Bond is back!

Rating: Null/10 (18 November 2006)

When Sean Connery was first hired to play James Bond in "Dr. No" (1962), Bond's creator himself, Ian Fleming, was not impressed. Fleming had original envisioned someone more upper-crust, more refined, and a little less rugged and rough-and-tumble. After visiting the set and seeing Connery in action, Fleming became a believer.
I imagine that will me most people's reaction to Daniel Craig, who makes his 007 debut in this 21st installment in the James Bond series, "Casino Royale." The sixth actor to play the role (after Connery, George Lazenby, Roger Moore, Timothy Dalton, and Pierce Brosnan), he's certainly gruff and hard-hitting than any Bond we've seen since Connery left the series after "Diamond are Forever" (1971). His approach to the role is almost animalistic, constantly pushing himself physically and emotionally to accomplish the job at hand. While Craig's qualities as an actor are hardly in question, the issue is whether or not he is James Bond. The answer is yes. While it's Bond we haven't seen for a long time, if ever, it's a Bond that we've sorely missed. Just at home in a brutal fistfight in a hotel staircase as he is wearing a tuxedo at the poker table, Craig slides effortlessly into the role. One-liners that we've come to groan at now come with ease and without the cheesy subtext. His action sequences feel powerfully real and not like cartoon set pieced as the ones in Brosnan's last outing, "Die Another Day" (2002) did. He's easily the best of the Bonds since Connery, at that's saying something, as I was (still am) a huge Brosnan fan.
But let's not neglect the film itself. "Casino Royale" is also an excellent film. While not exactly being a prequel (it takes place in the present day), it shows us a Bond who has just received his 00-status, his license to kill. A grainy, black-and-white teaser opens the film and we see Bond's first two kills, one of which goes much more painfully than we're used to seeing. This Bond is still developing himself and he's prone to making mistakes, both of the head and heart.
After a spectacular chase sequence in Africa, Bond is sent by M (the perfect Dame Judi Dench) to Montenegro to play poker with the villain, Le Chiffre (played by Mads Mikkelsen). Sound strange? It's not. Le Chiffre is banker to many of the world's terrorists. He's been playing the stock market with his clients' money and things have not gone his way. He has to win back $150 million to be able to cover his losses and stay alive. M wants Bond to clean him out.
Mikkelsen's Le Chiffre is a classic Bond baddie. It's refreshing to have a villain whose motive isn't world domination, but simply money. Millions of dollars to finance worldwide terrorism. It's a goal that audiences can both understand and can easily get behind hating. Le Chiffre sports a scar that runs over his eye, which will occasionally cause him to bleed "tears" of blood. To be plainly honest, it's pretty cool. Make no mistake, though, Le Chiffre is very much a villain. After capturing Bond, Le Chiffre subjects him to a torture sequence that probably had the ratings board wondering if an R rating would be more appropriate than the PG-13 rating it carries.
Bond is not without women "Casino Royale", but even the Bond Girls have more to do than just stand there and look pretty. His main love interest is an accountant from the British government named Vesper Lynd (played by French actress Eva Green). She assigned to watch over him and, more importantly, the 15 million pounds the government is fronting him to enter the game. Aside from being painfully gorgeous, she is also Bond's equal intellectually. Their dialogue is wonderfully crisp and she keeps his at arm's length until she absolutely can't. (You knew she had give in sooner or later, but it's nice that it's later.) She brings out something in Bond we've almost never seen - vulnerability. Bond definitely falls in love with Vesper and it's refreshing to watch. After witnessing the killing (by Bond) of two goons, Vesper can't cope and Bond finds her sitting in the shower, fully dressed and weeping. Bond sits next to her, still wearing his tuxedo, and cradles her in his arms, kissing her forehead. It's the most emotionally naked scene in the film and it's also one of the most powerful.
Along with Bond, the girl, and the villain, the supporting roles also work extremely well. Giancarlo Giannini plays Mathis, another of Bond's contacts, Jeffery Wright plays CIA agent and Bond ally Felix Leiter, and Caterina Murino is Solange, Bond's first conquest (who pays dearly for that honor).
Director Martin Campbell, who directed Brosnan's first outing as Bond ("GoldenEye", 1995), knows his way around Bond. It would be interesting to see if he can be brought back to continue directing Craig in the role. He's got the know-how to keep our eyes glued to the screen. "'Casino Royale" is hard-hitting, emotional, gritty, heart-pounding, and wonderfully, perfectly, Bond.