The film starts off in Black and White and we learn that it takes two kills to become a 00 agent and we see those kills and it shows that we are in a new era. Then cue the great theme song sung by Chris Cornell. I have a theory that the quality of the song tells you the quality of the Bond film. This one is great as is the film, Skyfall song is great as is the film and Die Another Day song is garbage and so is the film.
The story is a key reason why the film is so good. The villain of the story is Le Chiffre who wants to blow up a plane that is about to go public so he can profit from selling shares before the plane goes up in smoke, once Bond stops that from happening and costing Le Chiffre $100 million, Le Chiffre puts on a poker game at the titular Casino Royale. They use the word 'the organisation' which I think at the time was a get around because they couldn't use the Spectre name. I thought that Le Chiffre was a great villain. Aside from introducing the world to Mads Mikkelsen. The toned down villain is in keeping that the new vibe and the weeping blond worked well. The fact that Le Chiffre doesn't really get involved in the story apart from two brief scenes until about an hour in is quite a bold move but Mikkelsen is so good that he makes the character memorable.
Daniel Craig is a great Bond. No one would know this in 2006 but he brings an intensity to the role that made me re-evaluate Timothy Dalton's Bond. When he got announced there were people who didn't like the idea of Craig being Bond and came up with 'jokes' like James Blond but if you were still that sniffy after seeing this film then there was no pleasing you. People don't realise that Craig does manage to do some light hearted moments. There are a couple of moments which highlight this including when Le Chiffre is torturing a naked Bond.
Vesper is the new Bond girl and Eva Green does a great job with what starts off as a cold character but then becomes a complex character. When she enters the story as someone tasked with keeping an eye of the money Bond was using for the poker game, she says that she is the money with Bond quipping back 'every penny of it'. It was a nice in-joke to get round the fact that there is no Moneypenny (or Q). Vesper's secret is one of the few issues I have with the film. There are too many people with double loyalties. The Montenegro Police Chief is one, Mathis is the second and Vesper is the third. Vesper's backstory does come right at the end and feels a bit like being crowbarred in to explain why she did what she did and ultimately died.
The film's actions scenes are all really good. The Miami airport is really good even with the cameo from Richard Branson. The Bond chasing the parkour guy was another great period of the film and the whole Venice portion had great moments so the film continued the tradition of great action scenes in Bond films. The Bond that we get in this film feels like an obvious response to Bauer and Bourne which is what was needed cause we couldn't have another Die Another Day type film with invisible cars, terrible CGI and poor dialogue. Bond came out of Casino Royale showing that the character could change for a 21st century audience. Craig's Bond feels like a proper tough guy. You feel like the punches and cuts hurt. There is no way that Brosnan's Bond or Connery's Bond would have done the torture scene.
It always feels like you're not Bond until you say the immortal line 'The Names Bond......James Bond' which has typically come early on. In Dr. No it is one of if not the first line that Sean Connery's Bond says and yet in Casino Royale, it's the last thing he says. I'll be honest it wasn't something that I was keen on being said early on but it would have been strange at the end if he had not said it.
Casino Royale is a brilliant Bond film but it's not my favourite (that would be Skyfall). It was perhaps the most important Bond film at that time and yet the film feels fresh and that the problems the franchise had at that time were nothing to be worried about. Bond is back, Daniel Craig is very good (and would be great) and things would only from strength to strength......after Quantum of Solace of course.
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