Casino Royale directed by Martin Campbell

My favorite movie is none other than Casino Royale. This movie is an action movie directed by Martin Campbell. This movie stars british actor Daniel Craig as James Bond, with supporting actors Jeffrey Wright, who plays CIA agent Felix Leiter, Eva Green, who plays Bond girl Vesper Lynd, Jesper Christensen, who plays the villain, Mr. White, and Judi Dench, who plays the head of the secret agency Bond works for. The movie was released in 2006 and had a budget of $150 million.

The plot consisted of 007 agent James Bond tracing a bomb maker in Madagascar and after many new leads, including the bomb maker's cell phone, he travels to the Bahamas to track down a terrorist. After following him to Miami, he kills him and prevents his accomplice from blowing up an airplane. His agency then finds out who the true mastermind is behind the terrorism, and his name is Le Chiffre. Bond finds out that he has set up a high stakes poker game in Montenegro. Bond is sent to Montenegro to participate in the game along with Treasury employee Vesper Lynd, and ends up winning. Having no more money to fund his terrorist group, Le Chiffre captures and tortures Bond for his bank account information. However, Le Chiffre is assassinated by one of his clients, Mr. White, and Bond is rescued. However, Vesper makes a deal with Mr. White to give him the account information in order to spare Bond, who she now is in love with. Bond finds out and stops the plan from happening, but not before Vesper kills herself in shame and Mr. White steals the money. Bond then tracks down Mr. White and after shooting him, introduces himself with his signature line, "Bond. James Bond." The acting of the characters is nothing short of remarkable. This is because of how different the actors portray the characters than the ones who portrayed them last. For example, Daniel Craig acts incredibly because he is deadly and austere, and gives the same vibe of James Bond that there is in the novel that the movie was based on. This was a good thing because in previous Bond movies, Bond cracks puns and has comic relief that made Bond taken less seriously. Also, during the torture scene, Craig nails the emotion and anguish that Bond would've gone through if he had actually been whipped. The actress who portrayed Vesper Lynd, Eva Green, nailed her part because unlike previous Bond girls, Green had a masculine and confident demeanor that made her more of a challenge for Bond. And finally, the actor who portrayed Le Chiffre was excellent because unlike previous villains, who were rich and seemed to have no emotion, Le Chiffre's actor made the villain seem human, because he has a desperate attitude because he is trying to repay his clients. He also gets irate and frustrated in an understandable and human way. All of the actors made the film suspensful and enjoyable.

At first, before the movie, no one expected the film to be a huge hit, especially after the last Bond, Pierce Brosnan, retired from his role. The audience's attachment to Brosnan combined with the apprehensiveness of a new Bond resulted in skepticism of Daniel Craig. Even the fact that Bond was blonde made people cringe, as all the Bonds before were brunettes. That was the thing; people were too used to the standard formula of the old Bond movies to accept anything unique. However, after they saw the movie, they discerned that difference was a good thing, after seeing Daniel Craig portray Bond as a gritty human and seeing how confident the Bond girl was, along with the villain being compromised. To add, the movie's motor sequences were much more plausible than the ones in previous movies. In previous movies, silly things like backwards ski fights and airplane quarrels were introduced. However, in Casino Royale, fight sequences took place in a bathroom, at a Madagascar construction sight, and many other places that made for a plausible setting for a feud. The departure from the standard formula made the movie all the more enjoyable for me and the audience, and I can say that the audience's receptivity mirrored my own. I highly recommend that you see this movie as well!

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