Bond: Shaken, Stirred and Served Up Hot

Film : Casino Royale
Director : Martin Campbell
Starring : Daniel Craig, Eva Green, Judi Dench, Mads Mikkelsen, Giancarlo Giannini

As a diehard Pierce Brosnan fan, I was more than ready to slam both Casino Royale and Daniel Craig as the newest James Bond. After all, who could match the suave and supremely cool Brosnan as the ultimate man about town?

But that was before I saw the film.

Vesper Lynd is no regular Bond girl; in fact, Craig is the film’s only character to emerge from the ocean in a wet bathing suit Casino Royale is a modern upgrade for a franchise that was in danger of becoming a chauvinist anachronism and the casting of Daniel Craig is nothing less than inspired. Telling the story of Bond’s first mission as a 007 agent, the film treats the audience to the evolution of Bond’s character. Craig starts off as a rough agent who gradually acquires the polish and urbane roguishness that epitomise the martini-swilling spy. After committing the requisite double-murders, the first with his bare hands, Bond earns his official 007 rating. Now he’s all set to take on the super-villain: Le Chiffre (played to perfection by Mads Mikkelsen), private banker to international terrorists.

Le Chiffre invests his clients’ money rather unwisely on the stock exchange, and thanks to Bond ends up losing a large chunk of it. In a bid to save his skin, Le Chiffre sets up a high-stakes poker play-off. The British treasury funds Bond’s buy-in into the game, a cool $10 million. Oversee-ing the treasury money is Vesper Lynd (played by the delectable Eva Green). She is no regular Bond girl, despite the standard gorgeousness one expects from the series’ female interests. In fact, Craig is the film’s only character to emerge out of the ocean in a wet bathing suit, a la Ursula Andress. Lynd is intelligent and not only does she keeps her clothes on (for most of the film), but it is to her that Bond uncharacteristically professes his love. She is forced, finally, into betraying him, which puts him well on the way to becoming the womaniser and serial heartbreaker we know him as.

It is because of its attempts to question Bond stereotypes (during the poker game, a waiter asks if Bond wants his martini shaken or stirred; he snaps, “Do I look like I give a damn?”), that Casino Royale has all the makings of a rarity: a smart, funny potboiler. The fights are realistic, if slightly too long. Craig is physical perfection, looking more than capable of executing the convoluted action sequences required of his character. He is credible because we can picture him essaying the bad guy as well. The gadgets are there but are pared to the minimum and are definitely more believable than the memorable invisible car Brosnan drove around.

Ultimately, Bond wins the game, saves the world, gets his heart broken and loses the love of his life. It is the last bit that makes Casino Royale one of the best Hollywood films in recent memory.