Casino Royale

It was a terrible blow at the time. After four adventures with the elegant Brosnan, the tough guy Craig came, an uncompromising sharpshooter, a bleeding brawler, a tormented sarcastic, and a rough mountain of secret agent potential. In front of his charisma, out of respect, I almost hid under the seat, but he didn't fit my previous perception of the Bond brand. The dry lines remained, the technical toys gave way to dirty action, and it was only after a long 14 years since the premiere that I finally realized, during a specific "regeneration" revision, how perfectly balanced the Montenegrin card spectacle turned out to be. From the black and white intro to the Italian shot. (12/05/2006)

Casino Royale is a Bond movie that reminded me of Ian Fleming's books. Although set in the present day, it has such a retro vibe to it. Craig's Bond is a pretty tough guy, so he pleasantly surprised me with his wit when talking to Vesper. Mads Mikkelsen is a brilliant actor in my opinion, and Eva Green was the proverbial icing on the cake. Less action was definitely not a bad move. At least you can tell the difference between a spy film and an action film. (08/05/2016)

Or: When James walks in Jason’s footsteps... The black-and-white prolog and the first scene after the opening credits sets the bar high, but unfortunately the creators didn’t manage even to come near it for the rest of the movie. The new Bond is not lacking atmosphere, a good technical side and ingenious action. But what it is lacking is a better screenplay to hold everything together better and more balanced pacing. (04/21/2022)

At least for me, Casino Royale was the biggest surprise of this season (but no wonder just 24 days after its release :-). Martin Campbell succeeded in the restart for the Bond brand that didn’t work even in Golden Eye. Bond is simply better than ever before. This is greatly due to the excellent Daniel Craig and I’m glad that the misgivings about his being cast as 007 were wrong because it’s him who is the powerhouse of the whole movie. The action sequences are simply genius (I was thrilled by the whole Miami / Ruzyně airport operation), and not to few, not too many of them. The romantic storyline is enchanting and very well conceived, at last we have the chance to see inside James Bond. And no shortage of dry lines and jokes. Almost every other wisecrack is a Bond-movie cliché and it is really great to follow the gradual evolution of Bond’s character... I’m just curious if this great movie will be trumped by the third Bourne next year. (12/07/2006)

After some time, and after watching a rerun, I began to like this 21st Bond film. I also like Eva Green thanks to Dark Shadows and I'm taking more and more to Mads Mikkelsen thanks to A Royal Affair. They have a nice interchange at the Casino, Mads has a very tasty villain with a bleeding eye and Eva is a different kind of beauty than the ones James has been dating. The plot is good, the scenery pleasing to the eye, the action and humor just right, and of course the flawless final point. I certainly enjoyed that. (08/26/2012)