Casino Royale

Daniel Craig stars in this reboot to the Bond franchise. The prologue sets the darker and grittier mood right away. It's black and white, and it's hard violence. Just in case you didn't get the message. The story goes pretty quickly to Daniel Craig jumping on giant cranes, in a crazy parkour chase. This is not your daddy's Bond.

This Bond starts off as a brash guy who just got his double o designation. He's physical. The action is more visceral, not as much cartoon violence. Bond as a physical specimen is epitomized by the bikini shot. It's not a Bond girl that gets the big bikini reveal. It's Bond.

The story does have a slowdown after the crane to pick up all the pieces of the story. Once it gets going again, and this time he doesn't stop. But it's not simply more action that's the difference from Pierce Brosnan. It's the rejection of all that is Bond cheese. The smirky tone, and the perfunctory womanizing are all gone.

Mads Mikkelsen provides a good menacing foil. And Eva Green provides the proper love interest. However she comes in an hour into the movie and would be better to have more screen time. At least, she and Bond have good verbal exchanges with the time they have, and the movie really takes off. Bond is monogamous. Who knew?