"“Casino Royale”: An Obituary for The James Bond Film Franchise

[warning: review contains spoilers]



Ever notice that the 007 films produced after “Goldeneye” seem to get worse and worse in significant critical, creative respects like screenplay quality, casting decisions, etc.? With “Casino Royale,” the franchise hits rock bottom. “Casino Royale” is, objectively, the worst James Bond film in the history of the 007 film franchise. Why?



1) Story: Based, more or less, on Ian Fleming’s original novel, this unskillful adaptation/update is communicated with a disdain for clarity. The audience is fed too little information, too late (or not at all)—about both character motivations as well as the stakes involved in various action sequences—to remain emotionally engaged and genuinely interested in what’s going on.

2) Casting/characterization: lacks conviction and appeal

• Daniel Craig (Bond). Craig’s characterization of Bond is charmless, worthless, and disturbingly nihilistic. At one point in the script, Craig’s Bond responds to a question with “Do I look like I give a damn?” The answer in “Casino Royale” is overwhelmingly NO. Why on earth, then, should the audience care about him? At another point, he tells Vesper “I have no idea what an honest job is.” Is this a credible (or creditable) moral statement to hear from a top-level government secret agent? Craig’s monotonously stoic performance is by no means compensated for by his (atrocious) line readings: he articulates rarely, mumbles often. As a result of Craig’s hollow Bond interpretation, what should have been the film’s ultimate impact moment—007’s “Bond, James Bond” confrontation with villainous Mr. White—is surprisingly anti-climactic, prompting a shrug rather than a cheer from this reviewer. "

"“Casino Royale”: An Obituary for The James Bond Film Franchise

[warning: review contains spoilers]



Ever notice that the 007 films produced after “Goldeneye” seem to get worse and worse in significant critical, creative respects like screenplay quality, casting decisions, etc.? With “Casino Royale,” the franchise hits rock bottom. “Casino Royale” is, objectively, the worst James Bond film in the history of the 007 film franchise. Why?



1) Story: Based, more or less, on Ian Fleming’s original novel, this unskillful adaptation/update is communicated with a disdain for clarity. The audience is fed too little information, too late (or not at all)—about both character motivations as well as the stakes involved in various action sequences—to remain emotionally engaged and genuinely interested in what’s going on.

2) Casting/characterization: lacks conviction and appeal

• Daniel Craig (Bond). Craig’s characterization of Bond is charmless, worthless, and disturbingly nihilistic. At one point in the script, Craig’s Bond responds to a question with “Do I look like I give a damn?” The answer in “Casino Royale” is overwhelmingly NO. Why on earth, then, should the audience care about him? At another point, he tells Vesper “I have no idea what an honest job is.” Is this a credible (or creditable) moral statement to hear from a top-level government secret agent? Craig’s monotonously stoic performance is by no means compensated for by his (atrocious) line readings: he articulates rarely, mumbles often. As a result of Craig’s hollow Bond interpretation, what should have been the film’s ultimate impact moment—007’s “Bond, James Bond” confrontation with villainous Mr. White—is surprisingly anti-climactic, prompting a shrug rather than a cheer from this reviewer.

[see Part 2 for continuance]"

"Yeah. I mean Die Another Day was pretty bad, and so was the World is Not enough. But I think Tommorow Never Dies and Casino Royale earn a little respect. I mean, TND had a good script, some OK scenes and excellent casting. Casino Royale wasn' t that bad. I actually loved Craig in his role. Wasn't CR the darkest Bond book??? Shouldn't the Bond in the movie be just a little bit colder and tougher???"

"I totally agree james bond got alot worse after goldeneye. The whole humor got canned, the casting is dreadfull since tomorrow never dies and beyond. I agree we hit rock bottom with Craig. He just isn't suited for the james bond part. To be honest Brosnan didnt come close to moore or connery but for the modern style bond he was 10 times better than this garbage. I'd recommend the new director of the bond movies to watch the old ones because the movies are getting messed up with this new course."

"These "anonymous" guys are just trolls. I don't think they really exist. I think they're just robots marketing some kind of erectile dysfunction remedy or home re-financing thing.

Casino Royale is awesome. As a book, and as a movie. And Craig is da bomb."

"At least it didn't have an invisible car! Now THAT's stupid!!!"

"What I find interesting is that all of the naysayers don't seem to realize that the reason Craig's Bond is portrayed as flawed and not the perfect, suave Bond that we're used to seeing is because Craig's Bond isn't at that point in his life yet. CR was Bond's first movie as a 00 Agent, and let's face it, he is flawed. He's very flawed. Because he got his heart broken he's a wuss? That's ridiculous. Because he got his heart broken is the reason why he goes on to be the womanizing, smooth, witty and nearly flawless person we've already met in the majority of the Bond films previous. Nobody is that perfect, they had to get their start somewhere! "