Celluloid Heroes

Casino Royale

Posted to Action, Adventure on June 16th, 2007 by Chad Everett

Casino Royale is interesting in a number of ways.  It is the twenty-first film in the James Bond series.  It is the third time that the novel by the same name has been adapted into a film (though the first as a “real” Bond film).  It is the first time Daniel Craig took on the mantle of the superspy.  But it’s also important for one other reason.  It’s a significant restart of the franchise.

In the movie, we get to go back to the beginning – the very beginning – where Bond first earns his stripes (and his legendary “double o” status).  The movie is much grittier in style than the others in the series, to be sure – no sign of any of the previous Bonds to be found, and that’s not an entirely bad thing.


In this go-round, James travels to the Casino Royale of the title, in order to participate in a high-stakes poker game with Le Chiffre, who is hoping to recoup some of the losses from his “no-risk portfolio” – in which he short-sells companies and then plans terrorist attacks to sink their stock. It seems that Bond managed to foil one of these plans, and now Le Chiffre is in a bit too deep.

During the game, Bond and Le Chiffre go back-and-forth, and eventually the whole thing takes the life of Vesper Lynd, a treasury agent who was supposed to look after Bond’s investment. She was also a love interest of James.

Generally there isn’t much new ground here, other than the fact that it’s a whole new direction for the series. While Bond has changed (and even sports some spiffy blond locks), and the gadgets that we have all come to know and love have not really been invented yet, the movie doesn’t really suffer on either account. It has a much darker mood throughout, somewhat reminding me of what Batman Begins did for that series, and I have to say that I like it.

Reports were that Daniel Craig actually suffered a number of bangs and bruises during filming, and watching the movie leaves no doubt in my mind as to why that is the case. While it takes some getting used to seeing him in the role, he fills the shoes well.

The movie itself may not be a great piece of cinema, but let’s face it – we’re talking about a James Bond movie here, people. Did you expect an Academy-worthy performance?

Rated PG-13 for intense sequences of violent action, a scene of torture, sexual content and nudity.

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