a very long opening chapter

Rating: 6/10 (26 November 2006)

Pierce Brosnan and some ludicrous (even by Bond standards) scripts and plots did all that they could to kill the 007 series. Thankfully, the name Bond has not been killed for good, although this film is a temporary adrenalin boost rather than a full resuscitation.
Two key elements save Bond for the future here. Firstly, a sensible plot for a change! Quite a clever one too, and not the standard megalomaniac trying to take over the world. Secondly, Daniel Craig.
Mr Craig was widely expected by the majority, myself included, to be a disaster in the role, since he is not quite as tall as he could be, a little bit on the blonde side and apparently inept in the ways of cars, guns and fighting. Happily, he does the job very nicely indeed. I refuse to compare him to "other" Bonds, that is lazy and will be done thousands of times here. In his own right he does a convincing job and at no stage looks like the wrong choice.
So why only 6 out of 10? Too long for its own good, I'm sorry to say. It spends far too much time on the whole "Bond Begins" scenario, and loses some punch as a consequence. "Batman Begins" it is not. If James Bond needed so much coaching and advice along the way, he surely would not have been placed in the scenario of the plot for "Casino Royale" to begin with? Casino Royale is a very nice way of clearing your mind of the rubbish that was "Die Another Day" and, to a degree, "The World Is Not Enough". Let's just hope that Mr Craig's next outing gets on with being tighter on the editing front.