A Winning Bet

[November 15th, 2006] James Bond isn't supposed to be blond. Or buff. And this new guy has big ears. The Internet has been abuzz about Daniel Craig as 007 for the past year, and most of the chatter has been spiteful. Craig has been the most verbally blasted Bond since George Lazenby (On Her Majesty's Secret Service), and fanboys cannot stop bitching about Craig's hard-boiled look and aggressive demeanor. But anybody who saw Craig as a sly coke dealer in Layer Cake (2004) knows that he can do complicated, slick and charming. And as Bond, the Brit makes naysayers eat their words.

Casino Royale, adapted from Ian Fleming's first Bond book, is arguably the best installment in the movie series since 1964's Goldfinger. While Craig looks more Steve McQueen than Sean Connery, he exudes suave charisma and an edginess previously unseen in the series. Focusing on a pre-iconic Bond, the film shows a young and cocky agent who, in a neo-noir opening sequence, has just received his license to kill. He's a rookie—not above slamming a guy's face into a urinal or shooting an unarmed terrorist in a foreign embassy ("I figured the world could use one less bomb-maker," he smirks). In fact, Craig doles out more bruises than any other Bond, with intense action sequences, bone-crunching combat and amazing stunts.

He also receives more punishment. Casino Royale abandons all cartoonish violence and gives Bond tangible wounds. Every punch becomes another lump on Craig's face; his icy-blue eyes become blackened and bloody. His knuckles get bruised from busting heads, and he is constantly bounced off cars and tossed off roofs. He's also more human—Craig's younger Bond seems troubled by the moral ambiguities of his job (could those martinis be signs of a drinking problem?). Craig's Bond is simultaneously tougher and more vulnerable than previous incarnations.

The serpentine plot pits Bond against Le Chiffre (Mads Mikkelsen, oozing venom and mystique), a sadist who bankrolls terrorist organizations. A compulsive gambler, Le Chiffre has a tendency to piss away other people's money, which means a lot of big Ugandan guerrillas with machetes are just as eager to get to him as Bond. To recover lost cash, Le Chiffre organizes a $10 million poker game at the Casino Royale in Montenegro, where, naturally, double-crosses, poisoned drinks and knife fights are part of the fun.

Director Martin Campbell, who revived the Bond series with GoldenEye (1995), keeps it kinetic with action sequences and flashy cinematography.

While the film is more serious than its 20 predecessors, Bond is still Bond. He's a pussy magnet who woos sexy Vesper Lynd (Eva Green), an MI6 accountant posing as his fiancÉe. He still loves to crash nice cars and spit one-liners. Although there are unfortunate omissions—Moneypenny and Q are out, so no inter-office sexual harassment or crazy gadgets this time—the always splendid Judi Dench returns as M.

Casino Royale is sexy, exhilarating and tense. From an amazing parkour chase sequence to a nail-biting, ball-bludgeoning torture scene, the film is a raw, visceral experience. And while a lot of people still might not buy into Craig in the beginning, by the time he utters his famous line, "The name's Bond. James Bond," he makes it clear that he was the right choice. Sorry, fanboys, looks like Craig is the man for the job.