Country: United States
Genre: Action
Director: Martin Campbell
Year: 2006
Rating: 
TRASH CINEMA ESSENTIAL MOVIE
Having recently seen and been underwhelmed by Quantum of Solace, I wanted to revisit Casino Royale to see if I still liked it as much as I did the first time I saw it.
Both movies have a number of the same elements: Daniel Craig’s muscular and convincing Bond; Dame Judi Densch’s ascerbic M; an efficient, character-driven, logical script from Neal Purvis, Robert Wade, and Paul Haggis, and superb stunt work.
The first thing difference you notice is the editing by veteran action editor Stuart Baird (The Legend of Zorro, Vantage Point, and The Last Boy Scout). You can actually follow the beats in the action scenes, which is nice. Unlike Quantum of Solace, Casino isn’t rushed, but still moves like a bullet. The excellent dialog delineating the relationship between Bond and M is snappy, but not hurried to the point where it loses meaning. As in Quantum of Solace, Bond’s thought processes move at lightning speed, but in Casino Royale, the filmmakers stay just ahead of the audience instead of overwhelming them with an avalanche of jump cuts and shaky camera moves. The difference in editing style makes all the difference. Casino Royale thrills. Quantum Of Solace confuses and gives you a headache.
The next thing you notice is the quality of the direction. Martin Campbell (The Legend of Zorro, GoldenEye, No Escape) knows how to stage a sequence. His action scenes have a fluidity to them that comes from elegant camera movements and shot design. They dance. And Campbell’s expertise isn’t limited to action. In the dialog scenes, the camera still moves, but subtly, to support the relative psychological strengths and weaknesses of the characters. It’s classic filmmaking, but with modern standards of pacing.
But I haven’t said a thing about the plot, have I? For all three people reading this site who haven’t seen the film, Le Chiffre (Mads Mikkelsen) is the private banker of choice for the world’s terrorists. He makes their money available anywhere they care to access it. But Le Chiffre has a vice. He likes to gamble with his clients’ money. It’s up to Bond (Daniel Craig) to clean out Le Chiffre at a high stakes poker game, so he has no choice but to turn to MI6 for protection and spill the beans about his terrorist friends.
Doesn’t sound very exciting, but the screenwriters gussy up this basic plot with parkour chases, jolting hand to hand combat, spectacular automobile accidents, heart attacks, and even sinking buildings (you kinda had to be there).
Trust me, the action in this Bond is awesome, probably the best of the series. In fact, that goes for most of the character relationships as well.
The one weak area in Casino Royale is the relationship between Bond and Vesper (Eva Green). It’s not the fault of the writers, who have put together a complex and zesty romance. As good as Daniel Craig is at convincing us of Bond’s thuggishness and talent for mayhem, I wasn’t able to buy him losing his heart, especially to Eva Green. Again, the words that she speaks are convincing, but Eva Green is not able to portray the woman behind them that might actually cause a cold fish like Bond to get hot under the collar. Now, that’s a tall order, given what a brute this Bond is, but I’ve got to say it: the romance between Bond and Vesper is dead on arrival.
That’s a pretty major flaw, but every other aspect of Casino Royale is so good, I’m willing to cut it a little slack.
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