Casino Royale

Based on Ian Fleming’s first James Bond novel, Casino Royale is a sporadically effective yet lamentably overlong entry in the Bond series and there’s little doubt that the film would’ve been far better served by a more faithful adaptation of the book. But at a running time of 144 minutes (!) – a feat achieved primarily through the addition of needless action sequences – the movie can’t help but come off as a relentlessly uneven piece of work. As expected, Casino Royale details the circumstances surrounding Bond’s first mission and follows the secret agent as he attempts to take down a sinister banker named Le Chiffre (Mads Mikkelsen) by beating him at a high-stakes card game within an opulent European casino. It’s a simple story that’s weighed down by a whole host of superfluous subplots and pointless digressions, with the majority of such moments awkwardly shoe-horned into Neal Purvis, Robert Wade, and Paul Haggis’ exceedingly busy screenplay. The film consequently suffers from an awfully flabby midsection, which – while never boring, exactly – isn’t even remotely as interesting as one might’ve liked. That being said, there’s certainly plenty here worth enjoying – with an opening foot chase and a third-act torturing sequence just two of the more prominent highlights. And then there’s Craig, a superb actor who offers up a much grittier James Bond than any of his predecessors; it’s a choice that generally works, although there’s little doubt that it’ll take a few more movies before he’s entirely convincing as 007.

**1/2 out of ****