Review of "Casino Royale"
CASINO ROYALE (2006)
Directed by Martin Campbell
Written by Neal Purvis, Robert Wade and Paul Haggis, based on the novel by Ian Fleming
Starring Daniel Craig, Eva Green, Mads Mikkelsen, Judi Dench, Jeffrey Wright and Giancarlo Giannini
This is the twenty third film to feature the character of the British secret agent James Bond created by Ian Fleming. The film opens with a prologue showing how James Bond (Craig) earns his licence to kill and "00" number by killing two men. The main story of the film follows Bond on his first mission, investigating a ring of international arms dealers which leads him to a banker named Le Chiffre (Mikkelsen) who holds funds for terrorist organisations which they can access anywhere in the world. Le Chiffre uses the money given to him to hold by the leader of a Ugandan guerrilla army to play the stock market, which he tries to fix by having one of his henchmen blow up the newly-unveiled world's biggest aeroplane. Of course, the plan is foiled by Bond. Desperate to recoup his loss, Le Chiffre sets his sights on a high-stakes poker game at the Casino Royale in Montenegro. Bond is assigned to play against him, knowing that if Le Chiffre loses his entire organisation will be destroyed. A beautiful Treasury agent named Vesper Lynd (Green) is assigned to watch over Bond.
Published in 1953, Casino Royale was the first James Bond book, and so it is fitting that it is used as the film to reinvent the franchise. The film expands a lot on Fleming's slim novel, but it is certainly one of the most faithful of the Bond films, sticking close to the flavour of Fleming's sadistic prose. The casting of Daniel Craig provoked a widely negative reaction from fans, but he does great work here, the character this time being far closer to the cold-hearted killer that Fleming wrote. It is refreshing that this time they are not afraid to make a much darker Bond film, especially after the recent cartoonish excesses of the franchise. There are no invisible cars or watches with laser beams here, it also tones down the humour from earlier instalments, but the trademark wit is still there, and so, crucially, are the beautiful women with Eva Green making a great heroine. However it does have a number of entertaining winks to earlier Bond films, with a fun twist on the series' trademark "gun-barrel" opening. This is a welcome return to the basics of Bond, back to the earlier Sean Connery starring films of the 1960s.
Seven out of ten.
Directed by Martin Campbell
Written by Neal Purvis, Robert Wade and Paul Haggis, based on the novel by Ian Fleming
Starring Daniel Craig, Eva Green, Mads Mikkelsen, Judi Dench, Jeffrey Wright and Giancarlo Giannini
This is the twenty third film to feature the character of the British secret agent James Bond created by Ian Fleming. The film opens with a prologue showing how James Bond (Craig) earns his licence to kill and "00" number by killing two men. The main story of the film follows Bond on his first mission, investigating a ring of international arms dealers which leads him to a banker named Le Chiffre (Mikkelsen) who holds funds for terrorist organisations which they can access anywhere in the world. Le Chiffre uses the money given to him to hold by the leader of a Ugandan guerrilla army to play the stock market, which he tries to fix by having one of his henchmen blow up the newly-unveiled world's biggest aeroplane. Of course, the plan is foiled by Bond. Desperate to recoup his loss, Le Chiffre sets his sights on a high-stakes poker game at the Casino Royale in Montenegro. Bond is assigned to play against him, knowing that if Le Chiffre loses his entire organisation will be destroyed. A beautiful Treasury agent named Vesper Lynd (Green) is assigned to watch over Bond.
Published in 1953, Casino Royale was the first James Bond book, and so it is fitting that it is used as the film to reinvent the franchise. The film expands a lot on Fleming's slim novel, but it is certainly one of the most faithful of the Bond films, sticking close to the flavour of Fleming's sadistic prose. The casting of Daniel Craig provoked a widely negative reaction from fans, but he does great work here, the character this time being far closer to the cold-hearted killer that Fleming wrote. It is refreshing that this time they are not afraid to make a much darker Bond film, especially after the recent cartoonish excesses of the franchise. There are no invisible cars or watches with laser beams here, it also tones down the humour from earlier instalments, but the trademark wit is still there, and so, crucially, are the beautiful women with Eva Green making a great heroine. However it does have a number of entertaining winks to earlier Bond films, with a fun twist on the series' trademark "gun-barrel" opening. This is a welcome return to the basics of Bond, back to the earlier Sean Connery starring films of the 1960s.
Seven out of ten.