Doesn't fit the series

Rating: 6/10 (20 November 2006)

Daniel Craig's first appearance as James Bond is convincing enough but the film has no place in the Bond film series. In Casino Royale James Bond is still being shaped as a double '0' agent and it would have fit the franchise well to show how James became the man he is in the rest of the films. Unfortunately the makers decided to set Casino Royale in a modern world and used Judi Dench as 'M' (who was introduced as a female 'M' in Goldeneye), and the script relies heavily on mobile phones and Internet technology, so while you might be able to forgive some of the other trappings of modernising the story there are elements which make it impossible for the James Bond of Casino Royale to be the man who became the James Bond of Dr No and all the subsequent releases. This is very unfortunate because it is clear that Daniel Craig can play an excellent James Bond and take the character forward, but if James Bond lives on then Casino Royale will be a misfit among any collectors set of Bond movies.