Lean, mean, and the best Bond of all

Rating: 9/10 (29 July 2008)

I had a chance to see Casino Royale back when it was originally in theaters. People talked about how much of a wonderful "return to form" it was, and I had an idea for watching all the Bond movies then, and considering what I had heard about Die Another Day, I didn't want to mess up chronology AND leave myself without a happy ending.
So, now I can say it: This isn't a return to form, this isn't an update, this is a press of the reset button. Bond is back to his lean, mean Dr. No/Living Daylights self, although this fella is even more ruthless than ol' Sean ever was, and adds suspense, intrigue and INTENSITY to the dour, joyless latter film.
There's a lot of new things for Bond here. Bond falls in love, Bond screws up and really gets in trouble for it (as opposed to the normal "Bond screws up, they yell and he does exactly the same thing), Bond gets ARRESTED, Bond gets drugged (AND ALMOST DIES!), Bond gets TORTURED, the list goes on and on.
This series has always made seem Bond impossibly invincible. It was refreshing to see him seem vulnerable (who would have thought I could say the phrase "Bond's shower scene" and come away feeling TOUCHED?). I'd never felt SUSPENSE or tension in a James Bond film, where Bond was doing something that he could get *caught* at, it's amazing.
There's also a lot MISSING from this series, there's a complete lack of gadgets (in fact, not even a Q), and most wonderfully, they have dispensed with the chintzy sex jokes. Yes, there's moments of humor, but they're all organic and subtle, based out of the story and the interaction of the characters, who, by the way, are all fleshed out to realistic depth levels. The villain is no cackling megalomaniac. He's just a drug terrorist/criminal. And he's less cartoonish than the only other halfway down-to-earth criminal (from License to Kill).
The film has also managed to bring Bond into the 21st century in a realistic sense. This isn't the "see! we're hip too! WE GOT VIDEOGAMEZ!" bent of Never Say Never Again, or the "We have an invisible car. An *INVISIBLE CAR*!" ridiculousness of Die Another Day (by the way, the cars actually break when you crash in this movie). They make an offhand reference to Photoshop and have technology for sensible reasons, not silly ones.
What's amazing about the series is that, to wipe away for memories of the Brosnan films, they brought in the creative team behind...the Brosnan films. The director of Goldeneye, the writers of The World is Not Enough and Die Another Day, and Judi Dench as M.
Acting-wise, I've already discussed Craig, Eva Green is the most intriguing, intelligent, interesting Bond girl ever, Judi Dench is just ANGRY, exasperated as Bond keeps screwing up, the villain is vicious (but not invincible!), a small role for Jeffrey Wright is understated and wonderful as always.
I know that everyone had wanted a change of pace from the Brosnan films, but I think one man had more to do with this change of pace than any: Jason Bourne. In the four years between Bond films, ol' J.B. rose up and became THE action spy king, with a more visceral, intelligent, cerebral, cold-blooded superhero, and just like 28 Days Later set the bar a little higher and helped Dawn of the Dead become as good as it was, our favorite amnesiac set the bar up here for the Bonds to jump over, and boy, did they ever.
On the technical side of things, Martin Campbell has one definitely leg up on the Bourne series: he knows how to keep his camera still during fight scenes.
It was wonderful, touching, thrilling, suspenseful, interesting, and just...the best Bond there is. And, almost as an afterthought, but I'm ranking this film not only in Bond films, but in its own year as well, and considering the weak year 2006 was, it should be no surprise that it makes my top 10 of the year as well. Good on ya, James. Keep up the good work.
{Grade: A- / #9 (of 64) of 2006 / #1 (of 22) of the James Bond series}