You know my name; Bond...James Bond.

Rating: 7/10 (29 March 2016)

'Casino Royale' is a well crafted '007' film that does justice and stays true to Ian Fleming's novel. Martin Campbell surely has outdone himself since his first 'Bond' film 'GoldenEye', with a different directing style that makes this the most modern and grounded of all the 'Bond' films before.
1. Daniel Craig is no Sean Connery, but he does the best he can with the character of James Bond even though his acting comes off a bit stiff and emotionally detached at times. However, he does have the best physicality of the previous Bond actors and it sure does show in all of the action sequences which are choreographed amazingly.
2. The one sequence which stands out above the rest, is the spectacular foot chase after the opening credits where Bond pursues a bomb-maker involved in a sinister plot which is uncovered later on in the film. All the action in this film is done surprisingly well under Campbell's direction (which I had hoped later directors would have taken note on...but didn't) with all emulating a sense of suspense, excitement and most of all...consequence.
3. Mads Mikkelsen is even more exceptional than Craig as the cunning antagonist 'Le Chiffre'. He brings a sense of mystery and style as the character with so many interesting dimensions as a villain that he steals the show whenever he's on screen. One flaw is that he doesn't have enough screen-time, especially in the third act of the film. He proves himself to be smarter than Bond and just outdoes him at every turn when it comes to style.
4. Now the bad part. The real anchor that weighs this film down is the campy love-story. Craig and Green (Vesper) have an interesting dynamic when they play-off each other with a sort of love/hate relationship once she is introduced at the beginning of the film's second act. The movie takes a huge nose-dive near the 2hr mark when their love-story comes front and center. At that point, it feels like the film has outstayed it's welcome when we get a full 15mins of Bond and Vesper laying on beaches, having sex, living in hotels and exchanging lines of horrible dialogue with each other. These scenes (undoubtedly) should have been cut from the final film, cause it unnecessarily adds extra length to an already 2hr 30min running time.
5. Lastly, in no way am I denying that Eva Green isn't an attractive woman, but the actress who appears in the first act (Caterina Murino) is an absolute knock-out and is more of a classic beauty suited for a 007 film. She should have played the female lead of Vesper Lynd rather than Green based on appearance alone, cause she just emits hotness;)
If I were to decide, I'd say 'Casino Royale' is the best of the Daniel Craig '007' films since the others (the closet being 'Skyfall') never really live up to the bar which was set be this reboot.