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Meatysprie

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Plot : Goes back in the series' time line to discover the origin of James Bond - and his first mission.

Story : The films opening is probably the strongest part of the movie , closely followed by a great Chris Cornell + an orchestra...
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Plot : Goes back in the series' time line to discover the origin of James Bond - and his first mission.

Story : The films opening is probably the strongest part of the movie , closely followed by a great Chris Cornell + an orchestra song (which is re-done instrumentally many times throughout the rest of the film). The rest of the movie is really so-so beyond that. After Bond becomes a "00" he is sent on his first mission to capture some guy , but then he messes up and blows up some embassy and kills the guy instead. Then they send him to a poker game where he has to win the money away from another bad guy/arms dealer - but then that turns into a big twist after twist thing. Really not a special story at all , it's all events and empty characters. Visuals : These go from great to nothing special to dull. Some scenes like when he's chasing his first target over a construction site was pretty amazing : but then there are action scenes later on that just aren't well filmed at all - horrible decisions for angles , that just don't look intense at all. Synopsis : A so-so movie , isn't worth seeing if your looking for the next great action film - due to it's lack of character depth and boring action scenes.

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Posted may 26, 2008 3:24 pm pt

BoredMark

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I think this is my new favorite Bond movie?!

They tweaked up Bond's image to more brute muscle and I guess he likes married women now. This film felt a bit more realistic than past Bond movies and in turn was a lot easier to get more...
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I think this is my new favorite Bond movie?!

They tweaked up Bond's image to more brute muscle and I guess he likes married women now. This film felt a bit more realistic than past Bond movies and in turn was a lot easier to get more deeply involved with the story. I thought it was suspenseful and the action sequences actually made sense in this one. Nice work - loved it.

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Posted may 5, 2008 6:53 pm pt

StarBlade_0_0_9

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An awesome movie to watch!

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Posted mar 25, 2008 9:55 pm pt

futuramafan101

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Awesome movie to watch and i really enjoyed the movie and Daniel Craig was awesome as James bond. It had great action, great story and great actoring and it is totally worth watching

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Posted feb 15, 2008 4:09 am pt

futuramafan101

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Awesome movie to watch and i really enjoyed the movie and Daniel Craig was awesome as James bond. It had great action, great story and great actoring and it is totally worth watching

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Posted feb 15, 2008 4:03 am pt

XDGRifle

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James bond is back in another thriller. I love watching this movie especially on A plasma tv. There is so much action in this movie and I love the plot of the movie it goes so much together. And now i see why they chose Daniel Craig to be 007.

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Posted feb 10, 2008 6:56 pm pt

honestgamer

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"Casino Royale" was the first movie with a new actor playing the role of James Bond in quite some time. There were a lot of people who thought Pierce Brosnan did a dang fine job--and he did--so of course the new actor was under a lot of...
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"Casino Royale" was the first movie with a new actor playing the role of James Bond in quite some time. There were a lot of people who thought Pierce Brosnan did a dang fine job--and he did--so of course the new actor was under a lot of scrutiny in the months leading up to the film's theatrical release. Then in the months that followed, there were a lot of people saying that he's the best actor yet for the role. I heard all of that commentary, and I was anxious to see for myself just how it all worked out, but time kept getting in the way. Finally, just this evening, I got my chance to see. My conclusion isn't so much that he's the best Bond, though, as that he's a different Bond.

The movie opens in stylish black and white (an effect it won't keep long) and shows James Bond in his agent infancy. In fact, as the film opens he's not even a 'double 0' agent at all. That changes, but then things go wrong and his superiors begin to think they may have chosen the wrong individual for a promotion. What follows from there is a twisting, winding sort of story that feels decidedly different from recent movies in the series, but very interesting because: 1) it has a lot of action; 2) it shows the film maker's vision of how James Bond became the super spy that has delighted us all these years.

As James Bond, Daniel Craig shows the agent's early years with excellent style. It's clear that with the change of lead actor, the people in charge of the franchise decided they wanted a fresh start. Craig is reckless but mostly effective, jaded yet the slightest bit wide-eyed as he faces a world of intrigue and danger. Perhaps most importantly, he's easy to appreciate as a person who might even make a few mistakes and say a few things that annoy you, but that you want to see come out on top of everything. The past Bond characters seem to be machines with a British accent and no real personality aside from what the formula demands. Craig delves beyond that--thanks to the material writers have gifted him, of course--and completely won me over by the end of the film.

I really don't want to touch on any plot points beyond what I've revealed, but I want to assure you that there are in jokes about martinis and cars, plus a game of cards plays prominently in the proceedings. There also is a lot of down time toward the second half of the film, yet things remained tense enough for the most part that I remained near the edge of my seat pretty much the whole way through a film that comes in just shy of two and a half hours. Where past Bond films have rightly followed a fan-approved formula that meant you almost always could predict what might happen next, this one threw enough surprises in the mix that I was never quite certain what to think.

The end result, of course, is that I can't wait to see where the franchise goes from here and I'm quite happy to have it be Daniel Craig that takes it there. He's proven himself a capable, even exemplary actor for at least this particular role, and his next appearance as Britain's finest can't come soon enough.

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Posted jan 18, 2008 2:59 pm pt

Scofield3

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Ok, defenetly one of the best OO7 movies, and one of the greatest action movies i ever saw. The problem with it is the same as the "Spiderman 3", it doesn't follow the other movies road. But that's not nessesery bad, right?

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Posted jan 6, 2008 5:33 am pt

Scofield3

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Ok, defenetly one of the best OO7 movies, and one of the greatest action movies i ever saw. The problem with it is the same as the "Spiderman 3", it doesn't follow the other movies road. But that's not nessesery bad, right?

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Posted jan 6, 2008 5:33 am pt

explozo935

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Amazing!!! I love this movie. Daniel Craig is so awesome as Bond. The action is so great, and awesome to watch. I totally reccomend it. Fantastic!!!

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Posted dec 19, 2007 7:20 am pt

• [+] Entertainment Weekly
  
  100
  Relaunches the series by doing something I wouldn't have thought possible: It turns Bond into a human being again -- a gruffly charming yet volatile chap who may be the swank king stud of the Western world, but who still has room for rage, fear, vulnerability, love.

  by Owen Gleiberman | Read Full Review »
• [+] San Francisco Chronicle
  
  100
  Casino Royale is fresh, actually fresh.

  by Mick LaSalle | Read Full Review »
• [+] Chicago Sun-Times
  
  100
  This movie is NEW from the get-go. It could be your first Bond. In fact, it was the first Bond; it was Ian Fleming's first 007 novel, and he was still discovering who the character was.

  by Roger Ebert | Read Full Review »
• [+] Seattle Post-Intelligencer
  
  91
  Flat-out one of the best Bonds ever.

  by William Arnold | Read Full Review »
• [+] Chicago Reader
  
  90
  The script updates Ian Fleming's first Bond novel to a post-9/11 world and scales back the silliness that always seems to creep into the series; director Martin Campbell (The Mask of Zorro) contributes some superior action set pieces but keeps the camp and gadgetry to a minimum.

  by J.R. Jones | Read Full Review »
• [+] LA Weekly
  
  90
  What's appealing about Bond is precisely its unhip classicism -- its promise of clean, crisp excitement delivered without the interference of whiplash-inducing camera pyrotechnics, attention-deficient editing patterns, gratuitous color tinting and/or ear-splitting rock ballads.

  by Scott Foundas | Read Full Review »
• [+] Village Voice
  
  90
  Craig, excellent in both art house endeavors (The Mother, Enduring Love) and blockbuster think pieces (Munich), has both a nasty streak and a soft side never before seen in the series; Fleming would recognize him as most like his literary creation: damaged goods in a tailored tux.

  by Robert Wilonsky | Read Full Review »
• [+] Salon.com
  
  90
  This is Bond as we've never seen him, more naked, alive and mysterious than ever.

  by Stephanie Zacharek | Read Full Review »
• [+] Film Threat
  
  90
  Casino Royale is quite possibly the best action movie of the year.

  by Pete Vonder Haar | Read Full Review »
• [+] ReelViews
  
  88
  This is no longer the James Bond we know from the '60s, '70s, '80s, and '90s. Welcome to the new world of MI6's most storied agent.

  by James Berardinelli | Read Full Review »
• [+] New York Daily News
  
  88
  Fans of anyone other than Sean Connery who has played James Bond may want to look away, because admirers of Ian Fleming's 007 novels are almost bound to agree that Daniel Craig is the best Bond since Sean.

  by Jack Mathews | Read Full Review »
• [+] Rolling Stone
  
  88
  Craig gives us James Bond in the fascinating act of inventing himself. This you do not want to miss.

  by Peter Travers | Read Full Review »
• [+] Chicago Tribune
  
  88
  Eleven years ago director Campbell made "GoldenEye," the first of the Brosnan Bond pictures. Casino Royale trumps it every which way.

  by Michael Phillips | Read Full Review »
• [+] Christian Science Monitor
  
  83
  Craig makes you aware of something that the Bond series, in its pursuit of steamy sex and cartoon action, quickly lost sight of: 007 is a killer. That's what he's licensed to do.

  by Peter Rainer | Read Full Review »
• [+] The New York Times
  
  80
  The latest James Bond vehicle -- call him Bond, Bond 6.0 -- finds the British spy leaner, meaner and a whole lot darker.

  by Manohla Dargis | Read Full Review »