The way I imagine it, all the previous James Bond movies were set in some alternate universe. Bond lived in a world where a toothbrush and roll of floss are really a grappling hook (MacGyver lives in this universe too, but unlike Bond, who has his gadgets provided for him, MacGyver has to make his own), where at least two women he met every day were willing to sleep with him, where STDs were a non-issue, where a villain could have diamonds embedded in his face and still be taken seriously, and where a man could really be that witty.
Casino Royale, however, is set in the real world. The movie makers don't see it that way -- this movie is merely a prequel to the ones that came before, Bond's first mission as 007, where he must stop a terrorist banker from winning a poker game to fund terrorism around the world.
Since this is early in his career, it makes sense that he isn't as clever, debonair or tricked out with gadgets as he is in other movies, that the conflict is much simpler than a villain trying to irradiate the world's gold supply, and that by the time he actually sleeps with a girl it's about three-fourths of the way through the movie. Daniel Craig, the newest Bond, doesn't even look the part.
The man is completely ripped, a little rough around the edges, and his ears sort of stick out, a far cry from the lean and slick incarnations of before. But I'm willing to accept it. This is not the traditional Bond movie, and as Layer Cake showed us, Craig is not the traditional Bond.
So I'll be honest. I don't actually like the James Bond franchise. The character is amusing, but I just don't get a kick out of watching an over-imagined masculine fantasy for two hours. Maybe one hour. But not two. I'm sure this makes me a blasphemer in the eyes of many, but it also allowed me to thoroughly enjoy Casino Royale.
Casino Royale is done in the spirit of the best action movies, with a hard and fast pace that doesn't let up except for the credits and maybe a 10-minute window near the end. Even the poker match is exciting, done in the spirit of those televised poker tournaments, but way better because the writers can produce straight flushes.
As it should be with any Bond movie, they've pulled out all the stops. Thought, hard work and a hell of a lot of money went into everything, from scenery and special effects to the graphic design in the opening credits and the stunt man in the first chase scene.
There must have been some good money put into the script, too, because unlike previous incarnations of Bond, I never found myself laughing at the movie, but more often with it. Puns abound at the expense of old Bond clichés -- the Aston Martin, "shaken not stirred," "Bond, James Bond," and I'm sure plenty of others I don't recognize, because the only Bond movie I've seen without Pierce Brosnan involved Bond in a gorilla suit fighting carnies in a circus car. I know. I wish I was joking, too.
Don't get me wrong. It's a good movie even if you like James Bond. But you've got to go in without wanting the absurdity. If you can manage that, you'll still get your action, adventure, chase scenes, gunfights, drama, women in skimpy clothing, witticisms and, ultimately, Bond badasser.
There's also Judi Dench as M. So really, you're pretty golden.
