Casino Royale

release year: 2006
genre: action/adventure
viewing setting: home Bluray 2/5/19 and home DVD 7/27/08

synopsis: In a sort of prequel/re-imagining, James Bond earns his "00" status and then goes after a corrupt banker.

impressions: New actor, less gadgets, more physical Bond. This Bond runs, jumps, fights, and bleeds more than any before him. He's very direct and efficient too. The high-stakes poker game sequence is excellent, although it has a couple of lethal intermissions. The plot is complicated and the next Bond movie is a direct sequel/continuation of this one.

acting: Daniel Craig is now James Bond, and he brings an angry, highly physical intensity to the role. Eva Green is the main Bond girl, who's also a Treasury agent and has some secrets. Judi Dench is nastily efficient as "M", the head of MI6. Mads Mikkelson is Le Chiffre, a thinking bad guy without much flash or flair like past Bond villains.

chases: parkour-type foot chase through construction site, foot and truck chase through airport

neat gadgets: bio-chip in Bond's wrist that allows his home base to monitor his vitals and diagnose things like poisoning

confirmed Bond kills: more than most past movies...probably several dozen...it becomes difficult to tally when he's using a machine gun

confirmed Bond seductions: 2

obnoxious female name: none

defining Bond moments:

after being mistaken for the valet by some rich jackass, he crashes the guy's Range Rover as a distraction, then casually walks into the now-empty security office
after pushing the rich guy to go all in and bet his car at the poker table, he wins the hand, then tells the guy to give him his valet ticket too...and then puts the moves on the guy's girlfriend
covertly stashes the explosive device on the bad guy's belt, ultimately causing him to blow himself up

quotable:

Solange: "Why can't nice guys be more like you?"

Bond: "Well, because then they'd be bad."

M: "I would ask you if you could remain emotionally detached, but I don't think that's your problem, is it?"

Bond: "No."

final word: A different approach than past Bond movies, but good and full of action.

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