Casino Royale - 2006

Casino Royale is one of the best action flicks of the (admittedly young) 21st century. A bold updating of the Bond brand it takes all that was noteworthy from its many predecessors (exotic locales, latest technology, bodacious babes), adds an edgier new star and tilts the proceedings in a much more realistic direction (though, to be sure, realism is a relative term in Hollywood). Undoubtedly influenced by the success of The Bourne franchise the film makers have upped the action and frayed the edges of Bond's formerly silky smooth persona. Daniel Craig's Bond is a street kid whose been given the license to kill and, as would be expected of such a situation, it takes him some time to get comfortable with the idea that killing is not the primary goal of espionage. When we are first introduced to this new Bond it's in a flashback before the opening credits where he recounts his recent and brutal dispatch of an unnamed foreign intelligence operative. The man he's telling his tale to is an MI6 traitor who doesn't get to finish his statement about how the second kill is easier than the first before Bond pumps a bullet into his chest, calmly remarking: "Yes. Considerably." It's a powerful opening scene that tosses sand into the face of 007 history while at the same time tipping it's hat to its forebearers.

Daniel Craig was a controversial choice to play James Bond. Many complained he lacked the sophisticated patina of earlier Bonds like Sean Connery and Roger Moore. He was too brutish, too ordinary, too (gulp) blonde! But while all those adjectives can be rightly laid at his feet the fact is his brutish, ordinary, blonde nature make him perfect for this gritty re-booting of the franchise. This Bond is an action star, not a martini sipping dilettante with a gun. There are no end-of-the-world stakes here, no cartoon super villains with diabolical laughs and no winking at the camera. This Bond lives more or less in the real world and the action sequences, technology and even the Bond/Bond-girl relationships reflect that.

After the credits and a short detour to Africa to introduce us to the bad guys - Mr White, the shadowy facilitator and Le Chiffre (Mads Mikkelsen), "banker to the worlds terrorist" and weeper of blood - the film gets right down to business with one of the most outstanding action/chase sequences of recent memory. Bond is on assignment in Madagascar tracking a mercenary bomber when his assistant blows their cover and Bond must pursue. The scene is a marvel of stunt work. From knife edge, vertigo inducing heights to bone crushing hand to hand combat and an embassy shootout the action is relentless, convincing and superbly choreographed. By the time the scene ends Bond has made himself a pariah by shooting his prey in front of the embassy's surveillance cameras and he's banished to the Bahamas to lay low while M (Judi Dench) picks up the diplomatic pieces. Bond being Bond though (even this new Bond) he can't let sleeping dogs lie and while in the Bahamas he hacks into the MI6 server and digs around trying to find out who was behind the bomber he killed. He research dredges up the name of Le Chiffre and the real chase is on.

After inadvertently causing Le Chiffre to lose $100 million of an African Tyrant's money Bond is entered into a high-stakes poker game that the banker has arranged (in the fictional country of Montenegro at the Casino Royale of the title) in a desperate attempt to make the money back before said tyrant comes looking for it. En route Bond meets the money person from MI6 Vesper Lynd (Eva Green) and their verbal jousting establishes that she's no ordinary bimbo waiting to ruffle the linen with ol' JB. She's not the bodacious babe referred to above (that role falls to the astonishing Caterina Murino) she's a complex woman complete with complex secrets and she calls to the part of Bond that's been waiting for a 'real' relationship; even if he didn't know he had such a part within.

The poker game itself is both a chance for the audience to relax a bit and a platform for director Martin Campbell to spend some time expanding on the established characters and introduce a new one. Though it is a long scene it doesn't seem like it because of the care given to creating tension and the superb acting by all involved. By the time the film reaches it's climax in Venice we care about these characters and what happens to them. When Bond discovers he may have been betrayed by someone close to him Craig shifts emotional gears with devastating effect and his dissolution becomes terra firma on which to develop this new Bond as the series moves forward.

Casino Royale isn't a perfect film, but for my money it's the best Bond film I've seen to date. While taking its lead from the Bourne franchise it doesn't make the mistake of aping Bourne's hyperactive editing style and proves without a doubt that one need not go down that over-caffeinated road in order to create world class action. My biggest gripe with the film is the shameless product placement. There's a 30 second or so scene involving an automobile that could be lifted verbatim from the movie and used as a TV commercial. That aside, Casino Royale was one of the best movies of 2006. It both surpassed my expectations and reset them so high that subsequent chapters in the 007 saga may never quite measure up.