Casino Royale (2006)
For many including myself, 2006's Casino Royale served as a new point of introduction to the James Bond franchise after the ultimately disappointing Pierce Brosnan era as the classic character. With a fresh new Daniel Craig taking the role over and Martin Campbell returning as director after taking a break from the franchise after GoldenEye which stands out as one of the biggest highlights from the entire franchise up to this point. With all these great elements it should come as no surprise that Casino Royale ended up being such a wonderful addition to the franchise breathing a breath of fresh air into the series and starting Daniel Craig's tenure in the series off possibly better than any other Bond before.
One of the many great aspects of the film that stands out right away would be the action. Similar to GoldenEye, Casino Royale easily has some of the most thrilling and well-choreographed action scenes bringing a great physicality to its multiple chases and faceoffs. It is so thrilling that the film easily gets away with longer action sequences that in a lesser film easily could feel boring or overly drawn out. Not only is this a great example of the strong choreography but also the production design from Peter Lamont and the cinematography by Phil Meheux who really are two of the main people responsible for bringing these large action scenes to life.
Where Casino Royale might have standout action sequences, the film doesn't solely rely on them for tension. Another large portion of the movie takes place in the high stakes Texas hold 'em game which features both Bond (Daniel Craig) and the evil Le Chiffre (Mads Mikkelsen). Where the game does feel quite tense and is overall well built this is admittedly the one point in the movie where it can feel a bit long and forced when it comes to the story itself. Still, the charisma from Craig and the natural intrigue of a game like this keep it overall engaging and worth the longer runtime. Speaking of performances it would be nearly criminal not to mention Judi Dench continuing in the role of M continuing to absolutely kill it in the role with so much chemistry right off the bat with Daniel Craig.
Overall even after finally seeing all the films that came before it, Casino Royale sticks out as one of if not the best James Bond films overall. Finally getting rid of the badly done camp, this takes the franchise into an era of trying to be legitimately great films which films like GoldenEye were trying to reach. Normally with Bond films, there is at least one element that ends up failing horribly but here every issue is absolutely minor and refuses to take away from the overall experience of this film. Where sure its a bit long and a bit forced at times, Casino Royale is easily the closest the Bond franchise has come to a masterpiece so far and probably the closest they will ever get.
Overall even after finally seeing all the films that came before it, Casino Royale sticks out as one of if not the best James Bond films overall. Finally getting rid of the badly done camp, this takes the franchise into an era of trying to be legitimately great films which films like GoldenEye were trying to reach. Normally with Bond films, there is at least one element that ends up failing horribly but here every issue is absolutely minor and refuses to take away from the overall experience of this film. Where sure its a bit long and a bit forced at times, Casino Royale is easily the closest the Bond franchise has come to a masterpiece so far and probably the closest they will ever get.