newly calibrated Bond is a good thing

Rating: 8/10 (6 February 2009)

The latest re-launch of the James Bond series is the most radical departure from the established formula yet, which is a good thing. There are just enough references to the old franchise (a line of dialogue here and there, a couple of familiar characters, snippets of the old theme played occasionally) to assure us that this is indeed a 007 film. Apparently, though, all we really need to accept a movie as an entry in the Bond series is a main character who is a secret agent for the British government. 'Casino Royale' is a tough, realistically violent flick that makes all the previous Bonds seem positively cartoonish by comparison. When 007 is tortured, he's not strapped to a table fully clothed with a less-than-convincing laser beam inching its way toward him; here he's stripped naked and bound to a chair with the bottom cut out, then a man with a knotted rope proceeds to whack the hell out of him right between the legs, if you know what I mean. Daniel Craig's 007 has less in common with any of his predecessors than he does with the Robert Shaw character in 'From Russia With Love.' That is, he is a killing machine, remorseless, at times practically invincible. From the blows, knife wounds, torture, and poison he is subjected to, one is surprised he can even walk during the last third of the film, much less give chase and do battle with the bad guys yet again. He can affect a sophisticated air when necessary (like Shaw's character) and he is extremely intelligent and perceptive: a brute with a brain. But where it was clear with the other Bonds what motivated them to do this kind of work (the perks, the women, ego), one is never quite sure what motivates Daniel Craig's Bond. One suspects at times he is a masochist. He certainly gets precious little respect or encouragement from M (Judi Dench, the only carryover from the Brosnan films), which I suppose is in keeping with M's character from the time of Bernard Lee. Dench's M is a real bitch though which for obvious reasons Lee never could be. And there is the briefest of passing meetings with Felix Leiter of the CIA. Although it serves useful to the plot, one wonders why they bothered; perhaps to keep the connection alive for future episodes. The one section of 'Casino Royale' that feels unnatural is when 007 apparently falls in love with the latest 'Bond Girl,' Vesper Lynd (Eva Green) and resigns from MI-6 to be with her. Is it a ruse? It certainly is on HER part, as she betrays him and tries to get away with millions of pounds he thought he'd recovered for the British Treasury. She dies in Bond's arms and his grief seems genuine. Perhaps this is meant to establish his reluctance in the future to 'prolonged' relationships. So the latest re-boot of the 007 franchise is a successful one and should inject the nearly 50-year-old series with enough fresh energy to keep it going for a while.