Spoilers

This is actually quite a sad moment… were near the end of the Bondathon… ahhhhhhhhhh nooooooooo
When i told Mads i was working my way up to Casino Royal he was like keep going thats very cool & now its hear. Ive flown into it, so its time to watch the best Craig outing as Bond, because lets be honest, this is different gravy.

Lets start how we always do these, the song. You Know My Name… The best modern Bond song, although this was so long ago now that it actually is in the next few years going to be deemed a classic. That says a lot. Its also such a clever insert too, showing the corruption we are about to see in the film before us. Its iconic. & i get goosebumps every time. We miss you Chris, you created a masterpiece & i will soon have to legitimately compare it to View to a Kill for the best bond song of them all.

The opening was so cool as well. Bond getting his double 0 status. It being jarring & flipping between two scenes. The fight for his first kill, done with shaky cam like Bourne had been done & then the very much noir sitting in the office ready for the second kill. Its full on but also very cool & stylish at the same time.

Im going to talk about my Mate Mads… what i had a nice chat with him & got 2 very nice hugs, hes my mate now. Mads come chat to me again. Anyhow, Le Chiffre in terms of Bond Villains doesnt get his hands dirty until the start of act 3, but damn the way Mads sits there, his blood trickling from his eye, the scowl & clicking those chips, stunning. Perfectly cast. Even when he tortures Bond, its done in the most Mads way possible. However, why kill him off to mean that Mr White (im saying it because we now know its him) & his people infiltrate the torture room. It made no sense at the time. In hindsight it works because we know all of these Bonds are properly connected, but a first view with suddenly all these extra people for act 3 was very odd.

It also make the last action set piece not as high stakes as it could be. Random guys in suits that Vesper betrayed everyone for was very random. Yes it was brilliant seeing Venice collapsing & Bond then being so filled with revenge against here & then the lack of grief at the end turning it into a person vendetta. Yes its sad but why the hell would she betray them all without the prior knowledge that we knew, they must have already had the quantum script in place (we will get to it) yes its sad she dies but still.

All of Bonds ladies never really show any sexual interest in him at all until they nearly die & then suddenly they want him. Vesper is the first example for these films. He had flirted with her for the entire thing & she had hardly flirted with him when it came to the betrayal. & then suddenly so much sex. I get life & death makes you do that, but still.

Can we please appreciate that Daniel Craig gets out of the sea in those tiny swim shorts & then later on in the film he is in another pair. Cheers MGM for that, much appreciated.

The opening chase, with the free runner, fucking incredible. So good. Its long, but its all about learning what makes Bond Bond now & the desperation to get one piece of information. Its very clever.

The airport chase is cool as well. I love that on BA flights its edited so you never see Richard Branson or the virgin plane wing, i love it. So much stuff goes down in this one scene & theres deaths & chases & evacuations & near misses & then you never actually see the bad guy die, you just hear the beeping & then ahhhhhhhh.

How he wins his aston is very cool. Like yes Bond good on you also proves how good his poker skills are at that point before we even get to the casino. Proves hes willing to risk it all for the moment.

The whole person deconstruction on the train to the casino is cool. Shows their is potential there for them to both fall for each other, but is done with such banter & also being very posh that its very seductive. You are so drawn into that scene. I mean the line “Im the money” “Every penny of it” you knew where we are going.

I get that Bond girls are disposable i really do but it was just like really we are going to kill that girl, i dont think she didnt even get into Bonds Trunks.

Meeting Mathis was interesting, we were never sure to trust him or not in this film & it was built up to make him be almost as much as a bad guy as Mads, but no, he was just corrupt & never trustable. Felix however being Jeffrey was an inspired choice, but in none of the films do they use him properly which is a huge waste, it really is. I get that they introduce him but Bond could have seen him much more often that he did in his 5 movies.

When he puts that suit on & does the side profile glace in the mirror & she giggles, thats the moment. That the moment Craig officially became bond. Its rather iconic.

So much goes down at the casino. From her being his distraction, to the attempt on Le Chiffre life, to the losing the game, to the attempted murders (of both of them), the defib not working, the final round & then dinner being fucked over. So much goes down & each hand is literally life or death. Its so so good. I love all the different people playing too, its so cool. Just so many little points to pick out.

The car role being filmed here is funny. All those glorious locations & they roll the car just outside oxford.

Dench is back as M & shes putting Bond in his place a lot, an awful lot. He needed it though. He was still cocky & needed her to sort him out. The Bond you see at the start of the film being all cool & stylish then becomes very bitter & revenge filled by the end.

I do love the fact this film ends with him shooting Mr White & saying the iconic line before the standard Bond theme kicks in. I do love how they mix the score with the Bond song at point with this film. So many sweepy flowy bits that can move together. So clever. I love it.

This was very much a new start for Bond, showing he is within his own universe & that he is separate to the other entities. Its very clever. Craig owns it & not only is it his best Bond film, its probably the second best Bond film of all time. Maybe they should have just stopped after this one… but then we wouldnt have got Skyfall…

Very much a modern Bond & less gizmos that the original Bond films.