It's based on Ian Fleming's very first Bond novel and gives us Bond very much as he was introduced to the world. But Casino Royale (2006) also did what no previous Bond movie could do: It completely rebooted the franchise, blowing up a formula that many saw as played out, with far-fetched gimmicks and belabored puns, even as it remained a steady box office draw. Highly recommended.Daniel Craig's first outing as James Bond is a terrific spy/action movie, period. It’s kind of hard to say right now, since I finished watching it a couple of hours ago, but it definitely belongs in my top 5 Bond movies. With that said though, despite the fact that this is probably one of the ‘un-Bondiest’ Bond movies, this may just be my favorite movie in the franchise.

It’s slower, more emotional, more ‘serious’. That’s one of the reasons why this doesn’t really feel like a Bond movie. For example, Javier Bardem gives an incredible monologue in a single shot that lasts for about a minute. I’m not saying that this an arthouse Bond movie, I’m saying that is has a couple of moments that you normally won’t see in an action movie or a Bond movie. Skyfall on the other hand has amazing, arthouse-ish qualities. If you rather have something more straightforward, then Casino Royale may be more your cup of tea. It certainly has the ingredients for a Bond movie, yet it isn’t so much a James Bond movie as it is a movie ABOUT James Bond and an homage to James Bond.

Another thing is that this doesn’t really feel like a Bond movie. It personally doesn’t bother me, but I can see people complain day and night about this (Indy 4). Does that piss you off? Because that is the case in this movie. Imagine Live and Let Die with CGI crocodiles. The way they use CGI in this movie may also piss off some people. The Bondgirl played by Bérénice Marlohe gets very little screentime and is a pretty useless character. And there's some stuff that didn't bother me, but may bother others. Q, played by Ben Whishaw, is kind of lame (maybe that was the point, who knows) and there's some confusing techno babble here and there.

There are also a lot of references to other Bond movies which I really liked. Great action, a (somewhat) more emotional James Bond, a phenomenal villain played by Javier Bardem (who should at least get a nomination for his role), a great soundtrack and breathtakingly beautiful cinematography.

James bond after casino royale