Movie Review: Casino Royale (2006)

Stars: 2 out of 5
Pros: Several action scenes; scenes between Bond and Vesper

Cons: Length, pacing, plot

The Bottom Line:

There is some good here

Movie needed editing

Since pacing is slow




The Movie is Long.  Too Long.

I must admit to coming to Casino Royale from a little different perspective. I am not a huge Bond fan. I've seen one or two of the recent ones, but none of the movies that have been made over the past decades. Still, I knew the name and the trailer looked good, so I decided to see this movie.

Meet the newest double 0 agent. British intelligence agency MI6 assigns this designation to their premier agents who have made two kills in the line of duty. And James Bond (Daniel Craig) has just made that designation.

His first assignment is to find a bomb maker and use him to track the terrorists ultimately responsible. While he wants the man alive, the situation turns deadly, and Bond is lucky to get out with his life. He does manage to get one clue, the word "Ellipse" and the phone number the text message came from. The trail leads him first to the Bahamas, then Miami.

Behind the scenes is Le Chiffre (Mads Mikkelson). He's a banker to terrorists the world over. When Bond interferes with his original plan, Le Chiffre finds himself in major debt. To earn the money to pay off his bills, he sets up a very high stakes poker game at the famous Casino Royale. MI6 sends Bond to play. Will poker be the end of Le Chiffre and his funding of terrorism?

The movie starts well with a couple of clever action sequences that had me entertained. I was hoping that the rest of the movie would be that good. Then the second half hits, and the movie slows way down. I recently learned how to play poker, so I was interested in watching those scenes. Still, they dragged on way too long. Interrupting the gambling are several action scenes, but they go nowhere. By the time the last one came, I was bored.

But wait, we aren't done yet. The movie keeps going after what appears to be the climax. As each scene drew to a close, I thought the movie might be ending, but it just kept going.

Add to this the fact that it's a James Bond film. We know that he'll be okay in the end. If the story slows down to let us wonder if he'll prevail, which it does, it just looses us.

Finally, the story gets too convoluted. If you aren't paying attention, you'll get lost. Even paying attention, there were a couple things that seemed to happen for no reason.

This is a shame since the movie has some good performances. Daniel Craig is great as Bond. He makes the character human while letting us see glimpses of the superhuman legend. Judi Dench is wonderful as "M," Bond's boss. Her exasperation with Bond is absolutely funny.

Eva Green costars as Vesper Lynd, an accountant assigned to work with Bond at the casino to make sure he is making good use of the money. The two have some wonderful scenes together with easily the funniest lines of the movie. Still, these scenes aren't enough to save the second half.

Casino Royale is two and a half hours long. Thirty minutes could have easily been cut to make this a much better movie. Unless you are already a Bond fan, stir clear of this loser.