bond movies, along with "From Russia With Love", "goldfinger", "goldeneye" and the newly released "skyfall".
10/10