Casino Royale
After 20 movies, the Bond franchise didn't just need a facelift, it needed a complete overhaul. When Sony bought MGM and brought the screen rights to Ian Fleming's very first Bond novel (and the only missing piece to the film series) with it, a chance to start all over again was a good idea in principle and, for the most part, in practice.
A black and white opening sequence ostensibly introduces us to Bond for the first time, in the process of earning his double-O status. He replaces a deceased 007 and begins his first assignment in spectacular fashion, pursuing a terrorist bomb-maker through a Ugandan construction site in an action sequence for the ages.
This Bond is brash, egotistical, even naïve at times. He makes rookie mistakes, and his actions often have uncomfortable consequences. He's a loner: calculating, cold and merciless. But he's also got the brains, brawn and charisma that we know will eventually make him the world's greatest secret agent.
Bond's efforts to stop the destruction of an airliner's new jumbo jet causes big problems for Le Chiffre, a banker for terrorists who used his clients' money in a stock-shorting scheme now gone awry. If he doesn't recoup his losses quickly, his clients will do all sorts of nasty things to him, so he organizes a very high-stakes poker game at Casino Royale in Montenegro, and Her Majesty's Secret Service sends their best player, you know who, to bust Le Chiffre and bring him in.
Much like that exposition, Casino Royale is way too long. The script's main deviations from the book come in the beginning of the film and ultimately hurt its multiple endings because of the added length at the start. However, removing the set-up for why Le Chiffre needs the poker game would also remove the film's best action set pieces—a catch-22.
Speaking of action, it's still the bread and butter of the franchise, and it's great to see a return to live action set pieces, something Bond films used to be the last refuge of in an ever expanding CGI world. From start to finish the action sequences are fantastic, pulse-pounding affairs which newcomer Daniel Craig puts himself right in the thick of as much as he can. When he can't, the Bond stunt crew, often the most insanely inventive bunch in the business, recaptures much of its past glory.
So what about Mr. Craig? Much has been made of his appointment to fill the legendary shoes of Connery, Moore and Brosnan, and it doesn't take long for him to discard the silly concerns of some fans (blonde hair?). Craig completely nails the character as Fleming always intended him, and he's certainly the most physical Bond ever.
Director Martin Campbell, whose serviceable Goldeneye got the franchise back on track briefly in 1996, frankly overachieves here when compared with the rest of his work. The script from Neal Purvis, Robert Wade and Paul Haggis leaves many of the best parts of Fleming's novel intact while expanding on it far too much at same time. Perhaps most annoying is the completely unnecessary switch from baccarat to Texas Hold 'Em in a cheap ploy to capitalize on the game's newfound popularity.
Other Bond films suffer from plot holes born out of absurdity rather than complexity, which is Casino Royale's biggest defect, including a schizophrenic ending out of which the writers seemed unable to extricate themselves. But the movie is a big improvement in terms of style, tenor and theme over the fantastical save-the-world plots that had become the series' staple. All told, Casino Royale is a very successful reboot of a franchise that sorely needed it.