“Casino Royale” (2006)

Casino Royale

Grade: B+

Daniel Craig’s James Bond debut is filled with blood, sweat and tears — a “realistic” secret agent film that emphasizes ruthless violence over sexy elegance. It’s a breath of fresh air for a franchise that had largely grown stagnant, corny and over-the-top in the previous decades. The old-school cool of classic Bond is somewhat missed, but Casino Royale‘s action-packed grittiness easily places it among the best installments of the entire series.

Directing:

Director Martin Campbell previously helmed GoldenEye (1995), which was Pierce Brosnan’s double-O debut (and also the last good Bond film). Even if the rest of Campbell’s filmography is somewhat spotty, ranging from The Mask of Zorro (1998) to Green Lantern (2011), he happened to direct two of the best Bond movies ever. Just like its predecessor, Casino Royale has terrific action. The chase scenes are slick, the cars are fast, the violence is gritty and the stuntwork is some of the best in Hollywood history. But what really separates this Bond film from all the rest are the quieter moments of suspense, such as the tense Texas Hold ‘Em game at the center of the action — probably the best card game scene in movie history.

Casino Royale brashly announces the birth of a brand-new Bond; a film that for the first time in the franchise’s history contains physical and psychological thrills, placing artful shots (e.g., the black-and-white intro) side by side with thrilling set-pieces (e.g., the parkour showcase at the Madagascan embassy). It passes every test as an action movie.

Acting:

Daniel Craig isn’t as suave as Sean Connery, as handsome as Pierce Brosnan or as seductive as Roger Moore. What Craig does have, though, is balls. His muscular athleticism makes him the most unrelenting killing machine to ever don 007 status — somewhere between superhuman and supernatural. Even his balls are indestructible, as we get to see in a graphic torture sequence.

But with virility also comes vulnerability: the main thing about Craig is that he makes James Bond’s pain palpable. He is a flawed hero, with scars on his face and emotional baggage all over his soul. In other words, this Bond isn’t invincible at all. Casino Royale is the first James Bond movie with a real sense of danger, with a large focus on dramatic characterization. Craig is completely up to task: a true star-making performance.

The rest of the cast is equally excellent. Nice supporting roles from Judi Dench as Bond’s badass boss, M (continuity be damned!), Eva Green as love interest Vesper Lynd (very elegant), Edgar Wright as CIA agent Felix Leiter (fun callback) and Mads Mikkelsen as Le Chiffre, the dark mysterious scar-faced European banker, who is a charismatic villain on appearance alone, a perfect foil to Craig’s steely-eyed antihero. It’s a shame he’s offed prematurely.

Writing:

Based on Ian Fleming’s first James Bond novel, Casino Royale is a soft reboot for the franchise, serving as an origin story set in the modern day. Instead of mustache-twirling supervillains bent on world destruction, Bond faces off against international terrorists and warlords. The realism is refreshing, even if the bad guys are generic and their schemes convoluted. Likewise, Bond’s romance with Vesper Lynd, containing genuine emotion not often seen from our legendary womanizer, bucks the trend of Bond-girl-as-fantasy-stereotype. Their relationship has real depth. And real consequences: for the first time ever, Bond’s cock gets him into trouble.

Casino Royale is much more serious than, say, Octopussy (1983), but the ambition comes up a little short when the storyline takes precedent over all else, particularly in the final third of the film. Unfortunately, the complex narrative that merely served as set-up for the awesome action sequences becomes the main focus at the end: hope you were invested in whom is double-crossing whom! Even though the action remains consistently thrilling, the added layer of plot importance is hard to care about at this late stage of the story. Likewise, the choice to establish a multi-film arc is, especially in hindsight of what came next, ultimately misguided.

Music:

In keeping with the origin story concept, Casino Royale doesn’t contain the iconic “James Bond theme” until the end credits. That’s okay, as Chris Cornell’s “You Know My Name” is a perfectly fitting substitute for composer Dan Arnold to quote from. The rock song is filled with secrecy and subterfuge. Minimal. Gritty. Unguarded. James Bond goes alt-rock.

Ending (SPOILERS):

Vesper’s double cross and subsequent martyrdom is cinematic and emotional: a tragic ending only equaled by On Her Majesty’s Secret Service (1968). But I’m still a little disillusioned by the cliffhanger ending. The entangled backstory of villains was already hard to keep track of, and now we’re expected to pay even closer attention in subsequent films. By revealing a larger conspiracy in the final few minutes, Casino Royale renders two of its most important characters — Le Chiffre and Vesper — unimportant in the grand SPECTRE scheme of things. James Bond will return in Quantum of Solace, but only if you’ve done your homework.

I do appreciate the film’s final line, though: “The name’s Bond. James Bond.” Well-timed usage of the iconic introduction.

“Utter one more syllable and I’ll have you killed.” — M

Why Casino Royale gets a B+

The best Daniel Craig James Bond movie, easily. In terms of all James Bond movies, only topped by a couple of the 1960s Sean Connery originals. Along with Tom Cruise’s Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part 1 (2023), contains some of the best physical action scenes of the 21st century.

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