Sometimes it's hard when a series replaces one actor with another - it's the angst before seeing for yourself how the new boy (or girl) will interpret the character, how they will play the role. With something like Doctor Who, which sees one incarnation after the other, the actor is given free range to make the character their own, entirely independent (in the here and now) of those who have gone before. But, with James Bond, the actor slipping into the shoes of his predecessor tends to have his character already there for him; it's just a matter of how he plays it. And Daniel Craig plays it to perfection.
In an interesting move on the Bond franchise, Casino Royale throws out everything that has gone before and begins anew, much in the same way that Ian Fleming's novel of the same name started the series. So, by tossing out the old, there is a measure of retroactive continuity put in place (Judi Dench's M is now Bond's first superior as a double O, Bond meets Felix Leiter for the first time, and the Aston Martin of old makes its first appearance in the Bahamas). By starting anew on the series the makers have been given licence to kill off some stalwarts of previous films: cheesy lines, megalomaniacs with secret underground lairs, women with suggestive names, and the often over the top gadgetry of Q.
The story sticks close to the original novel but with some changes and a whole lot more tacked on. The alterations are wise considerations given that the book was set during the Cold War while the film is contemporary. And the additions are wholly satisfying in that they give more depth to the back story, bringing in international terrorism and some dodgy dealing to a story that revolved around a tedious game of cards, with little else.
Here, in 2006, Bond has been promoted to Double O and is on his first mission which is to investigate a potential act of terrorism. He's out in Madagascar finding out some information while elsewhere in the world - Uganda, to be exact - bigshot financier, Le Chiffre, is taking the funds from a resistance army to safety so that it can be accessed elsewhere in the world. But, rather than just do what he says, he's using it to short the stock in an airline company of which an act of terrorism he knows about is planned. When Bond, after working his way through a list of pawns, routs this Le Chiffre loses the cash and in order to regain it, organises an exclusive poker tournament in Montenegro with a buy in of ten million. From here Bond is sent, alongside treasury agent, Vesper Lynd, to ensure that Le Chiffre does not succeed in the tournament. From there, the movie practically drips those expected staples of the series in abundance, namely action and double crosses.
Bond, in this movie, is a darker prospect than we've seen before. He's truly a man on a mission, an agent with his focus almost exclusively for the task at hand. He's still got an eye for the ladies - the married ones, at least - and he's probably more appealing to them too: Craig's muscular physique is certainly a step aside from Connery's wandering chest rug. It somehow makes the stunts he gets up to more believable. Well, probable.
As the love interest, Eva Green does extremely well. I have to say that I don't know her from previous films (then again, it's my first Daniel Craig film too) but the writers have certainly given her a better character than previous incumbents of the Bond girl title. There's depth to Vesper Lynd and the interplay between her and Bond in various scenes works extremely well. Her final scene in the movie, without wishing to spoil anything, is truly beautiful.
Le Chiffre, on the other hand, is an interesting bad guy for Bond to face. Firstly, he's not a megalomaniac intent on destroying the world from his underwater base. He's a banker, plain and simple. He's given the traditional bad guy trait (a scarred eye that weeps blood) so that you know he's not batting for the same team as Bond. And there's not much else to him. While we get to know many details about him, I can't help but feel there's more we could have learned about him in order to make for a truly menacing baddie. While he may not be fully three dimensional, at least he's believable.
I have to say that I warmed to the opening credits as I watched them. I thought they were kitsch and not in the spirit of the film I was expecting, but the more I watched them I thought they were attractive enough if not reflective of the time period. The accompanying track I found to be lacking in identity but then I think I prefer the sassier songs of old - predominantly those by top Welshies, Jones and Bassey.
And the action. Oh, the action! The film begins properly in Madagascar with with a stunning parkour scene on a building site, taking a chase both high and low. Other highlights include a fight in a stairwell, a high octane drive airside in a Miami airport, and a shooting session in a dilapidated Venetian building. The action upon which the film centres itself, however, is a poker game which, for this non player, was tedious at times. The producers themselves seemed to know how tedious it was by adding in small extraneous scenes to break up the monotony of chips slinging back and forth. Still, at least they didn't stoop to explaining the rules of poker in much the same way Fleming, in the novel, had Bond waxing to Lynd for pages on the rules and tricks of baccarat.
All in all, it's certainly a welcome change to the Bond franchise but it has a few moments that let it down. Aside from the surplus scenes during the poker game, there's an extended romance between our hero and Vesper Lynd that drags. Given the running time of the movie I wonder if some of these should really have ended up on the cutting room floor or, even better, tightened in the script. The other thing is the capacity for pedantry. I found myself wondering where Bond's aches and pains and scars had gone between scenes, especially when he sits down at a table seemingly unharmed having had his face bloodied a moment before. Or the time when, during recuperation, he gets out of his wheelchair and is ready to rock and roll with Vesper in bed. Silly things like that.
It's refreshing as a Bond movie as much as it is to see Craig play a different agent from one we're used to. The script is relatively tight and humour, such as there is, comes at the right times. It's good to see the characters given some depth and I hope that future movies will begin to take that and add a greater degree of continuity to the franchise than has been seen before. As a Bond film, it's top notch but as a standalone film it's needing a few tweaks to the formula to be truly outstanding.
