A new James Bond

Rating: 8/10 (2 December 2006)

After having seen just about any James Bond film there is, today I saw Casino Royale in the theater. At first I was a little skeptical about the film, because good old Pierce had been replaced with a new guy. Though Pierce was not my favourite James Bond (Sean Connery is my all time favourite), Daniel Craig looked too much like he had run out of a B-action boxing movie. In the end I really liked this film, because it was far more than I expected. The action in this movie is incredible, especially the scene where James is chasing some guy jumping cranes and stuff in the first part of the movie and it continues throughout the film. But the best part about the film is the fact that the story is a lot more sophisticated than the previous ones. In the old James Bond movies it was always clear who the real bad guys were and it ended with Bond being at their secret base blowing things up. The story of this Bond is much more sophisticated.
Unfortunately the new Bond takes time to get used to. In the early days Bond was always the English gentleman, but the new Bond is different. Heis not as sympathetic as Roger Moore, Sean Connery or even Pierce Brosnan. He has become a kind of big headed (American?) and does not have the sophistication that for example Roger Moore had. He misses the 'Bond'-factor that is so typical for James Bond. The new Bond doesn't care if his "Wodka Martini" is shaken or stirred. Another thing that I also missed in this film are the gadgets that Bond uses. For example, the cars James drove in the previous films were packed with all kind of gadgets, but in this film the idiot crashes his Aston Martin before he can even push a botton.
Still I can recommend everybody to go to this film. Especially the improved story is something that makes this movie to an excellent movie. Is it really a James Bond movie? I'm not sure. Is it a good movie? Definitely.