Directed by: Martin Campbell
Starring: Daniel Craig, Judi Dench, Eva Green, Jeffrey Wright, Giancarlo Giannini, Mads Mikkelsen
Die Another Day (2002) was the last Pierce Brosnan Bond film and I thought it was his best. Brosnan left on a high note and Bond producers went in a new direction. They found a leaner, tougher Bond in Daniel Craig, who eschewed the playboy side of the character. Bond gets lucky in Casino Royale, but those are pitstops in between the action and poker playing. Getting laid doesn't top the priority list for this James Bond.
Casino Royale has Bond earning his 007 license to kill by knocking off a high-ranking spy in the film's prologue. He is soon pitted against LeChiffre (Mikkelsen), an evil man who funds terrorism and whose one eye weeps blood. How to stop him? One way is to enter Bond in a Texas-hold-'em poker tournament and have him win the prize money which LeChiffre would use to bankroll terrorists. Poker is a pretty cinematic game which creates natural suspense. The money isn't the only thing at stake. Bond and LeChiffre are soon engaged in a battle of wills played out on the poker table. It works well.
There are plenty of chases, alluring women, exotic locations, and fight scenes which are common in every Bond film. They are professionally done here, but aren't especially memorable, except for one torture scene in which Bond's balls are whacked brutally by something resembling a cricket bat. It hurts even to think about. This is also the first Bond film in which Bond's life is saved by a Bond girl, who injects him with an antitoxin that just so happens to be on hand in case of poisoning.
Craig is a different Bond, more along the lines of a Timothy Dalton than a Sean Connery. He is very serious and says, "Do I look like I give a damn?" when asked how he likes his martinis. He looks much older than his late 30s (which was his age when he made this film) and has a wearied cynicism about him not seen in previous Bonds. He looks like he needs a vacation even when he's on vacation. I can't honestly say I enjoy him more than Connery or even Roger Moore, who have more sly fun with the role. But he is the right actor to take Bond in an anti-Connery direction.
If there's anyone who is the anti-Connery, it's Daniel Craig.
Casino Royale is a fresh start on the Bond character. It runs rather long, but I sure did like the poker scenes. And only in movie poker can each player have a slightly better hand than the guy before him, crescendoing up to the last player, who of course has the winning hand. Did the guy with the ace-high flush really think he had a chance to win the final showdown? I've asked myself if Casino Royale didn't have poker, would it have been a good Bond film? Honestly, the likely answer is no.
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