Casino Royale
Length: Single
Studio: Sony Pictures Releasing
Rated: PG-13
Website: http://www.sonypictures.com/movies/casinoroyale/site/
Release Date: 2006-11-17
Cast: Judi Dench, Daniel Craig, Mads Mikkelsen, Eva Green, Jeffrey Wright
Director: Martin Campbell
Screenwriter: Neal Purvis, Ian Fleming, Paul Haggis, Robert Wade
Music Score: Dina Eaton
WorkNameSort: Casino Royale
Our Rating: 4.00
On one hand, the best way to approach Casino Royale is to pretend that it’s not a James Bond movie. Daniel Craig is far more athletic than any of his 007 predecessors, and the film inverts the ratio of violence to sex-plus-wit, an equation that’s driven the franchise for decades. The result is a fast-paced, gadget-free movie stocked with several scenes of grueling ‘ and almost shocking ‘ intensity. The sturdy physical presence and near superhuman prowess of Craig’s Bond impress only slightly more than his poker skills, but the suave sophistication that defined earlier Bond incarnations is replaced by a surprising darkness and emotional vulnerability. On the other hand, it’s impossible to forget that this is a James Bond movie. You wait for the martini line, and you get it. You wait ‘ and wait some more ‘ for ‘Bond â?¦ James Bond,â?� and you get it. You’re immediately pummeled with product placements, and you don’t quite get it. Note to the producers: James Bond would never, ever, ever drive a 21st-century Ford. Next time put him in one of the Jaguars, Volvos or other Ford-family product you had positioned throughout the movie.) Beyond that and Bond’s enviable ability to jet around the world at will, there’s little to link this thrilling action flick with the clichÃ©d redundancy that the 007 movies had become.

This article appears in Nov 15-21, 2006.

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