Review: Casino Royale
While this series has been as adaptive to time as possible (going through 5 actors, and technology/gagdets parallel to our own timeline), it doesn’t escape the current reboot/reimagining hype (and mostly successful, see Batman Begins and Superman Returns) to launch or refresh a franchise. So we go back to the start, and see what makes Bond Bond. This means, gone is the static womanizing care-free spy, and in comes a fresh character ready for a bit of development (although it also means, gone is the smooth photo-model like stud, and in comes what many furious Brosnan fans describe as potato face after the casting announcement was made). And it works great. More meaningful dialogue, more dramatic depth. The darker and psychological aspects of the script are pretty well done. But not all is well. Somehow, it didn’t have the adventurous or thrillery feeling that usually comes with Bond movies. Also, it runs a bit long, with noticable gaps of “downtime”. Maybe I just expected too much, after most critics hyped it up. Then again, as a movie on its own, it’s still good.7½.