Looking Back on 007: The Craig Years - Casino Royale (2006)

With Spectre dropping into theaters this weekend, this could very well be the last time we see Daniel Craig suit up as the iconic spy. The actor has already displayed a desire to step away from the part and with Sony's rights to the property expiring after this film who knows where 007 will end up. Rather than look ahead to the future though and listen to a bunch of he said/she said about who will be our next Bond I figured this time is better spent going back and looking at what Craig has already done with the franchise. Over the course of three films he has managed to become plenty of fans favorite Bond and with his fourth film tracking to be a huge success I wanted to revisit what his 007 legacy will be leaving behind, starting with 2006's Casino Royale.

Casino Royale (2006)

Directed By: Martin Campbell

Technically the third time this particular Ian Fleming book had been turned into a feature, Casino Royale effectively rebooted the James Bond franchise back in '06. Pierce Brosnan had officially stepped down as Bond at the age of 50 and gave the opportunity to someone new to keep the series going. That someone was Daniel Craig and he was set to play a brand new Bond, one that hadn't yet been given a license to kill and that lacked the experience we had come to know from our 007's. Early in the film we see an inexperienced Bond get awarded a license to kill for the first time as he is sent out on a mission to bankrupt a known terrorist financier (Mads Mikkelsen). Things are made more difficult when he falls in love with the beautiful treasury employee (Eva Green) sent to oversee his mission. Now his seemingly simple task is made all the more difficult when he begins mixing business with pleasure. 

When I first saw this film almost a decade ago I wasn't a fan. I grew up with Brosnan as my Bond and I loved him, even in the bad films so when I first saw Craig on film it took me a while to accept him as my new 007. Craig wasn't what kept me from loving this film however, it was the lack of style which I now know was intentional. At the time I didn't care to see a rebooted and young Bond, I knew who the character was and didn't need to know what he did to get there. All I wanted then was another cool and stylish Bond who was driving a kickass spy car and whose personal belongings consisted of a bag full of gadgetry, I didn't need the gritty Bond. I watched the movie with my father who is another big fan of the franchise and the two of us felt let down at the end. It wasn't that we thought it was a bad movie, we just didn't feel it was a true "Bond" film. To us it was a great action movie but it lacked what made us love 007, the cool spy gear, the stylish set design, and a truly unstoppable spy.

Over the years I began to understand what this movie truly was and why it was so different, they wanted to show us all how Bond became the perfect spy he is and why he has no room for trust in his life. Watching the movie last night I found myself dialed into the story of the film far more than a decade ago. I enjoyed seeing a flawed 007, one who makes mistakes that almost cost him or the people around him their lives. He doesn't always know what's coming next and he isn't always a step ahead of his enemy here. Still, I couldn't bring myself to love this movie as much as I wanted to. In the end I found the stakes to be severely underwhelming and uncompelling, I never once during the film felt his enemy was really any danger to him. Unlike other films where we see our hero save the world from true disaster, here we are watching him save a lot of money from going into the wrong hands. Yes, a worthy cause but not one that ever made me feel that our heroes job was all that important. 

I am clearly in the minority thinking this film is just good, not great. The movie currently rocks a 95% on Rotten Tomatoes and an 8/10 IMDB score and I regularly see people call it the best Bond film of all-time. Roger Ebert said of the film "Casino Royale has the answers to all my complaints about the 45-year-old James Bond series, and some I hadn't even thought of." Tom McCarthy of Variety said "Casino Royale sees Bond himself recharged with fresh toughness and arrogance, along with balancing hints of sadism and humanity, just as the fabled series is reinvigorated by going back to basics." The film was a huge box office success as well making over $160 million in the U.S. alone and paved the way for three more Craig lead films. 

Seeing where Daniel Craig's Bond has gone over the past few films I appreciate this one much more. They laid the groundwork for what he would become in the future all with this story and it has paid off big down the line. With Spectre tracking to be a huge hit, the success of this modern run of 007 can be directly attributed to movie that kicked it all off. Despite feeling it's a bit long winded Casino Royale is the rare reboot that succeeds in resetting the timeline and now allows this franchise to grow into something far bigger than we all thought it could be. Casino Royale is definitely worth revisiting before heading to see Spectre this weekend.  

Check back tomorrow for my look back at Quantum of Solace and as always, thanks for reading and I am Zach Who Watches Movies. You can find me anytime on twitter @ZachWWMovies, smell ya later!