Casino Royale - Bond's royal flesh and blood

Casino Royale - ★★★★★ out of 5 - A MASTERPIECE


Starring: Daniel Craig, Eva Green, Mads Mikkelsen, Jeffrey Wright
Directed by Martin Campbell (Goldeneye)


James Bond: So you want me to be half-monk, half-hitman. 
M: Any thug can kill. I need you to take your ego out of the equation.

The man, the movies, the legend. That is the tagline you will see on much of the merchandise and films related to the James Bond phenomenon. But the nearly half-century long cinema franchise has rarely cut into what Bond really is. Director Martin Campbell was beginning to delve into the roots of Bond when he did Goldeneye. But that brief scene with Bond and his lady friend on the beach in Goldeneye was all but forgotten in the action extravaganza Goldeneye was. That was great stuff. Casino Royale is something else. Penetrating the ageless, timeless, invincible spy, Campbell has created a reinvention of Bond. No gadgets, no cheesy lines. This is Bond in its purest and rawest form. The roots of Bond run beyond the skin, torturing the very soul of Bond. Now we can see why he is the cold, ruthless killer he is. He has no choice.

Beginning with a black and white pre-title sequence, James Bond (Daniel Craig) first must achieve his double-O status. To do this is take two kills. In a shocking, visceral flashback to a washroom, we see Bond beating the living daylights (ironically the name of an earlier Bond film) out of a man before killing him. When the man is dead, the camera focuses on Bond for a minute as he gathers himself. He is disturbed, haunted but the job is done. This is the story of Bond’s life. He must act detached and cold in order to get the job done without bruising himself on the inside.

While introducing all this complexity, Campbell never forgets what made Bond the entertainment phenomenon that it is. The action here is beyond electric, it leaves you ecstatic. Giddy with joy as I watched these amazing leaps and escapes. The crowning achievement of this action is an amazing free running sequence through a construction yard and into a security checkpoint. Surreal stunt work and brilliant editing all combine for an adrenaline rush that never leaves the film.

Bond girls are also usually for show and tell. For the geeks out there, Bond was briefly married in the film On Her Majesty’s Secret Service, released in 1969. Since this is an origin story we can assume it is before that. Vesper Lynd (the stunning Eva Green) penetrates Bond. She is the only woman to win his heart, which makes her Bond’s most important belonging and his biggest weakness. Green plays her with disarming effect. You melt for her character as she cuts right into our impenetrable spy. All his weapons are useless against Cupid’s fateful arrow.

Writers Neil Purvis, Robert Wade and even famed Canadian writer Paul Haggis penned this script loosely based on the Ian Fleming novel. Normally, this many writers would contribute to a messy, indecisive script. But every part of this movie fires perfectly. The action, the Bond psychology, the doomed damsel and even the villain who weeps blood. Le Chiffre (the menacing Mads Mikkelsen) himself is very villainous, but we see that even he answers to someone else. A villain doing evil in order to save is own skin is actually quite terrifying. The testicle torture scene is one for the Bond books.

As Bond says in the film to Vesper “I have no armor left”. Therefore it makes the dramatically punching climax all the more meaningful. Bond now knows he is a man never meant to love. He is a machine. A killing machine meant to get the mission done and await the next one. He will never age, he will never die, and he will never truly be fulfilled with life. He is normally our fantasy. 

But for these hours, Bond is now a caustic reality we fall for. We fall very hard. It is difficult watching Bond be tormented by reality. We see it. We want to stop it, but we can’t. Casino Royale is a prime example of how movies can fulfill the promise of entertainment and shatter it by the unexpected reality that creeps into our dreams.