The 1967 version of Casino Royale has gone into history as an expensive folly of a film, with an overblown budget and a troubled shoot. Although he's not well-known in the U.S., he's a popular actor in Great Britain, with his starring turn in Layer Cake establishing that he can be both suave and engaging.Casino Royale is either going to be a classic bit of fun or the biggest fuck-up since the Flood. After a long, drawn-out process where a variety of actors were rumored to be in line for the role, Daniel Craig was awarded the part. It may require updating in this post-Cold War World, but even if it is kept in a framework of the past, the idea should work marvelously.

Given the current popularity of poker and gambling in all its forms, Casino Royale promises to be an excellent choice for storyline. Since 007 is known to be the best gambler in Her Majesty's Secret Service, he's selected to go out and break Le Chiffre's bank at the gaming tables of the French Riviera's Casino Royale. It seems Le Chiffre needs to regain some KGB cash that he lost as a result of an investment in a chain of brothels. The book had Bond assigned to a seemingly posh task - preventing a Russian spy known as Le Chiffre from his attempt to win 50 million French francs. Previously created as a spoof of the series starring Peter Sellers and David Niven, this time the story will be given the action-packed Bond approach that fans of the series have become accustomed to. Eventually, the torch is handed over to someone new, as the Broccoli family keeps making Bond films and MGM (soon to be under the umbrella of Sony) is happy to oblige with distribution and financing.įor the 21st film in the Bond series, the producers and director Martin Campbell (who brought the series back to life with GoldenEye) will look to the very first novel in the Ian Fleming series, Casino Royale. Over the years, Bond has practically defined the careers of performers such as Sean Connery, Roger Moore, and Pierce Brosnan. Mystery writer Raymond Chandler says that James Bond is 'what every man would like to be and what every woman would like to have between her sheets.' Perhaps it's this quality that has allowed the character to survive for more than 40 years, through various actors and generation gaps. This was one of the bigger letdowns in comparison to its good trailer this year.

Entertaining some, but in serious need of editing.īond as a thug is a strange choice and the movie's ending is overblown but this is still a great action flick. Daniel Craig is terrific and the movie really benefits from the focus on (relative) realism and actual acting.Īn awesome reboot for a series that I lost interest in years ago.

Casino royale movie cast