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| Casino Royale (2006) |
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  (8/10)
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Runtime: 144 |
| Public Rating: 8.94 (33 votes) |
Director: Martin Campbell |
MPAA Rating:  |
| Genre: Drama/Action/Adventure |
Year: 2006 |
| Writer(s): Neal Purvis & Robert Wade and Robert Haggis |
| Distributor: MGM/Columbia Pictures |
| Reviewed by: Mel Valentin |
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Despite almost a half-billion (U.S.) worldwide box office take for the twentieth entry in the Bond franchise, Die Another Day, EON Productions (Michael Wilson and Barbara Broccoli, daughter of Albert), the rights holder for the Bond franchise decided it was time for a reboot. By Die Another Day, Bond had lost his pop culture creds, relegated to irrelevancy as a one-off joke, a caricature. With that in mind, what better way to reboot a franchise than to return to the character's origins? A reboot/prequel has the benefit of a popular character and universe, and thus a built-in audience, It worked for the Batman franchise last year and, to a lesser extent, the Superman franchise this past summer. So now we have Casino Royale, as directed by Martin Campbell (Beyond Borders, Vertical Limit, The Mark of Zorro, Criminal Law), who helmed GoldenEye, Pierce Brosnan's first foray into Bond land eleven years ago.
Once upon a time, the rights to James Bond's first appearance in print, Casino Royale was purchased for a pittance and first showed on the small screen as a one-hour television drama with Peter Lorre as the villain. Producers Albert J. Broccoli and Michael Wilson saw potential in Fleming's superspy, however, and ended up purchasing the rights to Fleming's subsequent novels. Casino Royale was still out there, though, and another producer snapped up the film rights. The end result, 1967's Casino Royale, was intentionally made as a spoof, with an aging David Niven as James Bond. As such, Bond fans don't see it as canon, as part of continuity. Which brings us to the third adaptation of Fleming's novel, re-interpreted, as expected, with a post-9/11 gloss. In other words, terrorism, vaguely defined, is involved, as is the graphic, realistic violence that have become the hallmark of the Jason Bourne franchise.
Casino Royale opens with the expected pre-credits sequence. Shot in black-and-white, we meet a black-clad Bond (Daniel Craig) awaiting his target inside an office. They exchange words, we learn that Bond is on the verge of promotion (two kills means he gets his “00” codename). Mission accomplished, Bond is next seen in Madagascar, tracking down a bomb maker and his financiers. A spectacular foot chase later, Bond is back in London, where an unhappy M (Judi Dench) rails against his unsubtle methods. Bond is sent on vacation.
Bond arrives in the Bahamas with more than vacation on his mind. The bomb maker left one clue behind, a cell phone number and a code name, which brings Bond into contact with Alex Dimitrios (Simon Abkarian), a broker for an international money laundering operation that finances terrorism. Taking time away from pursuing Dimitrios, Bond romances Dimitrios' wife, Solange (Caterina Murino). From there, the trail leads to Miami, a “Body Worlds” exhibition, and a terrorism plot. The trail leads Bond to Dimitrios' superior, Le Chiffre (Mads Mikkelsen), a sociopath/sadist with a scar across his left eye that's left him partially blind. Bond's involvement in Miami, however, leaves Le Chiffre in a difficult position with the men who finance his operation.
With Le Chiffre desperate to win back the $150 million dollars he's lost, Le Chiffre sets up a high-stakes poker game of Texas Hold'Em in Montenegro at the Casino Royale. M sends Bond to Montenegro to stop Le Chiffre's plans. To that end, Bond is staked $10 million dollars (with an option for another $5 million). The British government, mindful of their money, sends Vesper Lynd (Eva Green), a treasury agent, to Montenegro. As Bond and Lynd exchange bon mots, double entendres, and snarky insults, romantic entanglement is just around the corner. Luckily, Bond gets help from an agent working with the British government, Mathis (Giancarlo Giannini), plus the Americans have sent Felix Leiter (Jeffrey Wright), Bond's counterpart in the CIA, to participate in the poker game.
Story wise, Neal Purvis and Robert Wade's screenplay (with a credited assist from Oscar winner Paul Haggis), keep the camp and quip count down, the seriousness quotient up, the plot is convoluted (what's old is new again), and the violence is bloody, brutal, and unglamorous, exactly what we'd expect from a 21st-century Bond. Early on, M refers to Bond as a “blunt instrument” to clue us in to Bond's throw down first, finesse last approach to his job with MI6. Although a torture scene is lifted from Fleming's novel, it's less an anomaly than complementary to the approach the producers wanted to take with Casino Royale. Bond gets bloodied and bruised, repeatedly, but always manages to clean up in time for the evening's events. Whatever objections moviegoers might have to the violence, though, is far from the story problems that almost sink Casino Royale.
Besides the convoluted plot, Casino Royale has not one, not two, but three endings. The first, fittingly, concludes the poker game at the casino. As expected, the second involves the confrontation between hero and villain, with the villain giving the obligatory monologue about his intentions and plans. Cue what seems the “real” ending or what seems like a fantasy sequence. It's not, as the stunts and action give way to the romantic subplot, which now becomes the main plot. But the romantic idyll isn't going to last. Cue third and final ending set in Venice. It's one ending too many and, given a self-indulgent 145-minute running time, it goes on too long (the idyll becomes an interminable longueur).
As much as Casino Royale's producers wanted to modernize Bond for the 21st century, they also The trademark stunts/action sequences are still there, but this time they've stripped down, focusing on up close, hand-to-hand combat. The stunts are still crazy mad, as appreciative teenage moviegoers might quip, but they're also pulled back into the realm of the possible. CGI and wirework were kept to an obvious minimum and to give the stunts a contemporary feel, Casino Royale's producers hired Sebastien Foucan, one of the founders/originators of a distinctly European street sport called “parkour” (i.e., athletes run, jump, vault, and climb over obstacles in the fastest, most direct manner possible) and its closely relative, “free running,” to choreograph the first set piece, a foot chase in and around an abandoned construction site in Madagascar. Stateside audiences got a chance to see parkour in action earlier this year via Luc Besson's District B13, a Gallic version of John Carpenter's Escape From New York.
The three other major set pieces, one set on and around Miami International Airport has a distinctly Die Hard 2 meets Raiders of the Lost Ark as Bond has to battle a terrorist determined to cause major havoc. Derivative it might be, but it's also economically directed and energetically executed with a blackly comic payoff. The subsequent set piece also owes something to parkour, as Bond is forced to fight two men in and on a staircase inside the casino during a break in the poker match, with dire consequences for the loser and almost as dire consequences for the bloodied winner. The fourth set piece occurs during the third and last climax, as Bond fights off the villain and his henchmen inside a rapidly sinking building in Venice, Italy.
As much as EON and their screenwriters wanted to break from the past and reboot the franchise, they still included enough references to previous Bond films to make casual and diehard fans happy. Setting a good portion of Casino Royale in Bahamas obviously nods at the first Bond film, Dr. No. The connection becomes even clearer when Bond, newly energized from a swim emerges from the ocean, Ursula Andress style. Still in the Bahamas, Bond gets to tool around in a 1964 Aston Martin, Bond's signature car. Casino Royale even name checks the absent Miss Moneypenny through dialogue. Yes, it's a rare moment of cheese in a film that otherwise takes itself seriously. We get a martini scene (Bond doesn't care if it's shaken or stirred) and Bond wearing his first tuxedo.
Last, the performances. While Bond fans raised the alarm when Daniel Craig was selected to become the new Bond, calling him everything from too short, too blond, too muscular, and even too rough or uncultured, their misgivings, while understandable, were premature. To call Craig perfectly cast for what a hard-edged reboot of a moribund franchise is probably an understatement. Craig brings an intensity and physicality that, one film later, makes him the second “best” Bond (after Sean Connery, of course). Plus, Craig has dramatic range and the talent to back it up. If subsequent screenplays remain at a high enough level, quality wise, it's easy to see Craig essaying Bond for the next ten years.
As for the remainder of the cast, Mads Mikkelsen is suitably hissable as the one-dimensional villain, and Jeffrey Wright is credible in a small, pivotal role as Bond's American counterpart, but the so-called Bond girls are probably the weakest link. In a relatively small role, Caterina Murino is, of course, easy on the eyes. Her performance, however, is a different matter. As for Eva Green, she's practically the co-lead in the second half of the film. While beautiful and based on previous performances in The Dreamers and Kingdom of Heaven, the French-born actress is obviously talented, but here seems unsure of herself, often giving awkward line readings that suggest she never got a handle on the character. That's less her fault than the director or the screenwriters, but it's also possible she was miscast.
Criticisms aside, Casino Royale does everything the producers wanted it to do, successfully re-launch an irrelevant, campy franchise for the 21st century. More importantly, moviegoers will be happy with the results, including the doubters and naysayers who didn't think Craig could pull it off. He has. And with top-notch, expertly directed action sequences, an overabundance of locations, it's easier than you might think to overlook where Casino Royale went wrong and appreciate it where it went right.
© Mel Valentin, 17th November, 2006
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