by Cyrus Bales

Created on: February 24, 2007   Last Updated: May 09, 2007

CASINO ROYALE

Casino Royale, is the latest in the highly successful Bond franchise. Boasting an all new Bond, Daniel Craig, and a new look at the character, it has generated itself a huge amount of interest.

James Bond's first mission is portrayed in this film, where he must beat a rich accountant in a high stakes poker match at casino royale, as he is a massive funder of terrorism and knows useful information about many terrorists worldwide.

The most noticeable element of this movie is the writing, it displays a great deal of skill, and gives us some more interesting elements of the Bond character. However the plot seems very disjointed towards the end, although the dialog remains the centerpiece for the impressive writing.

The action pieces in the film are very much over the top, which is a good thing to some extent, but towards the end of the initial chase scene, the action becomes a touch fascicle, whilst a tongue in cheek sense of humor is welcomed, there is a limit of tolerance.

In terms of acting, the supporting cast is quite admirable, however Daniel Craig fails to deliver a good performance, and is rather flat. His voice doesn't allow him to give the smoothness of speech that is necessary for the lines, and there are dramatic pauses where Craig fails to hold the screen as well as is needed.

Direction of this film is notable, more than just the generic conventions, it displays good use of color correction and kinetic camera work. There is no great attention to detail in each frame, but the atmosphere is generated in an appropriate way, as to overlook the lack of artistry.

In terms of the 'Bond' franchise, Casino Royale is better written than most of them, and has better direction. The level of acting is better than most, however Craig's incarnation of Bond is inferior to at least two of his predecessors. As a whole movie, it does fair better than most of the others in the franchise.

On the whole, Casino Royale is a welcome return for Bond, yet lacks the charisma of previous films. In terms on an action film, this movie certainly does well, although it never manages to become anything spectacular, just reasonably entertaining. Worth a watch, but don't hold your expectations too high.

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