It's about bloody time

Rating: 8/10 (21 August 2009)

Anyone who saw Die Another Day will probably agree that Brocolli and co., with the help of Madonna and 'too sexy for the screen' Halle Berry, nearly flogged the Bond horse to death through a strong cocktail of crap stunts, smarm, crap effects and yet more smarm. Since then, the horse not only died, but it has been left to fester. Thankfully, Daniel Craig is the breath of fresh air that the franchise has been looking for and the smell of rotting cheese can now blow away and leave us with the sophisitcated scent of sex and death.
Casino Royale is an intelligently written and directed movie that begins at the beginning. Much like Nolan's Batman Begins, Bond begins again. And, much like the new Batman, Bond is no longer ageless and timeless: he has a history and is, in this film and at this stage of his life, unborn; he is but a fledgling 00 agent, one who is still to cut his teeth.
Craig's Bond is chiselled and, unlike his predecessors, actually looks like he could kill a man with his bare hands. He wears a suit very well, but only when necessary, unlike Roger Moore who would wear one in the bath. Craig's Bond challenges the long-standing Bond genre as it is he who walks out of the sea in barely a swimsuit and it is the female audience members who swoon. He delivers lines like: (in response to being asked 'shaken or stirred?') 'Do I look like I give a damn?' with just the right amount of frost to make us want to look below the surface of a historically sterile character and find his heart and a soul, which is far more interesting than watching an over-the-hill Brosnan surf across a glacier of erupting ice or battle the power of the sun.
Casino Royale begins with the bodging of a fairly routine capture and question mission, a quite stunning footchase through a Madagaskern building site where Bond pursues the mega-dexterous Sebastien Foucan (a world champion street runner) and a subsequent kicking of the backside by M, played again by the wonderful Judi Dench. Bond is to 'stick his head in the sand' while she considers his future. So he does, and goes to the Bahamas on a holiday and to follow a lead salvaged from the said botched chase and capture. From here it's off to Miami, Montenegro, Venice, Lake Como and then, surely, back to Blighty for cocktails. However, it's not that simple. Along the way he meets Vesper, his first and only love. By competing in a one hundred and fifty million dollar poker game against the bad guy, Le Chiffre (Mads Mikkleson) he melts Vesper's somewhat austere exterior and opens his cold heart, letting her past the 'fast smile and expensive watch' persona that we know and may have become a bit bored with. Bond is human, and in love, but he is to be betrayed by her; for what reason is an intriguing plot-twist and a direct link to the next: Quantum of Solace.
There is action, drama, love, revenge, gambling, drinking, expensive clothes, hotels, watches, locations and beautiful people – enough variety to keep even those totally sick of the Bond franchise entertained. There is also a torture scene where Bond's, ahem, 'pocket aces' are assaulted in a way that would make even a eunuch remember and empathise.
Despite a serious ball ache, the horse is alive and well and out for revenge.