In his first mission, James Bond must stop Le Chiffre, a banker to the world’s terrorist organizations, from winning a high-stakes poker tournament at Casino Royale in Montenegro. (imdb.com)

Daniel Craig (The Mother, Layer Cake, Munich, Elizabeth) stars as 007 this time around in Casino Royale. The opening credits (visuals and Chris Cornell’s main title song “You Know My Name”) and the first action sequence hooked me. Once upon a time I was madly in love with Chris Cornell, during his Soundgarden days. When the opening credits and main title song began, I thought ‘how marvelous!’. Sometimes the opening credits (song and visuals) can tell you how engaging or not the film can be. I thought I was in for a real treat, and I was not, for the most part, disappointed by Casion Royale.

The first action sequence is a free running chase to the Nambutu (Madagascar) embassy, where Bond is forced to kill the bomb-maker he’s chasing and blow up part of the embassy to escape. The free running was amazing ’cause it was very phsyical and raw. No silly gadgets or high-tech vehicles. Just this incredibly flexible Matrix-like monkey-man running, jumping, leaping and so forth through the streets of Nambutu trying to escape Mr. Bond. Bond was quite agile as well. The entire film actually felt more raw, more personal, less ridiculous than the average Bond or other action film. There were interesting black and white, grainy flashbacks that seemed an homage to the 1960s Bond films. Not that they were in black and white. But the look of the flashbacks were dated as such. I was also impressed by how they handled the very high stakes poker game at the end where Bond sought to retrieve $100,000,000 from Le Chiffre, a thief and the major villain of the film, at the Casino Royale (hence the name of the film) in Montenegro. A poker game in an action film can slow the pace of the movie and lose the audience’s interest. But, Martin Campbell, the director, handled it well cutting up the game with action sequences away from the table. Campbell is a strong action director. I was also pleasantly surprised by his The Legend of Zorro (staring Catherine Zeta Jones and Antonio Banderas).

The love interests of Caig’s Bond were less ridiculous and skanky. His main love interest, Vesper Lynn played by Eva Green, at the end was very attractive in a real sort of a way, not done up to look more attractive than she really is with tons of ridiculous coquetteish make-up. She was also very believable as a femme fatale. However, the love story surrounding her and Bond left little to be desired. There was something off about it. Maybe because it came at the last half hour of the film and seemed an after thought or simply undeveloped. Not sure. Then again most love stories in action films seem unnatural and unbelievable. What can you do? Also, Jeffrey Wright’s sort of cameo in the film was a bit strange. He played a CIA (or FBI, I forget) agent who, along with Bond, seeks to retrieve $100,000,000 in terrorist money from Le Chiffre, the villain of the film, for his government.

Regardless, Casino Royale was much better than I expected. Daniel Craig does a great job. I look forward to Bond 22 (2008) which, according to imdb.com, continues “…from the events of Casino Royale, Bond 22 is reportedly going to be based on Ian Fleming short story “Risico,” which appeared in his book For Your Eyes Only. ”

• Directing: [rating:3/5]
• Acting: [rating:3/5]
• Casting: [rating:3/5]
• Cinematography: [rating:3/5]
• Writing: [rating:3/5]
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