Casino Royale introduces James Bond before he holds his license to kill. But Bond is no less dangerous, and with two professional assassinations in quick succession, he is elevated to '00' status. Bond's first 007 mission takes him to Madagascar where he is to spy on a terrorist, Mollaka. Not everything goes to plan and Bond decides to investigate, independently of MI6, in order to track down the rest of the terrorist cell. Following a lead to the Bahamas, he encounters Dimitrios and his girlfriend, Solange. He learns that Dimitrios is involved with Le Chiffre, banker to the world's terrorist organizations. Secret Service intelligence reveals that Le Chiffre is planning to raise money in a high-stakes poker game in Montenegro at Le Casino Royale. MI6 assigns 007 to play against him, knowing that if Le Chiffre loses, it will destroy his organization. 'M' places Bond under the watchful eye of the beguiling Vesper Lynd. At first skeptical of what value Vesper can provide, Bond's interest in her deepens as they brave danger together and even torture at the hands of Le Chiffre. In Montenegro, Bond allies himself with Mathis MI6's local field agent, and Felix Leiter who is representing the interests of the CIA. The marathon game proceeds with dirty tricks and violence, raising the stakes beyond blood money and reaching a terrifying climax.
I can sum up this Bond film in two words: pretty disappointing. I dug Daniel Craig as the cold-hearted pr*ck James Bond and still don't see why so many people were on his a$$ from the start of this project. However, my biggest beef with the movie was it's length. I thought the movie was gonna end about 5 times before it finally did. I liked the note it left on but felt some things should have been cut (it felt like 2 1/2 hours). As for the other characters, Eva Green and Mads Mikkelsen were good but nothing spectacular. Maybe I'll warm up to this with a second viewing but as of now, I kind of have a sour taste in my mouth (mind you, this is only the third James Bond film I've seen in theaters, with the last one being Tomorrow Never Dies). GoldenEye was the first for those wishing to know.
