Bond Noir: The Movie I Always Wanted to See

In light of the imminent arrival of "Skyfall," I thought this would be a good time to repost my review of Craig's initial and best previous Bond film, "Casino Royale."

By Dan Hagen

Well, as the Trib said, Daniel Craig is the best Bond since Sean. 
The movie is a real departure — a defibrillator shot for a series rendered nearly moribund by the dreadful “Die Another Day” (there is, in fact, a defibrillator in the movie, too — a sly joke?). 
What it loses in gadgets (it’s virtually gadget-free, except for the ubiquitous science fiction gadgets of today like Palm Pilots), it makes up for in realistic violence. 
Whole sections of Ian Fleming’s first James Bond novel are used, including the famous torture scene and the famous last line. 
The relationship with Vesper is stylized but realistic, and in fact the script mocks the very idea of a “Bond girl” (Bond tells Vesper her cover name will be “Stephanie Broadchest”). The gambling scenes are truly suspenseful, as are a couple of the cliffhangers. 
Craig doesn’t quite have Sean Connery’s panther-like grace, but he’s agile enough and he’s handsome in an extremely masculine way that seems similar to Connery on some fundamental level. 
Attempts are made to explore Bond’s character, with varying success. Fleming’s Bond did have twinges of regret about having to kill people, however rotten they were, and you can see some of them flicker in Craig’s cold blue eyes. But at other times, Craig seems like an utterly ruthless killer. 
It’s the old problem — how to steer Bond elegantly between the poles of bleeding heart and sociopath. With Vesper, he can be offhandedly charming. And he can be stoically vulnerable, as when he remarks to M that double-ohs don’t last very long.
This is the Bond movie I wanted see before they ever announced it. I had hoped that they would buy the rights to “Casino Royale” and do it with some realism. And so they have. This is Bond Noir, the “Murder My Sweet” and “Maltese Falcon” Bond, a fact underlined by the director in the opening sequence, which is presented in black and white. 
And it has the best and most unusual ending for a Bond film since “On Her Majesty’s Secret Service,” in which Bond’s bride Tracy was murdered. The old is made new again.