Casino Royale

By: The Dude

Director: Martin Campbell
Cast: Daniel Craig, Eva Green, Judi Dench, Mads Mikkelsen, Jeffrey Wright

Rating: 4 out of 5

Let’s clear up the most controversial part of this review from the get go, okay. This here Casino Royale is without doubt the finest James Bond movie ever made – and Daniel Craig is the best 007. Ah yes, I can already here the sound of thousands of nerds bagging The Dude on their blogs like I don’t have any idea about the collective Bond work of Connery, Moore, Brosnan and the other so-called Bonds.

Well, just like this new James Bond, I might have to get all Matt Damon on them there nerds, if they keep it up because The Dude is right on this one.

"How can he say that" is what you’re thinking, yeah? “How can that be the case Dude, when there are so many great Bond movies before it … Golden Eye, Never Say Never Again, and The Spy Who Loved Me for three instances.”

Well, let me tell you about a series of flicks about a lethal weapon known as Mel Gibson. Sure, the first one was pretty awesome and all that jazz, but the fourth one - the one with that Jet Li cat in it - now THAT had to be registered as a lethal weapon. It’s the same with Casino Royale. The Dude ain’t dissing the previous 00 movies… it’s just that this one rocks harder. I mean, when The Dude walked out of the cinemas after seeing the Casino on the big screen, I was countin’ down the days till I got to see it on the small version. Thankfully, the good folk at Baystreet rushed over a copy from Sony Home Entertainment and there I sat, watching and re-watching for some three days solid.

Now, I don’t wanna wreck the plot here, but if you’ve not seen it but are thinking ‘bout handed over some hard-earned for the DVD and you're expecting a Bond-style gadget-fest full of glitz and glamour and easy women, then you’ll be disappointed, my friend. What we have here is a brutal Bond, who only just got his probationary licence when it comes to the spy game and killing and such. I mean, the man doesn’t even know what he wants to drink yet for the love of everything good and holy.

What he does know how to do however is pick up a woman. If the talk The Dude has overheard from Lovey is anything to go by, apparently the shower scene is quite romantic. While this seems to have had the girls reaching for the drip trays, I was simply disappointed about the appalling waste of water.

As a result, things are a little more realistic and dirty, thus making for substance over style. And herein lies the reason why this is such a great Bond. Gone are the deranged steel-jawed henchmen who don't mind the occasional trip to the lunar surface Moonraker-style, and their place is a bamboo chair with the seat cut out, a naked James and a large rope with a knot in the end. Ouch.

Verbatim:
James Bond: “I’ve got a little itch. Down there. Do you mind?”

In a word: Outstanding