Casino Royale: James Bond in the Real World
Daniel Craig, Eva Green

Review by Breanne Boland November 30, 2006 Issue

There are certain boxes to be checked when making a James Bond movie. For example swank new cars not yet available to the public. Tuxedos. Exotic locations. Beautiful women. Thrilling chase scenes. A seeming imperviousness to bullets, even when they come from machine guns. Casino Royale certainly checks all of those, but it goes further, and rather than just being a good Bond movie, it’s a good action movie altogether.

Daniel Craig is sharply different from Pierce Brosnan — a psychopathic Bond almost, a Bond who makes you realize just what a license to kill actually means and what kind of person would have one. This Bond is less nudging and winking and more triumphant smirk, when an expression crosses his face at all.

Rather than suavely taking down one bad guy after another, this Bond destroys anyone in his way, ignoring good manners and protocol in the name of getting the job done —even if it means breaking into his boss’s house, or killing unarmed men. It’s brutal, but Craig’s excellent job in this role makes it great. He shows that a baccarat-playing, truly cultured man would have no business in this kind of spy game.

Casino Royale starts before Bond is a fully qualified agent. It opens with a black-and-white noirish sequence in which we see him commit his first two kills, giving him double-O status. It reverts to big, bright color from there, but the tone of the film remains stark and markedly different from previous Bond outings. The story jumps from continent to continent as Bond must thwart the schemes of investment banker and money launderer Le Chiffre (Mads Mikkelsen, looking like a wayward Culkin brother). After wrecking Le Chiffre’s initial plans, Bond must face him over the table at a $150 million dollar Texas Hold ‘Em tournament at Montenegro’s Casino Royale. But naturally, that’s never the end, as Bond and this outing’s Bond girl, played by Eva Green, are kidnapped and tortured so that the banker can retrieve the money in a way far less civilized than a card game (and a shade more graphic than is usually seen in a PG-13 movie).

It’s a reflection of modern terrorism and the public’s awareness of it — rather than lasers in space and other glamorous super weapons, the race here is about money, bank accounts, and market returns. Fortunately, the financial jibber jabber is interspersed with chase after thrilling chase, perilous situations, and the gestation of the modern Bond. We can see how in the later movies, he had his unique relationship with M-16, and how he transformed from terse brute to the mercenary, faÁade-bearing martini lover familiar to audiences across the world. Hopefully the transformation hasn’t gone too much farther by next movie – this unpolished spy is a super agent only because of force and determination. While bomb pens and shoe phones are great silly fun, this film was much more interesting without them.

It’s a testimony to the skill of this film that I’m worried about the next. So many recent James Bond movies were disposable — I seem to remember something about ice castles in the last couple movies… maybe cars too, and girls — and I hope that after this revitalized new entry, the folks who carry on Ian Fleming’s legacy won’t revert to their old habits. Craig is too good an actor for that, and this film has too much promise to squander.

Bottom line: a reviving shock to the heart of the series.

Coming Attractions

Dec. 1
The Nativity Story – Proving you can pander to churchgoers without making a snuff film. The director of Thirteen takes on this new interpretation of the story of the birth of Jesus. Keisha Castle-Hughes of Whale Rider plays Mary.

Turistas – Someone in Hollywood doesn’t want young people to travel. Ever. Tropical islands and the more backwoods areas of our country have been ruled out (as well as picking up hitchhikers). This film aims to take Brazil off people’s itineraries.

Van Wilder 2: The Rise of Taj – Oh, Kal Penn, pretty, funny star of Harold and Kumar Go to White Castle, apparently not all movies can be as smart and devoid of stereotypes. From the director of Boat Trip. Sigh.

Dec. 8
Apocalypto – Mel Gibson, infamous lover of diversity and different cultures, self-financed this story of the end of the Maya kingdom. A story of the downfall of a once enormous, thriving culture – he wouldn’t be drawing any parallels to the present, would he?

The Holiday – Nancy Meyers’ follow-up to Something’s Gotta Give. Cameron Diaz flees her problematic past in the U.S. for Britain and makes friends with Kate Winslet, who is apparently romantically paired with Jack Black. That alone makes this worth seeing.

Blood Diamond – With Leonardo DiCaprio, Jennifer Connelly, and Djimon Hounsou. An uberserious awards-grabber bent on exposing just how awful the traditional diamond trade is. Look for the response from DeBeers and company – after this, “Diamonds are forever” will sound a bit ominous…

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