Excellent

Rating: 10/10 (11 June 2007)

Giving a film such as this a vote of 10 may seem like a stretch of standards, but Casino Royale is absolutely perfect for the genre, so what else could I say? Daniel Craig is the quintessential Bond, surpassing my previous favorite -- Sean Connery -- for adherence to the nature of the character (with acknowledgement of Timothy Dalton's fine effort). Eva Green is also great as Vesper, and Judy Dench is...well, her peerless self.
I appreciate especially that the special effects in this film are there to aid the telling of the story, not as a SUBSTITUTE for a story, which they are in so many modern movies. As in most 007 films, the locations are magnificent, almost becoming characters themselves.
I look forward eagerly to the next installment, not leastly to see what the filmmakers do with Jeffrey Wright. He's much too good an actor to have been hired to lean on a table and utter 4 lines, and I can't wait to see how his character develops.
Rent this film. It is real entertainment.