By Jim Seymour
For Variety

I AM happy to report that the well-worn franchise belonging to Ian Fleming’s notorious 007 is alive and well. In fact, it’s in better shape than it has been in years. Casino Royale, as directed by Martin Campbell and starring, perhaps, the most hardened, yet cool to the touch, Bond ever, Daniel Craig, insures that there will be countless tales of Bond in the future. I, for one, am grateful to see a return to the form that most resembles the original intent of the novels. The calculated humor remains, but is shrewdly subtle and plays second to the intricate games of cat and mouse we’ve all come to love.
By now I expect everyone appreciates the fact that viewing a Bond film is the next best thing to taking a trip around the world. World travelers won’t be disappointed with this escapade. Intrigues begin in Uganda, featuring a chase at what appears to be an oil rig construction site that will make your heart stop. Not yet licensed to kill at the top of the film, Bond quickly accomplishes the deeds that qualify his 007 standing and, of his own initiative, travels to the glorious Casino Royale in Montenegro, where he quickly discovers the identity of M3’s most wanted: the financier of terrorism known as Le Chiffre. This arch enemy, skillfully played by the smarmy Mads Mikkelsen, has organized a poker tournament that will fill his coffers and create havoc around the globe. Can Bond apply his card skills well enough to thwart Le Chiffre? In the words of the Bard, “there lies the rub.”
Of course, wherever Bond finds himself, a beautiful woman is sure to follow. No sooner does he reach the shores of Central Eastern Europe that he discovers his superiors have assigned the role of overseer to the long-legged accountant, Vesper Lynd, who insists her beauty (and, of course, obvious attraction to Craig’s eye stopping physique) will not interfere with her managing the Crown’s funding of Bond’s poker game. Just as obvious, and here’s where the fun begins, is our assumption that these two beautiful specimens of human sexuality will eventually fall in love.
This is the storyline that makes this particular edition of James Bond so compelling. Craig’s Bond has loved and lost in the past, turning his emotional equipment cold. When this detachment – so convincingly played that we almost believe he’s invincible – is overwhelmed by his attraction for Lynd, the film reveals its center and then flips our expectations by totally surprising us at its conclusion.
Let’s be honest. Many people flock to the Bond films for their violent episodes, amply provided in this version. But the charm of these films can be found in the sly intrigues, the expectation of sexual encounters, and the cool visions of one man’s attempt to right the world’s many wrongs. These virtues always give justification to the violence, presuming a righteousness not found in so much of the violence displayed on television programs like 24. Neither is the violence nearly as voracious or so seemingly gratuitous. I expect many of the followers of that series will disagree with me, but I really miss the “intelligent design” of the Bond creators and wish that more television writers would take their cue from films such as this.
So, without further adieu, I urge you to run to your nearest DVD establishment and get your hands on this latest Bond adventure. And bon voyage!