Casino Royale was the first James Bond novel written by Ian Fleming. The movie could be called a prequel or origin story. It starts with a short bit shot in classic Film Noir style of black and white, dark shadows and obscure camera angles. James Bond has not earned his 007 designation yet and must complete two kills before he does. The first kill almost kills him but the second one is quick and effortless. This makes it clear that Casino Royal is how James Bond gets his start.

 

I thought Daniel Craig as James Bond was too old to play a very young James Bond, we see an agent that is characterized as cold and detached when he kills. His softer loving character comes out later as having an unbelievable soft affectionate side when he finally falls in love with Vesper Lynd played by actress Eva Green.

 

The origins of James Bond takes a little bit of getting used to as it incorporates 2006 cell phones, used a little too much, and the latest Austin Martin. The first part of the film is right on with unbelievable stunts and a chase scene that makes you think you are watching the best James Bond movie ever. Once he blows up the embassy you might as well go home and watch celebrity poker. The movie turns into something in the high channels on TV with a very long poker game that is explained to us with some very insulting dialogue that speaks to us like we have no idea how poker is played or that one hundred million is a lot of money. The bad guys leave the accountant, who is critical to their plot to steal the money, tied up in the middle of the road for anyone to come along and run over. Bond barely misses her and wrecks his new Austin Martin, a very sad part of the movie. They destroyed three of the $300,000 cars shooting the scene. Bond’s capture results in a quick torture scene and a new character that enters and shoots everyone but Bond and the girl. The new killer makes the unbelievable statement that he does not care about the money he just wants to be able to trust his banker.

At this point the movie shifts to Bond doing a complete unexplained change of character that has him leaving Her Majesty’s service and running off with the beautiful accountant Vesper (Eva Green). At this point the movie or the audience needs the heart defribulator from the glove compartment of Bond’s Austin Martin to get our hearts started again as we all go into cardiac boredom.

As Bond and the accountant Vesper arrive in Venice to buy groceries it seems the movie has died a slow painful death, some unidentified new characters are not introduced but give Bond someone to chase. He does this instead of answering the banker’s question if it is OK to transfer all the money into a new account that Bond does not control. At this point the story makes no sense at all and ends with M played by Judi Dench needing to explain to everyone what happened and who the new bad guys were. James Bond movies don’t always make sense but they usually have some great action. This one does not make sense and has a very boring one hour in the middle. The screenwriters Neal Purvis and Robert Wade need to take a screen writing course or read Robert McKee’s book on screenwriting called “Story.”

Daniel Craig was great as James Bond with a real depth of character. Unfortunately the screenwriter butchered what could have been a great new style of James Bond Movies. Now I know why a cute cartoon, “Happy Feet”, beat “Casino Royale” in the opening weekend for gross ticket sales.

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