Casino Royale Release
Date: November 17, 2006 Studio: Columbia Pictures, MGM Director: Martin Campbell
Screenwriter: Paul Haggis, Neal Purvis, Robert Wade Starring: Daniel Craig, Judi Dench,
Eva Green, Mads
Mikkelsen, Jeffrey Wright, Giancarlo Giannini, Caterina Murino, Simon Abkarian,
Tobias Menzies, Ivana Milicevic, Clemens Schik, Ludger Pistor, Claudio
Santamaria, Isaach de Bankole Genre: Action, Adventure, Drama,
Thriller MPAA Rating: PG-13 (for intense sequences of violent action, a scene of
torture, sexual content and nudity) Official Website: CasinoRoyalemovie.com
Plot Summary: Daniel Craig stars as "007"
James Bond, the smoothest, sexiest, most lethal agent on Her Majesty's Secret
Service in "Casino Royale." Based on the first Bond book written by Ian Fleming,
the story, which has never been told on film until now, recounts the making of
the world's greatest secret agent.
James Bond's first "007" mission leads him to Le Chiffre (Mads Mikkelsen),
banker to the world's terrorists. In order to stop him, and bring down the
terrorist network, Bond must beat Le Chiffre in a high-stakes poker game at
Casino Royale. Bond is initially annoyed when a beautiful British Treasury
official, Vesper Lynd (Eva Green), is assigned to deliver his stake for the game
and watch over the government's money. But, as Bond and Vesper survive a series
of lethal attacks by Le Chiffre and his henchmen, a mutual attraction develops
leading them both into further danger and events that will shape Bond's life
forever.
EN 5 Second Review:
It's Bond, you can't really go wrong, but be prepared,
this is a very different Bond. If you can get past that, it's not a bad
flick at all.
The
new tone in the series, compared to the earlier and lighter
Connery-Moore efforts, is taking itself too seriously. Peter Veugelaers: NutzMedia Containing smart dialogue and an eye
popping, jaw dropping opening action sequence across scaffolding, this
latest Bond outing takes us into new territory for the spy character
while still retaining the stylistic sense of its predecessors, even
going better.
He’s
violent and dark; it’s appropriate that Bond ups the ante in this, with
plenty of fist fights and shooting, when the fire he’s facing has raised
the stakes from previous Bond efforts. The enemy he’s facing is
terrorism. Bond (Daniel Craig) must fend off a banker for a terrorist
organisation (played by Danish actor Mads Mikkelsen) in a high stakes
poker game and help save the world, knowing the group will fall if the
banker loses the game.
Unlike previous Bonds, who liked to look after themselves, usually with
a beautiful woman in hand, then save the world, looking after himself
isn’t much a priority for this Bond who is staunch, rough, intense,
emotional, and plays the game his own way sometimes going beyond orders.
In other words, he’s driven. But he’s still interested in women and must
convince the lady (Eva Green) in this he’s not just a chauvinist pig.
This is where the rare Bond vulnerability hits the screen almost
convincing us he’s for real.
The
new tone in the series, compared to the earlier and lighter
Connery-Moore efforts, is taking itself too seriously.
Let
the purists squawk: In Daniel Craig, the Bond franchise has
finally found a 007 whose cruel charisma rivals that of Sean
Connery Ty Burr: Boston Globe
The new James Bond is quick and muscular, and there is
nothing remotely camp about him. He doesn’t wink; in fact,
I’m not sure he even blinks. Where other men might
athletically sail through a narrow window opening during a
chase scene, he prefers to plow through the wall. He’s a
strapping brute — young, untested, rough around the edges —
and he is magnificent. Let the purists squawk: In Daniel
Craig, the Bond franchise has finally found a 007 whose
cruel charisma rivals that of Sean Connery...more
Casino
Royale is the best Bond film in decades and the best in
all honesty since Thunderball. It moves the franchise in an
exciting new direction Beth Accomando: KPBS TV
Technically, this is the third adaptation of Casino
Royale. There was an Americanized TV version with Barry
Nelson as Jimmy Bond in the ’50s, and a spoof starring Woody
Allen in the ’60s. But this is the first time the official
Bond franchise (the one overseen by the late Albert
Broccoli’s Eon Productions) has actually filmed the novel.
So for their 22nd Bond film, the producers have decided to
go back to the beginning to in essence re-launch what has
become one of the longest running and most successful film
franchises of all time...more
This
is a Bond with great body but no soul Richard Corliss: Time Magazine
The 21st in the official series produced by the Broccoli
family (two others--a spoof called Casino Royale and a
freelance Sean Connery opus, Never Say Never Again--were
made outside the fold), this one tries to rejuvenate a
44-year-old franchise that was showing signs of tired blood
and losing its appeal to the young-male action-film
demographic. The writers--Bond veterans Neal Purvis and
Robert Wade, along with the ubiquitous Paul Haggis--and
director Martin Campbell wanted to go harder, faster, not to
stir the formula but to give it a vigorous shake...more
DVD Review:
The most successful
invigoration of a cinematic
franchise since Batman
Begins, Casino Royale
offers a new Bond identity.
Based on the Ian Fleming
novel that introduced Agent
007 into a Cold War world,
Casino Royale is the
most brutal and viscerally
exciting James Bond film
since Sean Connery left Her
Majesty's Secret Service.
Meet the new Bond; not the
same as the old Bond. Daniel
Craig gives a galvanizing
performance as the freshly
minted double-0 agent.
Suave, yes, but also a
"blunt instrument,"
reckless, and possessed with
an ego that compromises his
judgment during his first
mission to root out the
mastermind behind an
operation that funds
international terrorists. In
classic Bond film tradition,
his global itinerary takes
him to far-flung locales,
including Uganda,
Madagascar, the Bahamas
(that's more like it), and
Montenegro, where he is
pitted against his nemesis
in a poker game, with
hundreds of millions in the
pot. The stakes get even
higher when Bond lets down
his "armor" and falls in
love with Vesper (Eva
Green), the ravishing
banker's representative
fronting him the money...more
Release
Date: November 17, 2006
EN 5 Second Review:
It's Bond, you can't really go wrong, but be prepared,
this is a very different Bond. If you can get past that, it's not a bad
flick at all.
