Casino Royale

By: Andrew Moran

3 ½ Stars out of 5 Stars

Starring (Alphabetical Order): Jesper Christensen, Daniel Craig, Judi Dench, Giancarlo Giannini, Eva Green, Mads Mikkelsen, Ivana Milicevic & Jeffrey Wright

Casino Royale introduces James Bond before he holds his license to kill. But Bond is no less dangerous, and with two professional assassinations in quick succession, he is elevated to '00' status. Bond's first 007 mission takes him to Madagascar where he is to spy on a terrorist, Mollaka. Not everything goes to plan and Bond decides to investigate, independently of MI6, in order to track down the rest of the terrorist cell. Following a lead to the Bahamas, he encounters Dimitrios and his girlfriend, Solange. He learns that Dimitrios is involved with Le Chiffre, banker to the world's terrorist organizations. Secret Service intelligence reveals that Le Chiffre is planning to raise money in a high-stakes poker game in Montenegro at Le Casino Royale. MI6 assigns 007 to play against him, knowing that if Le Chiffre loses, it will destroy his organization. 'M' places Bond under the watchful eye of the beguiling Vesper Lynd. At first skeptical of what value Vesper can provide, Bond's interest in her deepens as they brave danger together and even torture at the hands of Le Chiffre. In Montenegro, Bond allies himself with Mathis MI6's local field agent, and Felix Leiter who is representing the interests of the CIA. The marathon game proceeds with dirty tricks and violence, raising the stakes beyond blood money and reaching a terrifying climax.

Casino Royale has three crucial elements that make this film terrific.  One) The Scenery, you have Prague, London, Venice, Madagascar & Montenegro. Two) the clothes and Three) Daniel Craig was amazing as James Bond.  Now this film might have not been the Bond everyone is used to but this is the beginning of Bond, so definitely the next Bond 22 will be even better then this one.  Casino Royale was non-stop action and suspense, however when there wasn’t any of that the movie was quite slow.  What was also great from this James Bond was the fact there was more of a Jason Bourne presence because there wasn't much of High-Tech gizmos like you've seen in the past with all the wrist-watch bombs or nightvision shoes or something.

When people were initially against Daniel Craig (Munich & Layer Cake) as James Bond, I thought to myself, “Yeesh isn’t there bigger problems to worry about?” Now I hope this movie quiet them up a bit because Daniel Craig was better then Pierce Brosnan, in my opinion.

 Overall this was an enjoyable film and this brings hope back into the James Bond franchise with the fact that we'll see more of enjoyable but not cheesy action from Daniel Craig. However Martin Campbell (Zorro & Die Another Day) will not be back to direct Bond 22 but it seems that the director of Layer Cake will be directing the next one, so that sure will be interesting to see.