The Good, the Bad, the Ugly...and the Beautiful Eva Green

Rating: 6/10 (21 November 2006)

"Casino Royale" is the 21st "official" James Bond movie, and as the longest running franchise in movie history, let's get down to the basics:
The Good: Daniel Craig adds a cold, hard edge to Bond that hasn't been there in a long time. We'll have to wait and see over the course of the next few films if he can hold a candle to Sean Connery, but he has an acting range that surpasses Pierce Brosnan and is already miles ahead of Roger Moore.
Eva Green as Vesper Lynd is the best Bond Girl since Diana Rigg in "On Her Majesty's Secret Service." She's a natural beauty who lights up the screen every time she is in frame. While some of her banter with Craig falls flat, the character development the writers give her makes her the most complex and fascinating female character since Rigg's Tracy Di Vicenzo, and Green is a good enough actress to pull it off.
Also, Chris Cornell's Bond Theme Song, "You Know my Name" is the best one since Paul McCartney's "Live and Let Die."
The Bad: As dark and serious and true to Ian Fleming's original incarnation everyone tries to keep the film, Martin Campell (of "Goldeneye" and "Mask of Zorro" fame) is still just a run-of-the-mill action-adventure director, which means he can pull off some fun stunts that look great, but he has no sense of style to carry off some of the more intense moments. He seems to exist only to dangle stunt-men from various objects in midair, which makes the opening chase scene at a Madagascar construction site the most entertaining bit.
The Ugly: I appreciate everyone's desire to strip Bond back down to the basics, but he needs a villain to play off, and the asthmatic poker playing terrorist power broker who cries blood (dumb!) just didn't cut it. Give the audience something to chew on. Nobody complained about them keeping the one-liners, the hot girls, or the hot cars...so let's get a villain worth routing against next time.
The product placement (especially when he drives a Ford in Montenegro before getting his Astin-Martin) is so in-your-face it becomes distracting--so was the ridiculous Richard Branson cameo in the airport. This is just bad movie making no matter how you cut it.
Finally, this felt like the longest movie I have sat through since "Lord of the Rings: Return of the King" and I think this was at least forty-five minutes shorter. That's not a good thing for a franchise action movie, no matter how much reinvention was going on.
Bottom Line: Wiping away most of the silliness of the last two Brosnan flicks, a leaner, meaner Bond has been delivered that still has many flaws. Comparing this to similar and more recent franchises, this is far superior to the "Mission:Impossible" episodes, but not nearly as deliciously convoluted, clever, or emotionally involving as the Jason Bourne flicks.