Review: Casino Royale

Casino Royale starring Daniel Craig in the leading role is considered to be one of the best movies in the James Bond franchise. The film is very serious and significant, the prehistory of the famous agent 007, telling about how James received the license to kill, his first missions, the origin of obstinate temper and emotional closeness.

Ian Fleming’s very first James Bond novel turned out to be a movie version only in the 21st century. Although this did not in the least prevent the film from becoming the highest-grossing among its predecessors. In the middle of the 2000s, there was still no general desire of filmmakers for prequels, but Casino Royale in chronology is precisely the forerunner of all those who came before it because it tells how Agent 007 only took up the post of one of the most skilled agents of British intelligence. Naturally, this film didn’t rewind time ago; only the plot notes that this case is the first for Bond.

In the movie, Bond fights an intellectual duel at the card table with Le Chiffre (Mads Mikkelsen) – a brilliant banker working for crime syndicates around the world. In the course of the narration, there are a number of spectacular scenes at Casino Royale and one exactly which I want to point out is a scene of poker. In my opinion, it is one of the best scenes of poker in the cinema industry. This scene has become so powerful that a lot of people started playing real money live poker because of that particular hand, which features Mikkelsen and Bond playing against each other. Both of them and the people who were directing this scene actually played poker in real life to make their emotions look sincere and authentic.

I will not spoil the ending of this scene, but you should definitely watch it – the outcome is enjoyable.

The concept of the film is changed int the movie. The stories shown have ceased to be too bright and glamorous; the benchmark has shifted towards realism. I cannot recall that the previous Bond had at least some dissection on his face after fights or other fights. Now, Daniel Craig’s Bond beats in every fight as if it were the last time.

In terms of the production of action scenes, Martin Campbell also made a small revolution, perhaps spying on some tricks from other directors who orientated their projects on uncompromising fights. Hard fights (and most importantly, believable), an abundance of cuts and bruises in the protagonist is confirmation that he is also a man and he is characterized by pain and protruding blood. If it comes to battles, then authenticity features are also found here.

After the sixth film (On Her Majesty’s Secret Service), where George Lazenby shone, Casino Royale is only the second film to see heartbroken James Bond. And this circumstance, if you recall that in theory, this film tells about the beginning of his career in MI6, subsequently influenced his character, making him callous, cold and impenetrable to emotions. The meeting with the beauty, who turned his life upside down, also affected the style of James Bond, who already loved strict costumes during the film

In general Casino Royale is a decent movie that you can watch multiple times. It is definitely the best Bond, which features Craig in it.