SPOILERS DOWN THE PATH; THE DISCUSSION BELOW WILL NOT BE COMPREHENSIVE WITHOUT IT.
TREAD CAREFULLY. YOU'VE BEEN WARNED.
THIS MOTION PICTURE IS OFFICIALLY AN AFFILIATE OF THE FILMMAKING PARAGONS.
Casino Royale is the aughts reboot of Ian Fleming's most distinguished literary character, James Bond! We start the story when he is promoted to 00 and hop on his journey chasing one of Earth's most sought after terrorist foundation and its financier, Le Chiffre (Mads Mikkelsen).
Daniel Craig fits to bill as the world's most famous superspy in every single way he could! Not only is he extremely suave, cool and controlled in his performance, the actor is cent per cent convincing in all the action sequences! Mads Mikkelsen is menacing as the antagonist and the writers did a great job ensuring both the hero and villain are vulnerable. They are running against the clock. They can get injured. They are constantly in danger. And they bleed for every second they lose.
The action sequences were written, directed and performed with utmost sincerity, which yielded superb end result onscreen! The parkour chase in Madagascar and Miami airport bomber pursuit are too intense! Even the poker game sessions at Casino Royale were filmed like high octane action events! James' cardiac arrest and balls torture are so damn entertaining to watch! It's visceral, brutal and merciless! The climactic building collapse action is really average, though.
The screenplay moves at a brisk pace, with the investigations and dialogues taking the highlight! It only loses energy towards the climax when the whole relationship plot ensues. Stuart Baird's snappy and reflexive editing allows the scenes to flow smoothly! Title sequence animation is attractive, camerawork is pristine, costumes and locales are posh and David Arnold's score is epic!