UK release date: 17th November

Daniel Craig effortlessly makes James Bond his own, and the 21st movie in the series goes back to basics for this resoundingly entertaining spy adventure. GoldenEye director Martin Campbell has obviously been watching the Bourne franchise, and here he gives the superspy a gritty makeover, upping the violence content (the opening sequence, shot in grainy black and white, is particularly brutal). He also strips Bond of much of the slightly camp humour — thus no appearance from gadget-man Q.

The plot is essentially an origins story, as a rough-around-the-edges Bond gains his two zeros (the two authorised kills he needs for his infamous licence) before tackling villain Le Chiffre (a splendidly thin-lipped Mads Mikkelsen) in a game of high-stakes poker.

Craig’s humanised, more flawed interpretation of the role balances Campbell’s physical direction and co-writer Paul Haggis’s sparing wit, while Eva Green provides an alluring love interest. Apart from a chaotic and overlong last act, this is a triumphant new beginning.

Radio Times rating:

****

UK cinema certificate 12A
Running time 144mins

Review by Adam Smith

Unsurprisingly for an actor who’s been working in films for a fair while, and for whom the role of James Bond in this week’s Casino Royale is if anything a bit of a departure, Daniel Craig has plenty of very varied projects on the go - he won’t be one to rest on his 007 laurels.

Already completed, and due for a US release in August 2007 (though no UK date has yet been set) is sci-fi thriller The Invasion, where Craid will star opposite Nicole Kidman, who plays a psychiatrist who uncovers the cause of an alien disease that threatens to destroy the whole of mankind.  Craig and Kidman will then be reunited in the first of the adaptations of Philip Pullman’s excellent philosophical fantasy trilogy His Dark Materials, pitched as The Golden Compass after the North American edition of the novel, but likely to revert to the book’s original title, Northern Lights, for its UK release, probably in December 2007. Amusingly enough, Craig is playing the mysterious Lord Asriel - a part played by former Bond Timothy Dalton in the London stage production.

After that, Craig will take on the ultimate in evil as Satan himself in I, Lucifer, Craig’s evil one posessing the body of Ewan McGregor after a bet with God, and taking full advantage of the freedom a human body can bring.

And then, of course, there’s the as-yet untitled Bond 22. Craig is currently contracted for two more films as 007 - but quite what direction they will take is anyone’s guess - even those involved most likely don’t know yet. Rumours, however, suggest that parts of the next Craig Bond movie will be inspired by aspects of the Bond novel - though not the Roger Moore-starring film - For Your Eyes Only…

The veteran Dame, who celebrates her 72nd birthday on 9th December, may well be the only major Bond cast member retained fromthe Brosnan years in this week’s Casino Royale, but let’s face it, she’s been a star for so long that she’d hardly be fussed even if they had decided to drop her.

Other than the next film in the series, the as-yet untitled Bond 22, she will be returning to work with Iris director Richard Eyre for Notes on a Scandal, set for release in the UK on 7th February 2007. Dench plays a teacher drawn to the new Art mistress at her school, played by the excellent Cate Blanchett, who gets swiftly entrapped in a web of illicit love, lies and deceit. She is also rumoured to be appearing in the next film from Shanghai Knights and The Wedding Crashers director David Dobkin, Fred Claus - unsurprisingly due Christmas 2007. Starring Paul Giamatti as Santa Claus and Vince Vaughan as his good-for-nothing brother Joe, it could well turn out to be a fun festive treat - though quite what part Dame judi will have in the proceedings is anyone’s guess.

Casino Royale Bond girl Eva Green first drew attention to herself in Ridley Scott’s disappointing Kingdom of Heaven, but is beginning to build a promising career - as long as the curse of the Bond girl doesn’t strike, and she ends up like the countless other 007 cast-offs who have found their careers flounder after appearing in the franchise.

Next up, she will be appearing alongside Daniel Craig once again in the first His Dark Materials movie, based on the Philip Pullman novels, as the witch queen Serafina Pekkala - a relatively important role in the books that should see her cropping up in all three films. Then she will take the title role in Therese Raquin, a tale of illicit love, murder, and the disintegration of relationships which will also star the intriguing Giovanni Ribisi and always superb Glenn Close.

With two other starring roles in projects still in the pipeline - including alongside French superstar Vincent Cassel in 1970s-set crime thriller L’Ennemi public n° 1, it looks like Green could well do well out of her stint as arm candy for the world’s best-known spy.

Although it looks likely that he is now destined to be remembered as James Bond’s CIA buddy Felix Leiter in this week’s Casino Royale (he is as yet not - publicly - signed up for the sequel), Jeffrey Wright has been knocking around for a fair while now, in films like Ali and Syriana. By rights he should have hit the big time after his outstanding turn as oddball artist Jean Michel Basquiat in the 1996 biopic Basquiat (which co-starred such immensely big names as Dennis Hopper, David Bowie, Benicio Del Toro, Christopher Walken, Willem Dafoe and Gary Oldman), but somehow his career never really hit the big time.

Nonetheless, Wright is hardly short of work. Next up will be another role alongside Casino Royale star Daniel Craig in the sci-fi thriller The Invasion, followed by a starring role in indy flick Blackout, set during the Brooklyn power cut of 2003. He will also be appearing in the abysmally-titled fourth Die Hard movie, Live Free or Die Hard, due out in the UK in July 2007, but only in a minor role.

Most promisiong for Wright’s future career, however, looks likely to be 1001 Nights, for tip-top The Graduate and Closer director Mike Nichols. Largely because of Nichols’ involvement, it must be said, as very little is known about the movie as yet - although it is supposedly in pre-production, due for a 2007 release, and Wright is set to star. Still, in the land of movies, anything can happen - as Wright’s failure to achieve global stardom is a sure testimony to.

After a four year wait, not to mention an all new star, the James Bond franchise is back with a vengeance. While we wait for its release on Friday, the Pocket Films Blog has a (totally spoiler-free) preview, seeing how Daniel Craig’s Bond might just match up to those of the past.

What do you reckon? Is Casino Royale going to be a Goldfinger or a Moonraker - and is Craig going to end up a Connery or a Lazenby? Let us know in the comments…
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