Craig passes the Bond test with Flying Colors

You must have noticed the hype for the movie ‘Casino Royale’ and expectations people had from Daniel Craig, the new James Bond.

Most critics are in the favour of starring Daniel Craig as the new Bond, however, there are a few who are against this decision and are still not satisfied with the actor. Initially, fans argued that Craig was too suave for the role, but he managed to win hearts from his performance.

Connery, the first Bond, was the most triumphant 007, at least from a box office point of view. The six films he starred in grossed a total of $3.9 billion worldwide, outdoing Roger Moore's, whose 7 films grossed $3.6 billion.

Coming back to the movie, ‘Casino Royale’ is the story of how James Bond became James Bond. It is the 21st James Bond film produced by EON Productions and the first to star Daniel Craig as British Secret Service agent James Bond.

The film, an adaptation of the 1953 novel ‘Casino Royale’ by Ian Fleming, has received enthusiastic reviews, despite the controversy over Craig’s casting.

James Bond sets out on his first mission to Madagascar to spy on a terrorist as soon as he gets his 00 number and a license to kill. Soon after, Bond is pulled into a game of high-stakes poker in Montenegro with Le Chiffre, who provides a global money-laundering service to many terrorist organizations. Vesper Lynd makes Bond fall in head over heels for her, and the situation has dangerous consequences.

In the novel, villain Le Chiffre goes to Casino Royale in a fictional town in northern France to recover SMERSH money which he had lost in a bad investment. But, he is prevented to meet his goals by Bond who makes him lose all he had in a series of baccarat games. Due to Le Chiffre's incapability to pay back the money he had lost, he is subsequently killed by SMERSH.

The teaser sequence elaborates Bond’s two killing sequences. As soon as the stylized titles pass by, Bond is seen tracking down a bomb maker, connected to Le Chiffre in Madagascar. The hair raising chase causes a media rage and Bond is chided by M.

Meanwhile, Bond falls in love with Vesper Lynd and goes upto the extent of giving a resignation to M via e-mail while the two holiday in Venice. However, Vesper gets tricked by her French ex-boyfriend into giving him the funds from Bond's winnings instead. Everything climaxes in a breathtaking finale where a Venetian building collapses atop Bond, Vesper and their pursuers. Despite his efforts, Vesper drowns, leaving Bond heartbroken and bent on revenge.

The film deviates from the novel a bit but the plots are similar.

Craig manages to be the lover, the fighter and the secret agent, and convince you of his emotions at every turn. It's a marvelous performance and his work is nicely backed up by Mads Mikkelsen as the bad guy, Le Chiffre, and by Judi Dench, returning as M.

The film takes James Bond ‘back to his roots’, focusing more on plot rather than high-tech gadgets and visual effects, a major criticism that was faced by ‘The World Is Not Enough’.

‘Casino Royale’ is the first Bond film to take its title from an Ian Fleming novel or short story since 1987's ‘The Living Daylights’ and the first to be directly based on any of Fleming's writings since 1989's ‘License to Kill’.