Review of Casino Royale (2006) by Mark N — 06 Jun 2017

A compelling cinematic tour de force that is immediately gripping and in turn cool, exhilarating, funny and tear-jerking. Like the best reboots Casino Royale distils what is great and timeless about a beloved character while throwing out what is archaic or unnecessary, resulting in a believable reimagining with no small part of the success coming from an outstanding performance from Craig.

He nails the balance needed for Bond; someone the audience really shouldn't like and yet a man we completely root for. Through him and a wealth of other great preformances the film is able to pull off a deeper exploration of the character than ever before.

And so we get to see the weaknesses of a man like Bond as well as the strength needed to be the best of the best. Among the film's other delights are the most tense card game on celluloid, perfect matches for our hero in both an extremely sinister villain and perfect Bond girl chemistry and one of the greatest closing lines in history.