Casino Royale
The best Bond in years.
Taking Bond back to grass-roots level, Casino Royale documents his first mission as a newly promoted Double-O agent and, in the process, offers some fascinating character onsights into his womanizing ways, his alcohol dependence and even his love of fitted tuxedos. Despite swerving the typical Bondian blueprint and forgoing the usual gadgets, Miss Moneypenny and the pervasive use of Monty Norman's popular score, director Campbell and star Craig have managed to resurrect the franchise with the best Bond in years by focusing on how a spy becomes (key word) the 'Bond, James Bond' we all know and love. By giving the character depth (a move for which poor Dalton was criticised) and opting for a darker slice of reality over a pun-spouting caricature, the movie works on a number of levels and although we may not have the distinctly recognizable suave super-spy till the thoroughly satisfying closing reel, we do, as Chris Cornell's storming soundtrack suggests, know his name. Welcome back 007, we've been expecting you. [Stephen Carty]