casino royale trailer

Bond is back, this time he's blond and slightly less sexist. Still the sellers of tight blue trunks are making a killing.

However perhaps he did not realise the enormousness of the choice he had made in accepting the role of James Bond to star in the 21st film of the franchise. So-called fans protested in horror at his appointment, using as their reason the fact that he is the first blonde to play the spy. A website was set up for the sole purpose of organising a boycott of this new film; did those same fans have a problem with the fact that Sean Connery wore a wig in all of his Bond outings?

Incidentally, the website is now disabled, perhaps an indication that the doubters and the nay-sayers have relented, opting instead to actually see the film rather than remain pig-headed. As well they should, it turns out, for this is a superb Bond outing which has to rank among the best in the series. It is good to see that all the cynical snipes at Daniel Craig from fans and tabloids alike did not dampened his resolve, and it is easy to see the producers made the right choice, as he turns in a performance the likes of which a Bond fan has never seen. Meaning of course, he can actually act, thus producing a Bond that is fallible, likeable, and above all; human.

Taken from the first Bond novel by Ian Fleming of the same name, Casino Royale is a prequel to all we have seen before, and lets us see for the first time how James Bond became 007. Therefore it offers us a glimpse of Bond before he became the objective philandering playboy we usually see him as; a necessity for Daniel Craig who has said he would not have accepted the role if it were the usual action-flick shtick. It seems the advantage of employing a serious actor in a franchise role is the development of a more serious character, which is beneficial for everyone as it allows the audience to actually sympathetically identify with Bond, something that had been impossible in the past.

The plot itself is simple; Bond must win a card game in the eponymous gambling venue against Le Chiffre (Mikkelson), a known accountant to international terrorists, with a nasty scar on his eye causing him to occasionally weep blood. The romantic interest of the film is a treasury official named Vesper Lynd, played wonderfully by the French actress Eva Green, seen earlier in the brilliant Bertolucci film The Dreamers. Green manages to achieve something original in that she makes her Bond girl a well-rounded character, rather than a piece of eye-candy for the spy to fornicate with in the final scene. She is fragile yet confident enough to verbally spar with Bond on many occasions. Hers is a career worth watching.

Although the plot seems straightforward, as with any Bond film there are many twists and turns splendidly complemented by often rough action scenes and a clever, tight script helped by a contribution from Oscar-winning screen writer Paul Haggis (Crash and Million Dollar Baby, and Due South if any of you remember that). It is definitely a Bond film about the man rather than his toys, there are few gadgets to speak of, and the cars play a strictly supporting role, which is a relief after the disastrous invisible Aston Martin of Die Another Day.

This is definitely a success and a welcome return to the series, fans of this will be delighted to hear Daniel Craig has signed up for two more films and the producers would not be unwise to hire the director Martin Campbell for a third time. After this and Goldeneye before that, his form-book on Bond films is exemplary. At 144 minutes long, this is the longest of all Bond films, and inevitably at some points the film does lag, particularly the poker scenes, but Daniel Craig does enough to carry the film through splendidly. Bring on the 22nd.

 

 

 

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