Fantastic

Rating: 10/10 (26 November 2006)

A brilliant present-day adaption of Ian Fleming's first Bond novel.
From start to finish this is the change Bond needed. Congrats to all who were involved. 007 is back on top of the action (spy) genre. Thanks for a great movie. I guess it's true Bond does live twice.
As for the particulars, I loved how the action scenes were done by human beings. From the opening bathroom scene to the crane scene to even the stair battle, James Bond and the villains breathed life into each scene. Nothing can replace a human being taking a punch or making a death defying leap. To add some background to this comment: I was really into the Die another Day plot until Bond's car disappeared and he rode down an Iceberg-fueled tidal wave.
As for the acting, At first I wasn't quite buying Vesper's dialog in this movie, Eva Green seemed out of character. But in the end her portrayal of a mentally unstable Vesper Lynd was nails. Both Bond and Lynd pulled off their mutual attraction to each other just like Fleming wrote. In all reality "Casin Royale" was a love story centered around a lot of death and destruction. But even after the fight scenes and action were over, the movie viewer could believe the the passion Bond felt for his leading lady.
My favorite scene: SPOILER WARNING Bond and Vesper at the table after he beats Le Chiffre at poker. The entire scene from Bond and Lynd's dialog to the text message to the kidnapping were exactly as I imagined them when I read FLeming's book.
Go See it... You only live Twice!