Because No Time to Die is coming out in April, it makes sense to review every Daniel Craig James Bond film leading up to that film. Casino Royale came out in 2006, directed by Martin Campbell and is the first film to star Daniel Craig as James Bond. The movie tells the story of Bond's first mission as 007, where he must defeat a private banker who is funding terrorists in a high stakes Poker game. I am going to get right into this one, this is my favorite James Bond film of all time. Not a single James Bond film before or after is as intense, riveting, or haunting as Casino Royale is, Skyfall comes extremely close but I will review that another time. This movie has a terrific story, perfect pace, and absolutely exhilerating action sequences. At 144 minutes, this movie never feels long. The action is brutal, exciting, I never wanted the action scenes to end, despite how great the story is. There's even tons of tension in the poker scenes. This film is also surprisingly violent for a PG-13. There's occasionally blood when people die, there is very brutal hand to hand combat, there is also a torture scene where Bond is naked, strapped to a chair and repeatedly hit in the balls. I think this is one of the most violent PG-13 movies ever made. This is also one of the very few Bond films that really makes James Bond feel like a human being and not a superhero with tons of silly gadgets. He feels like a genuine character. He is vulnerable, he gets his ass handed to him, he is not invincible here. This film also has the best Bond villian ever. While he does villainous things, he's just a normal guy in a tough situation as he owes terrorists large sums of money. In the end, Casino Royale is an incredible Bond film, an exhilerating action movie. This film is perfect.
Grade: A+
MPAA: PG-13 (for intense sequences of violent action, a scene of torture, sexual content and nudity)
Run time: 144 min
Studio: MGM, Columbia Pictures
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