007 Journals: Casino Royale

Man after Die Another Day I couldn't wait to rewatch this film. Alright lets face it, is there anyone who wouldn't at least nod in agreement at the idea that this is the best James Bond film? Look everyone has their favorites. You might be like Goldfinger is my favorite Bond, but Casino Royale is the BEST Bond. Daniel Craig is my favorite Bond, but I also feel that he's the BEST Bond. I think mostly though that comes from the strong character writing of the Craig films. Though he is a fantastic actor, he is what I picture when I read a Bond book. Now Casino Royale is actually the only book I've read so far and I was surprised to learn that pretty much everything from the novel is in the movie with the movie only being bigger. Even the chair torture scene is ripped right out of the novel. I feel safe saying that not only is Casino Royale my favorite Bond film, it's one of my favorite movies of all time. At least in my top five. So let me take you back to my first experiences with Casino Royale. Now the movie came out in 2006 but I probably didn't see it until 2009 or 2010. At the time I was more of a casual Bond fan and didn't keep up with it. I saw this movie around but didn't know that it was a James Bond movie. The second I found out though I asked around with my friends, asking how it was, still a little miffed over Die Another Day, and I heard nothing but praise. So I did some research and found out "Huh, there are two of these already I haven't seen" since Quantum of Solace was already out. I wasn't aware of the MGM crisis going on so with reckless abandonment I sat down and watched Casino Royale and Quantum back to back and then I learned that there were no new Bond movies on the horizon and I was heart broken. I had just been blown away by Daniel Craig and I needed more! As we know it all worked out in the end. So how did my rewatch of Casino Royale go this time?

I still love this movie. Shocker right? This is, by my own definition, a perfect film. Every actor is amazing, all of the action scenes are amazing, all of the spy work is amazing, the plot is amazing, the script is amazing, yeah this is going to be a love fest. Okay let's start from the beginning. The cold open. Now this is the first movie in what is the first reboot of the Bond franchise. Maybe reboot isn't the right word. I like relaunch. We have our new Bond, we are going to watch his first mission, and what better way to start this movie than by showing how Bond achieved his Double 0 status. This is a great scene and I love the choice of starting it in black and white. It's interesting to note that the director for this film also directed Goldeneye so for me it makes sense that my previous favorite Bond film was outdone by the same person. The opening is great. I love the dialogue and it's maybe one of the moments that shows Bond being his coldest, which is the start of the biggest theme in the Craig films. M has a constant mistrust of Bond because he is just a cold machine killer. Watching Craig evolve the character throughout the movie (and the other two) are some of my favorite aspects of the entire series. Judi Dench is a big highlight from this point on as well. M now feels like a main character and is present throughout the entirety of the films plots instead of just appearing at the beginning and end. The relationship between Bond and M is seeded here and carries on through the rest of the movies and it's something that was a nice change of pace and really helps flesh out characters. Casino Royale, more than any other Bond movie, feels the most like a character piece and I'm a sucker for good character development and with the relationships of Bond and M and Bond and Vesper there's plenty of that to go around.

So let's talk about some of the other characters before moving on. Vesper Lynd, I know I'm not alone because I've seen a lot of lists, but she's my favorite Bond girl. She is sexy in that classy kind of way and Eva Green is just a phenomenal actress. The moment's between Bond and Vesper are so much fun and just watching them try to one up each other is always entertaining. The scene on the train and any moment with them in their hotel room are all solid gold moments. All of the ways that Vesper meets Bond's wit make it believable that this is someone he would fall in love with. Craig also perfectly telegraphs how Bond tucks away his feelings for her after her demise. Something that is carried over into Quantum but not to it's full extent. Can I say that the drowning scene is some of the best drowning acting I've ever seen and I tip my hat to Eva Green for her performance during that scene because it is so haunting. The other major character to mention is Le Chiffre. Mads Mikkelsen is an amazing actor and plays one of the best and most unique Bond villains. This guy isn't much a take over the world or have an evil scheme villain. He's a money handler who has seriously messed up and is trying to fix his problem. It's really just a plot of make sure this guy can't fund terrorism. As maniacal as Le Chiffre is he really feels like a victim in the sense that he's in just as much trouble as Bond is. Also he cries blood in a totally legit injury kind of way. A nice quirk that Mikkelsen didn't even need but it helps him seem so creepy. I guess I should also point out Jeffery Wright as Felix Leiter. The first time seeing the character since License to Kill. Wright plays a great Felix but he doesn't get a lot to do here but every time he's around he's great.

Okay the plot. I'll admit the first time I watched it I was kind of confused. However on a few more viewings everything made sense to me. Le Chiffre is a banker who handles money for terrorists and short sells stocks in a company and then arranges a terrorist attack to slash the stock price and pull in a huge profit for himself. A great plan until Bond steps in and foils the attack. Now Le Chiffre owes a lot of money to some powerful people (we'll get there) and what do desperate men do for money? They gamble for it naturally. So he goes to the Casino Royale for a high stakes Poker game to try and win the money back. It's a great plot and it leads so perfectly into the bigger scheme that starts in the next movie with Quantum. Not only that, it's the plot of the book to a T just blown up to big blockbuster proportions. Now what comes with those blockbuster proportions? Blockbuster action, and this film has plenty of it. The action scenes are all great and that stairway fight is one of my favorite fights in movie history. Also we have to mention that parkour chase. This was the new fad at the time (which is the tradition of Bond films) and this chase is amazing. Especially since they were actually standing up on that crane with harnesses. They did a really good job of balancing the quick parkour style running and flips with Bond just tearing through everything. It also leads into the great embassy scene where Bond just manages to run in, mess everyone up, and escape. Such a great scene. Then there was the record breaking car flip which was so incredible that it even surprised the film makers. This movie is just pure entertainment from start to finish and is one of those films that exceeds just being a blockbuster action movie. A perfect balance of story, character, and action. A quick note, I know a lot of people aren't fans of the Chris Cornell song, and I wasn't either, but every time I watch the movie I come to love it more and more and it fits perfectly with the opening of this film. Just the way they use the gun barrel sequence in this film (which is genius) and the way it explodes into the song is just perfect.

If you hadn't guessed by now this film is a five out of five for me and I know I'm not alone. So rarely does a movie come around and just feel so tightly wrapped and well executed. I know this review was just a love fest but reviews are opinion pieces and this is my opinion. I feel like I won't meet much resistance with this review and if you are wanting me to dive deeper into something else then let me know and I will add an updated section (and that goes for any of my previous reviews. Just go leave a comment on it and I'll revisit your point) but for now I just want to say I love this film and honestly if you don't you really should.