Review by Mac McSharry
A CRAIG-LIKE FACE

"Vicious hokum designed to appeal to the filmgoer's basest feelings…"  

"Monstrous hero… our applause is invited for jingoism, thuggishness and blind obedience."

Casino Royale is a James Bond film. Don't be taken in by claims this is something different or leeching from other cinematic trends. In what other film series would the hero face-off against the villain over a gaming table, drive a quarter-million pound car or revel in the delightful nonsense of having the right gizmo (in this instance a defibrillator) at just the right time?

In his 21st screen adventure, James Bond enters the sensitive terrain (for a series Cubby Broccoli deemed would strenuously avoid political climates) of post-9/11 terror. Rather than offer the insulting sight of having Bond parachute from an exploding cloud base, chick in arm, with world terrorism going up in smoke behind him, Bond is assigned the more grounded, and less controversial, mission of dealing a financial body-blow, with non-political banker Le Chiffre his target.

The Le Chiffre of Fleming's novel is an unremarkable man, and the film doesn't attempt to graft on the accoutrements one associates with the colourful villains of the past because the true obstacle Bond is assigned to best in this film is not the scar-faced money-man, but Bond's own ego; it is an adventure that leaves Bond bloodied, bruised and broken as he confronts his demons and emerges a changed man. We are presented with the familiar, iconic façade of James Bond by the film's close, but the suggestion is not all changes are for the better. Has Bond, as he suggests at one point in the film, been stripped of his soul?

Sigmund Freud, analyse this….

Writers Purvis, Wade and Haggis have used this, unfilmed by Eon Productions, Ian Fleming novel as an excuse to present a first for the Bond character: a genuine character arc. We've seen watershed moments in Bond's life, such as the murder of his bride, but Bond has remained largely unchanged by these events. This time, the first Bond novel is used to illustrate Bond's first steps down a road he appears to love and loathe equally. It opens with a gifted agent prone to making egotistical errors; errors he refuses to acknowledge until he makes the most tragic of errors -- he falls in love and suffers devastating betrayal. The heart he'd allowed to rule his head up to this point delivers a chilling message he will never forget.

Displaying the Richard Maibaum touch of grafting the needs and demands of a Bond film onto the specifics of a James Bond novel without losing sight of the source material, it's fitting that with, what would appear to be the last time we will see a Fleming novel made into a film, the writers have delivered a script a fan of both cinematic and literary Bond would be proud of. Even some of the changes (e.g., Bond's poisoning at the gaming table) are for the better.

The truth is Casino Royale couldn't be made as is with Pierce Brosnan's established James Bond persona already embraced by the public. The arc simply wouldn't ring true of Brosnan's mature spy. A new Bond was required to make Casino Royale work the way the writers wanted it to.

Daniel Craig inhabits James Bond and proves adept at portraying every facet of Fleming's character. His performance is not concerned or inhibited by thoughts regarding Bond's iconic status or those who preceded him. If anything, Craig's interpretation may even be called iconoclastic. If one scene can sum up a performance, it's the ride with Vesper to the Casino Royale. Playful flirtation flips to a cutting remark worthy of Fleming's character. With Craig maintaining the standard throughout the film's running time, his ability to take potential clunkers such as the dialogue in the torture scene and make it work is a testament to his conviction and ability. Believe me, it didn't read even remotely as well as it's played!

Eva Green's Vesper transforms from croaky-voiced verbal duellist to tragic lover reasonably well and Green displays some nice touches rewarded in multiple viewings. There's a haunted quality to her features and she's as beautiful, if not more, when fresh-faced in the bathroom scene (a lovely scene, btw) than in her glammed-up femme fatal mode. Stripped of her armour, as it were.  

Mads Mikkelsen's Le Chiffre is deliberately in keeping with the Fleming character, not a super villain, but a petty crook. Not one of the finest from Fleming's Gallery of Grotesques, but Mikkleson does garner some change from the role. His fish-mouthed grin ("Oops!") as he bests Bond at the gaming table is simply unforgettable and he manages to exude considerable menace in the torture sequence with his understated performance.

Giancarlo Giannini makes a splendid elder statesman Mathis. Just the right avuncular note to his performance and a character one warms to instantly. A great piece of casting and an interesting spin on the novel that will hopefully be explored in Bond 22.

Jeffery Wright performs miracles with an almost non-existent Felix Leiter. The hang-dog expression and immaculate delivery of two of the funniest lines in the film ("…hold the fruit") help register a character (and actor) who deserves much more for Bond 22.

Judi Dench barks as impressively as ever. The production's reluctance to part with her for this "origin" story has led to some continuity head-scratching from those in search of continuity within this fractured series, but the simple truth is she's too good to part with.

Martin Campbell and Phil Meheux bring the same visual sheen and hand-held urgency they brought to the vistas and action of GoldenEye. Assisted by Editor Stuart Baird, the real triumph of Casino Royale is the card game at the titular casino. This section of the film has everything one could possibly want from an Ian Fleming James Bond thriller; it's all so magnificently…. Flemingesque.

Only in the final act of Casino Royale do the cracks show. The action set-piece in the sinking Venetian house appears to be dictated by that blasted Bond film paradigm than by the requirements of story. Why it's there is understandable, but it's just another shoot-out/punch-up where I feel one is not required.

If only the climax had taken its que from Vertigo! Just imagine it: Bond stalks his treacherous lover to a dilapidated house in Venice only for it to end in tragedy - with nary a gratuitous nail-gun death in sight. Vesper's death, however, and Bond's red-eyed reaction to it, is well-handled and free of the hand-wringing amateur dramatics that have marred recent Bond films.

Daniel Kleinman continues to surprise and delight with his fifth credit sequence; a time when his predecessor was already showing signs of ennui. Kleinman's titles are almost a tribute to that "60's spy show you can't quite put a name to"!

David Arnold also shows some evidence of coming into his own at last, but hasn't really come close to escaping the formidable shadow (or signatures) of his predecessor. The rocking theme tune, co-written with Chris Cornell is better than recent efforts and nicely incorporated into Arnold's score.

The waters have never been smooth in James Bond's cinematic life. The series is littered with peaks, troughs and course-corrections aplenty. Far from a "ret-con" "re-boot" or "re-imagination," Casino Royale is merely another course-correction

As bold (and controversial) a decision made with the series for many a long year, Casino Royale emerges as a personal triumph for Barbara Broccoli and Michael Wilson. A course-correction rewarded with a great James Bond actor and one of the best Bond films in years.

Oh, the review quotes at the start of my waffle? From Eon Productions' 1962 screen adaptation of Ian Fleming's Doctor No

Fascinating little historical titbit, eh?

44 years later, Eon Productions are finally allowed to deliver their adaptation of Fleming's Casino Royale.  They've provided a film that, if one were inclined to chart a direct course from Dr. No, would be navigationally correct.

Now, the real trick is pulling off Bond 22….

Grade: B+

Copyright © 2006 Mac McSharry