It’s a film that introduced Bond to a whole new generation, and even though the Pierce Brosnan era functioned as a soft-reboot to the franchise, reinventing itself after the Cold War and the hiatus between GoldenEye and License to Kill, this film completely throws everything out before it, and becomes a completely new continuity, and a whole new story. But this film really feels different, and succeeds at it. Often times when the Bond franchise has decided to ape a new type of filmmaking it results in some half-baked ideas. Action filmmaking was really changing at the time, and this film really shows that. This is a very different kind of Bond film, one that still uses the tropes and iconography of the franchise while becoming a film that doesn’t quite feel like the rest of the franchise. It’s a near perfect film, with one awkward issue that weighs it down, and in the years since it’s come out it’s really given itself a wonderful legacy. Because this film, Casino Royale? It’s my second-favorite Bond film, only beat by From Russia With Love, and it really is one of my favorite films of all time. And let me tell you, things are taking a turn for the better.
That’s right, with today’s film we’ve reached the tenure of our current James Bond, Mr.