Bond is back, or Bond has arrived for the first time or something like that...

Despite this being the latest in a long string of James Bond movies, Bond has only just been promoted to 007 status - therefore this is the first of his adventures despite being set in the present. Confused?

This is a remake of an unofficial Bond Movie of the same name. Taking the lead is Pierce Brosnan's replacement Daniel Craig. They have used this change of Bond as an excuse to relaunch Bond in much the same way Batman Begins relauched Batman - prompting some critics to nickname it 'Bond Begins'.

So Bond has just been promoted to 007 and following a trip that sees him accidentally blow up a foreign embassy (probably the only thing that 00 agents can't do) he follows the evidence to Miami Airport where he foils an attempt to destroy a prototype plane.

Why would they want to blow up a plane? It's all about gambling and shares - which leads bond to The Casino Royale. Where Bond falls in love with a woman (played by the beautiful actress Eva Green) he is under cover with.

This film is clearly a Bond movie, yet it deliberately side steps all of the major formulaic cliches that have plagued the latest Bond Movies (The World is Not Enough, Die another day). I really like the new style because it is still amusing and thrilling, with the added bonus that the storyline is actually fluent and clever. Although I like the Pierce Brosnan Bond franchise, it is more because of my love of tacky and somewhat implausible storylines.

All in all this movie did everything it needed to do in keeping me amused. I was concerned at points that the poker might loose me somehow, but it was interspliced with action and plot quite expertly. I did miss the absence of Q and his gadgets though.

see also:
Inception, The Dark Knight, Mission Impossible III, Transformers 3: Dark of the Moon

[rate this movie] [official site]
photo © MGM / Columbia.