Who could have imagined that the franchise could lift itself up so quickly from the laughable depths of Die Another Day, with its invisible cars and one-man war against the North Korean Army? Though Casino Royale was produced by the same folks responsible for that self-parodying rubbish, it feels as though the rights to the story somehow fell into the hands of an outsider, who fashioned the film as a 'fuck you' to Bond's official custodians. That this is the best Bond flick in nearly four decades is beyond reasonable dispute whether it's better even than the early Connerys is a subject worthy of debate. This is the first Bond movie in decades, perhaps ever, that respects its audience enough to let them fill in the trope for themselves.įrom its first frames, Casino Royale, just released on video, promises to restore the trimmed-down urgency of the early Sean Connery outings as Bond, before the franchise grew so fat and tired and stupid: The MGM lion and the Columbia Pictures torch-lady are both presented in black and white when onscreen type announces that the first scene is set in Prague, there's a knowing pause, as if to hint this could be some Cold War-era John le Carré adaptation ( The Spy Who Loved to Come in from the Cold?), before it confesses its era with 'Czech Republic.' But Casino Royale exceeds this promise, presenting a Bond both leaner and meaner than any that has come before.

'Well you needn't worry, the second is-.' Rather than complete the thought, he fulfills it, as Bond casually shoots him through the chest before concurring: 'Yes, considerably.' The word that neither man utters, of course, is 'easier,' and its elision is telling. 'Made you feel it, didn't he?' the turncoat asks. Bond is played by Daniel Craig in his rookie outing, and he is played, appropriately enough, as a rookie agent, or at least as one who has not yet been granted his iconic label, '007.' To ascend to that rank, we are told, requires two sanctioned kills-one, evidently, for each 'oh.' His first was the man who led him to the turncoat, and it was not a pretty one: Bond beat him bloodily before drowning him in the sink of a public restroom. One such occasion is the opening scene of Casino Royale, in which James Bond confronts a turncoat within British intelligence. Sometimes a film speaks most clearly in what it doesn't bother to say.

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