Casino Royale (2006)

I love James Bond. I shamelessly claim to be the biggest Bond fan ever, even though this is probably very untrue. Still, I love Bond, and this might be my favorite Bond film ever, aside from 'Dr. No' or 'From Russia with Love'. It's incredible fun, witty, and the last five minutes are the best final moments of a film ever (you know what I mean...). And Daniel Craig is the hottest Bond ever.
Bond has changed for the current time. With a new Bond has come a new style for the series: a new musical theme, a new song, and appropriately a new way of doing Bond. This Bond film is grittier than previous films, with darker undertones and an almost unforgivable violent side. Bond gets hurt here. He nearly dies, and he gets his heartbroken. This is Bond before he became the cold-hearted, untouchable super spy that we have loved for decades. Since we are taken back to the beginning of Bond here, the new style is fitting since this is when Bond begins to become the way we know him. The film begins in black and white, a stark and sombre sequence during which Bond gains his double-0 status. The sequence also establishes the mood of the film: dark and gritty, but stylish and clever. This is the beginning, as we are shown. Afterwards we are treated with a phenomenal display of stuntwork known as parkour. It is nice to know that Daniel Craig did all of the stunts himself throughout the film. The action, as you might imagine, is excellent. There are no silly high-tech gadgets and no over-the-top moments as the kind that plagued 'Die Another Day'. Things are real here, more realistic, and therefore more harrowing.
The acting is truly wonderful. Daniel Craig is the perfect new Bond. Sean Connery will always be the ultimate, but Mr. Craig is excellent. I would say he is the best only because this Bond is not as suave and debonair as Mr. Connery's Bond. They are two different Bonds, even though they are the same person, so for now I'll have to say that the two men are both the best Bonds. This new Bond might not have been the way author Ian Fleming pictured him, but for the film it is a good Bond. Eva Green as Vesper Lynd is lovely, graceful, and makes other Bond girls seem silly. She adds such complex personality to Vesper and she has great screen presence. It's depressing; we start off liking Vesper until she crushes our hero. Madds Mikkelson is excellent as the villain Le Chiffre. He's a truly evil man; he funds the people that destroy our world and he prefers the most inhumane tortures to the elaborate ones of other spy films (ah yes the torture scene...enough to make any man run for the door). Plus he bleeds tears-literally-and that's really kind of disgusting. The character is well played; I can't picture anyone else playing the part of Le Chiffre. The only character that seemd out of place was Felix Leiter (Jeffrey Wright). He only has a few minutes of screen time, and maybe it's because we have seen him in other Bond films that he seems excessive here. But it doesn't matter. It's interesting to see what they've done to Bond, how he started. He is very human-he nearly dies, he falls in love which leads to ruin, and he is very emotional. I like what they've done.
The script, as I said, is pitch-perfect. There is so much wit and memorable lines (especially during the torture scene). My favorite is after Bond is poisoned: he returns to the card table and remarks that he's sorry for leaving-the last hand nearly killed him. Classic. There are many double entendres typical of Bond, but I didn't notice any one-liners that while silly make the Bond films classics. The musical score and Bond theme have changed from previous Bond films, but since this film has shaken things up in other ways, it holds true that the music should change as well. The score is done similarly to previous films, but the only time the actual Bond theme is heard is during the credits. The theme song 'You Know My Name', performed by Audioslave frontman Chris Cornell, is as gritty as the film. I actually really liked it. It follows the same vein as all Bond themes (except the painfully bad Madonna theme from 'Die Another Day') in that it has rock paired with orchestration, and that style of music that is typically Bond, and unfortunately difficult to describe. I don't care what people say: Mr. Cornell has crafted a great theme song. On a minor note I particularly admired the camera angles in the scene where James is poisoned. The stark lighting in the bathroom and the hand-held filming was a nice touch to the anxiety of the scene and added to the hightened sense of awareness that James would have experienced had he really been poisoned. Nice way to make the audience feel what he was feeling.
The only problem with this film is the length. It is a little long, but that stems from the half-hour or so middle section that takes place at the Miami airport. This sequence is a big tangent from the main plot, and though it is about Bond trying to foil one of the terrorist plots funded by Le Chiffre, there isn't much there and I feel that this section could have been cut from the film without any damage to the real plot. Other than that section, the entire film is fantastic, and the best Bond film in years. The last five minutes made me cheer. I cannot wait, at all, for 'Bond 22'-the next film. Even if people don't like James Bond, they should give this one a chance because it is different from other Bond films. This is incredible Bond fun, and I can't wait to see how Bond evolves in the next films. I hope Mr. Craig hangs around in the role for a while.