Casino Royale

All right, so for my first blog, I thought I'd post my review of Casino Royale. Keep checking back for all the latest reviews!

Mike

Casino Royale
Directed by Martin Campbell
Starring Daniel Craig, Eva Green, Judi Dench
Rating: Four Stars

Casino Royale is a gritty new romp in the tantalizing world of 007. Based off Ian Fleming’s first James Bond novel, the film is also an unsentimental departure for the movie series itself, with an exciting performance in brawny Daniel Craig’s debut and a plot more interested in humanizing Bond than giving him new toys with which to play.

The story explores the early days of Mr. Bond’s MI6 career but in a contemporary 2006, allowing the story to explore the hero’s roots without forfeiting his modern edge. He’s still driving the slickest of vehicles—though no cheesy stealth devices, ejection seats or other Inspector Gadget gizmos outfitted—and defeating terrorists with evil agendas involving WMDs we’ll find nicely familiar and pseudo-timely.

Action gluttons will be happy to know the 21st Bond flick doesn’t sacrifice the violence with its newfound emphasis on story. Casino Royale, in fact, has some of the best set pieces seen all year, which somehow manage graphic, aggressive and convincing, despite the PG-13 rating. His first mission as a 007 agent spying on a terrorist in Madagascar involves an intense chase up and down a construction yard, some fancy footwork through a bustling village and a big explosion-fueled narrow escape.

The stuntwork and acrobatics of this one scene alone are absolutely eye-popping, convincing us immediately that Craig is at least a more-than-competent physical choice for Mr. Bond. The rest of the film is admittedly slower paced, but at least director Campbell has chosen a marvelous way to grab hold and keep our attention.

After seducing the clothes off his first Bond Girl and some A-plus heroics in a Miami airport, it’s off to Montenegro for a high-stakes poker game at the titular hotel, to foil the evil plans of a Terrorist Banker. Here we meet the true Bond girl, Vesper Lynd, an MI6 accountant assigned to watch over Bond’s poker session.

Casino Royale takes a long time to build its way towards the core mission and an even longer time unraveling it. The poker stuff relies too much on the convenient revelation of increasingly better hands, as if Bond and Badguy are actually pro-star bluffers and not just benefiting from clever editing. The final act is particularly overlong, with torture, lovemaking, double-crossing duty and a wicked final showdown in Venice (with a sinking domicile) to contend with before the credits roll. We’re expected to care for James’ relationship with Vesper Lynd after only a montage of romance, as if we don’t know he’ll have a new babe come Bond 22.

There’s another problem with the Bond girl herself. Eva Green has the right amount of sass for the role and the leads have chemistry, but the character itself is too weak, too vulnerable, and too likely to be grabbed by a goon and used as a body shield. I don’t expect them all to kick as much butt as Halle Berry’s sexpot Jinx in Die Another Day, but one wonders about the spy-usefulness of Vesper Lynd if she can’t even operate a gun.

Luckily, Daniel Craig gives an intensely humanized performance in a role that has been rendered a cartoon by the cheesier flicks before, which is quite a feat. It goes a little long, but Casino Royale is a welcome new start for the franchise.