Bond gets teamed up with Vesper Lynd, a strong, confident accountant who is authorized to back his play in a high stakes gambling tournament at Casino Royale. Our baddie, Le Chiffre, lost a bunch of money thanks to you know who and as a master mathmatician and oddsmaker, he figures he can win it back at a poker tournament to pay off some very angry African warlords.
Things aren't exactly smooth at the Casino. After the card game, the movie is far from over, but what follows was genuinely surprising to me, so I won't go into it and ruin it for you. Let's just say we get to see a lot of things happen that start to forge the Bond we know and love.
In conclusion, we get a well written, well directed, well acted, and well thought out Bond adventure. It's different from the gadgety over-blown stuff we've known and loved inspite of itself, but this approach is better. I loved it. You will too.
The Upside: This movie is awesome. Lots of action, lots of bad assedness, great realistic fight sequences. It was what the franchise needed.
The Downside: The movie is 2 hours and 24 minutes long and probably could have been trimmed down a bit more, but it didn't bother me.
On the Side: No silhouetted Bond girls appear in the title sequence because the director felt it "wouldn't fit." Rumor has it, Bond 22 will have the barely clothed beauties back.
Final Grade: A
Robert Fure is a Staff Critic for Film School Rejects.
Article comments
1 - handyguy
I think this is the best Bond film since the 1960s. Smashing.