CASINO ROYALE Film Review - 18/11/06

The first Bond film I saw on the big screen was 1974 and "The Man With The Golden Gun" and I've continued with that tradition ever since - so was eagerly looking forward to my Bond outing with the latest version of "Casino Royale". Having seen the cool poster (as above) and the pretty dynamic trailer I expected a real treat and I wasn't let down. All the Bond elements are in place apart from a few obvious characters with an explosive start which carries on with a very gritty portrayal of Bond the man. Gone is the five punches to the jaw and the bad guy gets up again - this time if you punch someone in the mouth they bleed and Bond gets a fair amount of ketchup on his hands - a lot of it his own - so this version we are playing for keeps. My only quibbles are the chronology of Bond is let down (this supposedly is his first mission with OO status) and the cartoony credit sequence which I'm hoping will grow on me. Also the ending is a bit flat - it feels like it has been left open - depending on how you view it?? But it's a superb film - all that crap about Daniel Craig not being able too handle the role was just that - crap - he pulls off an ace performance and still manages a trace of humour amongst the violence. We get villains galore; some expert stunt sequences and fight scenes, and even an "Indiana Jonesesque" ending in Venice with a neat twist. All-in-all a very nice start for the new Bond and I look forward to the next production currently filming now - as the end titles say "James Bond Will Return" and if this was anything to go by the next one will be a cracker as well!