After two brutal assassinations in the opening sequence of Casino Royale, James Bond officially earns his double-0, said Michael Phillips in the Chicago Tribune. The latest Bond film, like last year's Batman Begins, reboots the series at its inception, when the spy was new to the game. It's a surprisingly close adaptation of Ian Fleming's first Bond novel, and an introduction to a refreshingly modern 007. Newcomer Daniel Craig 'œis the best Bond since Sean Connery, and the film itself is the series' strongest since The Spy Who Loved Me nearly 30 years ago.' The Bond of Casino Royale isn't the effete playboy we're used to, and what a relief, said Kyle Smith in the New York Post. When Pierce Brosnan headlined the franchise, he was so dependent on bad puns and 'œlethal adaptations of items we found in the Sharper Image catalogue' that his character lacked self-reliance, not to mention brawn. Craig, on the other hand, looks like a boxer and breaks bones with his bare hands. In restarting the series, director Martin Campbell reinvents it, said Owen Gleiberman in Entertainment Weekly. He leaves out the well-worn tropes that Brosnan and his predecessor, Roger Moore, made so boring. Craig's Bond 'œis still learning to tame his impulses into a style, and he's all the more dangerous because of it.' When a bartender asks him whether he likes his martini shaken or stirred, the new 007 grunts, 'œDo I look like I give a damn?'
Rating: PG-13
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