Review of Casino Royale (1954) by Josh K — 02 Sep 2015

James Bond is back, in a new film that acts as both a reboot and origin story, helping to repair the franchise after it has started to take a nosedive in a few recent entries.

Based on Ian Fleming's first novel in the James Bond series, the film acts as an origin for Bond, starting off with him killing his first two kills, receiving his 007 status and slowly getting to the point where he becomes a fully fledged agent for MI6.

After receiving his 007 status, Bond is assigned by M to take part in a highstakes poker game, in order to bankrupt terrorist financier Le Chiffre. During this time, Bond falls in love with Vesper Lynd, the treasury employee assigned to provide the money which Bond needs for the game.

The film acts as a perfect reboot for the franchise, which has started to tire after several years. In the past few years, we saw films in the franchise that started to focus more on insane gadgets and over the top CGI, instead of characters and sensible plots. This film takes it back to the beginning, with no gadgets, focusing more on the characters. In a way it acts as a homage to the early years of Bond, most notably Sean Connery's tenure as the infamous agent.

The cast in this film is impressive and well-thought out. Daniel Craig, who replaces Pierce Brosnan as Bond, is a perfect choice. Craig is different from the earlier Bonds, in particular his features: blue eyes and blond hair. He's rough, acting more as a thug, which perfectly suits the character. There was significant controversy when Craig was cast, but he manages to prove the haters and skeptics wrong, putting forth an original and brilliant performance. For me, Craig is the best Bond since Sean Connery and Pierce Brosnan. Craig gives the character soul and a different attitude. While viewers used to the earlier depictions of Bond may be unused to Craig's approach, he's a new Bond for a new era. Craig manages to show the character evolving as an agent. He's terrific with the action sequences and also during the big card game, which acts as the film's big standoff with the villain.

Eva Green is amazing as Vesper Lynd, bringing a sense of sensuality and strong will to the character. She and Craig work well in many scenes. Mads Mikkelsen, in the role of Le Chiffre, is both villainous and threatening, while he's also a different Bond villain. Jeffrey Wright is perfectly cast as Felix Leiter, Jesper Christensen is perfect as Mr. White and Giancarlo Giannini is terrific as Matthis. Judi Dench, reprising her role from the Brosnan films, is once again outstanding as M. Dench doesn't seem a strange fit in a new version of the franchise, while she works well with Craig in several important scenes.

Phil Meheux's cinematography is outstanding, supporting many of the action scenes, and David Arnold's score is both action packed and dramatic when necessary, supporting Craig's debut as the secret agent. The title song, You Know My Name, by Chris Cornell, wonderfully supports the film, with a strong rock and roll feel, which doesn't detract from Craig's first outing. Also, the opening credit sequence, which has a strong poker feel to it, cards are added in for bullets, is well-thought out.

Martin Campbell, who directed Goldeneye, which introduced Pierce Brosnan as Bond, does a good job with the actions and the story, adding drama when necessary. Campbell proves that he understands Bond, as do screenwriters Neal Purvis, Robert Wade and Paul Haggis, presenting a different Bond that supports the new era. The film honors Fleming's novel. While the first hour of the film is original, which wonderfully leads up to the main card game, the rest of the film follows Fleming's novel, albeit with a few necessary changes. This approach thus changes how many of the Bond films have been seen, further supporting the new appearance of James Bond in Craig.

The action scenes are also well-thought out, with the best ones being the foot chase in Madagascar, the Miami chase and the shoot out at the end of the film in Italy.

The film ends on an appropriate cliffhanger and once when you hear Craig utter those famous words: The name's Bond, James Bond, you know that he has become the perfect actor to succeed as the new Bond. Well done indeed.