Reviewing: Casino Royale
With a series running for over 60 years, every so often the Bond franchise needs a complete reboot. This is exactly what 2006's Casino Royale is... a reboot. Following the flop of 2002's Die Another Day, Casino Royale, could make... or break the series forever.
I will be reviewing each film on a couple of criteria: Bond himself, MAIN Bond girl, villain, story and action.
Let's start with Bond himself... I love Daniel Craig as Bond. He gets a lot of hate for being the first "Blond Bond", but all that hate usually comes from long time fans who are blinded with nostalgia of all the black hair Bonds. To me it doesn't matter what his hair color is, as long as the actor has all the Bond elements, (wit, physicality, charm, a soft side, suaveness, and brutality), then I like him as Bond. Craig has all the above and he does it in a way that no other Bond (except Timothy Dalton) has done before.
The film's main Bond girl is Vesper Lynd, played by Eva Green. She's great, the second best Bond girl in the series. She has good chemistry with 007, and is so dazzling that even Bond falls for her. She has some great lines that even rival Bonds.
The villain Le Chiffre is wonderful. He's a genius at math and likes to show it off playing Poker for lots... and lots of money. At one point he even tortures Bond in the most painful way possible, and is about to kill him, Bond is saved, but is very close to death. He doesn't look like much of a villain, but looks can be deceiving.
The story is great. Le Chiffre is betting on the stock market and attempts to blow up the plane that everyone is betting on to get lots of money, Bond stops him and Le Chiffre has to set up a Poker game to win the money back. It's really a great story for a great movie.
Finally the action. It's so memorable, and SO FUN TO WATCH. From jumping off a crane to even falling down 4 sets of stairs, this film's action is top notch.
It has all 5 of my criteria and executes each criteria so well. Keep in mind that this is just my opinion and you can share yours in the comments below!
