Armed with a licence to kill, Secret Agent James Bond sets out on his first mission as 007 and must defeat a weapons dealer in a high stakes game of poker at Casino Royale, but things are not what they seem. (IMDb)
Craig’s Bond has enough athleticism (see the fabulous opening chase sequence), smarts (“How the hell does he know these things?”), and devil-may-care charm (see his valet impersonation) to make most of this film a really fun watch. Only his female-related exploits fail to entertain, moving from eye-rolling alpha male smoothness (though surprisingly it’s Mathis who takes the misogyny cake with his mansplaining of poker) to unwanted and unwarranted romance that really drags out the film’s ending.
7.5/10 (Really Good)
joel watches movies 
Probably one of my favorite Craig Bond films (or Skyfall). My only complaint was it actually took some time to get to the main plot of the story and the ending was a bit long. Still, I loved this movie.
LikeLike
Oh yeah….and good review (as always)
LikeLiked by 1 person
thanks a bunch, jason! yeah i definitely liked this one more than Quantum (review coming soon), but i’ve yet to watch the next two! stay tuned! thanks for the comment!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Casino Royale has got to be my favorite Bond film. It does a great job of subverting the series’ cliches (especially that incredible opening sequence), and I actually thought Vesper was a good counterpart for Bond. For me, it’s entertaining all the way through, but I can see where you’re coming from! Great review!
LikeLiked by 1 person
thanks brett! yeah fair enough, i can see where you’re coming from too. i guess just the actual connection (not just a one-night stand) between Vesper and Bond kind of caught me by surprise, especially given that it was only the first movie of the saga. If Bond had fallen in love in one of the later movies, I think it might’ve sat better with me as evidence of a long character progression.
LikeLike