Casino Royale (2006)

"...brings vigor to the Bond franchise and the possibility of new directions...  Mick LaSalle, San Francisco Chronicle
"...the most exciting Bond film since On Her Majesty's Secret Service...  Owen Gleiberman, Entertainment Weekly
"...quite possibly the best action movie of the year.  Pete Vonder Haar, Film Threat
"This is Bond as we've never seen him, more naked, alive and mysterious than ever.  Stephanie Zacharek, Salon.com
"Flat-out one of the best Bonds ever.  William Arnold, Seattle Post-Intelligencer

Editor's Note After a great deal of discussion--on the part of fans and producers alike--over Daniel Craig's (THE MOTHER, MUNICH) suitability for the role of James Bond, he more than proves himself in this explosive revamping of the franchise. Under the direction of Martin Campbell (THE MASK OF ZORRO) and with Paul Haggis (CRASH) helping with the re-writes, this addition to the Bond canon manages to hold true to the essence of the stories--the villainous villains, the fabulous sets, the beautiful women, the fast-paced action--while updating the formula with subtlety and humanity. Trading in the Cold War era for a new, post-9-11 landscape, the tale unfolds in locations that span the globe, including the Bahamas, Venice, and the Czech Republic. It opens in Madagascar, where Bond pursues a guerilla bomb-maker in one of the most breathtaking chase scenes ever--and it all takes place on foot. Botching that assignment, Bond goes to Montenegro to square off against terrorist baddie Le Chiffre (Mads Mikkelson), an international loan shark who gambles with the money of his equally dangerous clients. Beautiful British Treasury representative Vesper Lynd (Eva Green, THE DREAMERS) supplies Bond's own funds, appearing on his arm in Montenegro, while M (Dame Judi Dench, PRIDE AND PREJUDICE) keeps a close watch on the action from headquarters. The extravagant poker game forms the center of the action, with Jeffrey Wright (SYRIANA, THE MANCHURIAN CANDIDATE) putting in an intense appearance at the table; interrupting the game are assassination attempts, poisoning, and other dramatic events that keep the adrenaline pumping. The flirtation that unfolds between Bond and Vesper Lynd is only in keeping with the spy's M.O. as a ladies' man. What differs here, however, is what sets this Bond apart from the rest: the romance is taken seriously, and it exposes a vulnerability in Bond that he's never shown before. This, however, only makes him the tougher, as Craig's Bond is darker, less campy, more brooding and mysterious, than his past incarnations ever were.

	Caterina Murino
	Daniel Craig
	Eva Green
	Giancarlo Giannini
	Jeffrey Wright
	Judi Dench
	Mads Mikkelsen
	Simon Abkarian
	Barbara Broccoli - Producer
	Callum McDougall - Executive Producer
	David Arnold - Original Music By
	Ian Fleming - Based On Novel By
	Martin Campbell - Director
	Paul Haggis, et. al. - Screenplay
	Peter Francis, et. al. - Art Director
	Phil Meheux - Cinematographer
	Stuart Baird - Editor

New York Times
"Mr. Craig's Bond looks as if he has renewed his license to kill....Ms. Green brings conviction to the film, as do Jeffrey Wright and Isaach de Bankole." 11/17/2006 p.E1-E19

Entertainment Weekly
"CASINO ROYALE, the most exciting Bond film since ON HER MAJESTY'S SECRET SERVICE, has everything you want in a pop entertainment: physical audacity, intrigue, romance, but also a charge of personality..." -- Grade: A 11/24/2006 p.80

Rolling Stone
3.5 stars out of 4 -- "There's one whopper of a reason why CASINO ROYALE is the hippest, highest-octane Bond film in ages, and his name is Daniel Craig." 11/30/2006 p.122

Total Film
4 stars out of 5 -- "[T]here's no disputing the icon is re-energised by Craig....Vibrant, vital and violent, when he utters the immortal final line, your neck hairs spike and your pulse pounds." 01/01/2007 p.30

Ultimate DVD
4 stars out of 5 -- "Full of witty dialogue and sly asides, CASINO ROYALE also knows how to have fun, and it does so with style and panache." 12/01/2006 p.216

Sight and Sound
"Craig is very good indeed: everything about his performance shows cunning and grace." 01/01/2007 p.52

Entertainment Weekly
Included in Entertainment Weekly's "Top 10 Films Of The Year" -- "As 007, Daniel Craig floods the screen with personality the way the old stars did..." 12/29/2006 p.106

Film Comment
Ranked #20 in Film Comment's "20 Best Films Of 2006." 01/01/2007 p.36

Wall Street Journal
"Daniel Craig became a star when he played James Bond in this thoroughly modern action epic....Martin Campbell directed, stylishly." 07/29/2011

ReelViews 9 of 10
The purpose of Casino Royale is to "re-boot" the franchise. Craig isn't succeeding Brosnan; he's re-inventing the role. As far as this movie is concerned, nothing in the previous 20 entries has happened. This is Bond's "origin" story and the only thin bit of continuity is Judi Dench's return as Madam M. Forget everything you think you know about 007...For Daniel Craig, this is a triumphant debut. Not since early Connery have we seen a Bond this magnetic. Craig manages to show us both the human and the inhuman sides of Bond, and the portrayal is free of fatuousness...Not since the closing moments of On Her Majesty's Secret Service have we seen such a vulnerable 007...In recent years, I have come to each new James Bond movie with a series of ingrained expectations. For the most part, the Brosnan films met them across the board. Casino Royale defies many of them, and I couldn't be happier. - James Berardinelli

Reel.com 8 of 10
Making full amends for inflicting Goldeneye (1995) on Bondphiles, Martin Campbell returns to helm Casino Royale, adapted from Ian Fleming's first 007 novel by Neal Purvis, Robert Wade, and Oscar winner Paul Haggis (Crash). Although it's impossible to gauge how much creative sway Haggis exerted over the final screenplay, the writing is certainly sharper and much more sophisticated in Casino Royale, which takes place in a post-9/11 world in which Bond goes after international terrorists, rather than cat-stroking madmen bent on global domination...there's so much that's very right about Casino Royale - from the knockout opening action sequence in Madagascar to the sizzling chemistry between Craig and Green - that you leave the theater happily shaken and stirred. - Tim Knight