Required Viewing: Casino Royale

Casino Royale
MGM
Rated: PG-13
144 Minutes
2006

In 1953 British novelist Ian Fleming created an iconic character that would survive more than five decades, twelve full length books, nine short stories, and at the time of this writing, 22 films.  Fleming's debonair super-spy, James Bond, has been portrayed on the silver screen by the legendary Sean Connery six times, Australian actor George Lazenby once, Roger Moore seven times, Timothy Dalton twice, and Pierce Brosnan four times - each actor bringing a different spin to the role.

Many thought the Bond franchise couldn't survive after the end of the Cold War.  Bond stories typically relied on the tension between America and Russia, and without that fear to prey on, it seemed Bond would be relegated to the past.

Like the title character himself, however, the Bond franchise managed to escape doom (and obscurity) after a six-year hiatus with 1995's GoldenEye.  The film brought Bond into the 90s and was in most ways a reinvention.  Brosnan's charming good looks and sarcastic one-liners captured the essence of the character, but the newly cast Dame Judi Dench as the head of MI6, M, made it clear that she had disdain for him and his methods, referring to him as a "mysogynst dinosaur" and "a relic of the Cold War."  This simple line helped usher in a new era of Bond films that broke away from the tried-and-true Soviet villainy, and gave way to a more modern age.

Unfortunately, as good as GoldenEye was, each successive Bond movie's overreliance on gadgetry and over-the-top stunts that were unbelievable even for a Bond film began to make the character feel more like a comic book superhero; a caricature of the fast-talking ladies man who could switch between wooing a beautiful woman to killing enemy spies in the blink of an eye. 

After a four year drought, the Bond franchise was reinvented once again with 2006's Casino Royale.  Based on the first Bond novel Fleming wrote and starring Daniel Craig in the lead role, the film resonated with critics and audiences, in spite of the initial concerns over Craig's casting.  Jam-packed with action, romance, and an intricate screenplay, Casino Royale is the best vision of Bond's world yet.

The day it was announced that Craig had been cast, the jokes began almost instantly.  "James Blond," everyone called him, focusing solely on the fact that he would be the first blond-haired actor to play the beloved character and forgetting his considerable skill.  Craig's steely eyes and square jaw can be as attractive as they are intimidating, however, making him a perfect fit for the look of the character, and his low baritone voice and sly smile help add to the personality.

Opening with a brief prologue that sets the stage for his promotion from a standard agent to 00 status, thus giving him his license to kill, Craig's Bond is cold, calculating, and emotionally detached.  This is not the smooth-talking pretty boy of the 1960s and 70s, or the high-tech Bond of the 90s.  This is a brutal, vengeful, arrogant Bond - but more importantly, a fallible, human variation. 

During a brief junct to Madagascar, we're treated to a breathtaking scene where Bond chases down a bomb-maker.  Director Martin Campbell sets the tone for the action on a high note featuring free-running acrobatics known as parkour.  Bond chases his prey over rooftops, through a construction site, and atop a giant crane in a heart-stopping sequence that is not only exciting, but helps establish the new Bond as relentless, and often reckless.  He has little regard for others, or his own safety, as long as he gets the results he wanted, whether it's information or a prisoner.  While his quarry makes astounding, almost inhuman leaps and bounds over the terrain, Bond simply crashes through it.

After making a mess of things in Madagascar, Bond returns home to an icy reception from M, once again played by Judi Dench.  The relationship between Bond and M has never been more intriguing.  For all her dislike of his sloppy, vicious, and sometimes short-sighted methods, M knows Bond will get the job done or die trying.  It seems Bond knows this too, pushing M's buttons and crossing personal boundaries with a grin, knowing that she will still call on him when needed.

While investigating who is behind the bomb-maker's plans, Bond runs across a man named Le Chiffre (Mads Mikkelsen), who could best be summed up as an investment banker for terrorists.  Unfortunately for him, Le Chiffre has been playing the stock market with his clients' money, and when Bond foils his plan to blow up the world's largest airliner, thus sending the company's stock into a freefall after Le Chiffre sold all his shares, in another harrowing action sequence, Le Chiffre must recover their money or risk their terrible wrath.

Thus, Le Chiffre attends a high stakes poker tournament in Montenegro's Casino Royale, to which M dispatches Bond in an attempt to beat Le Chiffre in the game, forcing him to turn to the British government for sanctuary from his very unhappy clients. 

On the way, Bond is introduced to the ravishing Vesper Lynd (Eva Green), a skeptical accountant who shuns Bond's advances, and gives him a little taste of his own medicine here and there as well.  Bond finds himself captivated by Lynd, eventually falling in love with her and setting the stage for the film's third act and climax.

One would think a movie that focuses on a poker game for the entire second act would be dull, but thanks to the marvelous performances by Craig and Mikkelsen, watching them stare each other down across the table is almost as intense as the action sequences.  Bond's cockiness and overconfidence nearly become his downfall, but thanks to a little help from the Secret Service, who also have an agent planted in the game, Bond is able to buy back in and beat Le Chiffre at his own game.

As the movie progresses, we watch Bond grow as a character.  His ego, as well as his body, get bruised but he learns from his mistakes each time and uses them to turn the tables on whomever his opponent is.  He's careless, and he pays for it, yet he never breaks completely - not even during one of the most nerve-wracking torture sequences in recent memory (especially for male viewers).  Most importantly, we see the frail, emotional side of Bond as he falls deeper in love with Vesper, and the cold, stone-hearted detachment he feels by the end of the film. 

Like his character, Craig seems to be able to turn the charm on or off in an instant, and the range of emotions he displays, including a complete lack of emotion in certain key moments, ultimately makes him the best Bond ever, in this reviewer's opinion.  After all the jokes and the trepidation over his casting, Daniel Craig silenced every critic with a vicious uppercut to the jaw, just the way his take on Bond would.  He still oozes handsome looks, gets laughs with clever quips, and romances women with the greatest of ease, but for the first time ever it can be truly said that Bond is a badass.  You don't want to be in his way because he'll bowl you over, and heaven help you if you're the person he's after.

Though it's nearly two and a half hours, Casino Royale moves at a quick pace, balancing the action sequences with the surprisingly high tension poker game, and you simply cannot take your eyes off of it.  The beautiful locales are enough to keep your attention, but the explosive action, smart dialogue, and fully developed characters will draw you in so fast that you won't feel a minute of the film's length.  This is a more grounded, more believable Bond.  The stunts are still top notch, but you won't be seeing Daniel Craig catching the wing of a plane in midair or parasurfing down the side of an icy mountain.  Bond gets beaten, bruised, and bloodied.  He makes mistakes.  He's human.

I mean no disrespect to the great Sean Connery, whose portrayal of 007 has stood the test of time and still ranks amongst the very best, but Daniel Craig is now the owner of the role.  He has set the high water mark for years to come, and whoever may come after him will have a monumental task ahead of them to fill his shoes.  Casino Royale is the freshest, most exciting Bond movie yet, and one can only hope that the series will continue in the direction it's going with Craig in the driver's seat.