Perfect? Of course not, but it's the closest I've seen to Ian Fleming's novels

Rating: 9/10 (6 April 2008)

For many years, I have longed to see a James Bond series actually based on the books. While some of the Bond films have been a lot of fun, most have practically nothing to do with the great Ian Fleming novels. Sadly, in a few cases (such as YOU ONLY LIVE TWICE), about the only similarity between the books and the movies were the titles!
In fact, the original CASINO ROYALE was a horrid film in practically every way except for the music. While some of the characters were retained, the movie was an abysmal mess--a very high budget and confusing mess. It was purported to be a comedy, though practically none of the film was funny and like YOU ONLY LIVE TWICE, the plot was impossible to follow and bore no similarity to the book. Fans of Ian Fleming usually twitch with disgust at even hearing the title of this god-awful film--thank goodness someone FINALLY wanted to do the Fleming novel some justice!
In the books, Bond was a bourbon drinking, chain-smoking assassin. CASINO ROYALE was the first book and Bond was his most human in it. In the book, Bond struggled with guilt over the many people he'd killed--and they were NOT killed in crazy and exotic ways like they were in most of the movies. Most were either shot or killed with his bare hands. Bond was, above all else, a killer--not quite as sexy or sophisticated as he was in the films. While Craig isn't quite the same as Fleming's Bond (he's missing the scar down his cheek), he's much closer to the novels than any prior Bond incarnation. I miss that Bond and am glad that, in part, the new CASINO ROYALE finally features much of this cold-blooded and flawed character.
Now I do understand that EON Productions couldn't repeat the novel completely--heck, it was set in the early 1950s and many allowances needed to be made for current events. And as far as the updates went, they generally were in the same spirit as the original movie and the cat and mouse game between Le Chiffre and Bond is essentially that of the novel.
All this does NOT mean that the movie will only appeal to those who read the books. There are still many exciting chase scenes and stunts like you'd expect to see in a Bond film but fortunately Bond didn't seem so invincible. Daniel Craig's version of Bond could apparently do what the prior Bonds could do, but you'll notice throughout the film that he's cut and bruised--not exactly a man of steel. I loved this and it did tend to make the unrealness of the stunts seem a tad more believable. Plus, again, Fleming would be thrilled as several stories he wrote talked about the toll on Bond's body.
The film was well-constructed, stunt heavy but not enough to alienate purists like myself and intelligently written. About the only people who will strongly dislike this film are those who are looking for a reincarnation of Sean Connery or Roger Moore. Craig certainly doesn't look or act like either of these two guys. While I could easily imagine Connery's or Moore's characters sipping martinis while engaged in gay banter with their arch-enemies, Craig is more the type you'd expect to beat the enemies to death with his bare hands--like a REAL government assassin. Wow, do I like the change!
PS--The Aston Martin DBS V12 in this movie is a gorgeous car and it should be with a base price of $265,000. In the film, it is destroyed and I truly hope this was a model or something other than one of these great sports cars--it would be tragic if they really did in this car!