*CASINO ROYALE* finally got me on the BONDwagon 

The professional free runner is the guy who basically invented parkour. When you need the best you get the best I guess

Vesper Lynd's name is a cold war pun based on West Berlin. Like the city at the time, her loyalties were split.

It was never that Bond is cold because he just is, it was always because life made him being like that. And this Bond shows it perfectly. One of my favourites from the series.

Daniel was 37 young years old in Casino Royale, and in No Time To Die, Daniel says goodbye to the Bond saga at 52 years old. He was without a doubt one of the best Bond in the saga.

I've seen every James Bond movie multiple times and for a long time I was a Connery purist. This movie changed that. 'Casino Royale' is the best Bond movie. Also, there's a point to be made about watching some of the classics before continuing with Craig's Bonds. For one, seeing 'On Her Majesty's Secret Service' will give more emotional weight to 'No Time to Die' and I *very strongly* recommend that.

Casino Royale is hands down the best Bond film. It’s so good that you don’t even need to view it through the lens of being a Bond film. It’s one of the finest action films ever made.

The writing across the Craig Bonds is a bit hit or miss, but Daniel always delivers. His cold blue gaze becomes his iconic image, and helps cement his Bond run as a darker one (perhaps the darkest). Only Dalton (4th Bond - 2 movies) and Lazenby (2nd Bond - 1 movie) get these sort of dour Bond episodes and seeing Craig get 5 was quite a treat.

My dad would buy sets of 5 bond movies whenever they showed up at our go to new and used media store and I have so many memories of weekends watching nothing but older bond movies and I remember when we got casino royale when it came out on dvd I was obsessed with it as a kid. Bond movies are so tied to my childhood, they’ve become comfort movies to me now. Loved the reaction!!

This movie shows the human version of Bond because it's the beginning, he learns a lot of lessons and then becomes the cold unemotional guy that Brosnan played in the 90s which makes sense because we were all naive and sweet at one point until life forked us up. So that's what happened with Bond, after Vesper betrayed him not only did he put his armor back on he also poisoned it.

The most accurate portrayal next to Timothy dalton of Fleming's bond

Loved your reaction to this film. Yes, it is, IMHO, the most human and romantic of the Bond films. Eva Green is my second favorite Bond girl. My first favorite Bond girl is Diana Rigg. She was in "On Her Majesty's Secret Service." I recommend that as another complex and entertaining Bond film.

Vesper’s dialogue in the dinner scene after Bond wins is fascinating. She says, "You've got a choice, you know. Just because you've done something, it doesn't mean that you have to keep doing it." On the surface, she's talking about Bond being an agent and killing people, but the subtext for her is she's talking about betraying her government and by extension, Bond. She's already in love with him, and she's having to deal with the realities of her situation. It was easy for her to betray her government when it was just a faceless institution, but it's much more difficult for her now that she deeply cares about someone personally victimized by her betrayal. By saying that Bond still has a choice in what he does, she is also saying that she can choose to stop being a traitor. But she can't quite convince herself, which is why she's so adamant that Bond can change; it's not really about whether Bond can change, it's about whether she can. Bond returns with a quip about people who can't take advice being the ones who always give it. This startles Vesper because, like the scene on the train, he can see through her. He can't see completely through her; he doesn't know what she's struggling with, but he can see that she's driven by something. Vesper is so rattled by Bond's insight that she's put on the defensive and answers his question with a question of her own, sidestepping the issue. Bond brings the issue back to the forefront by revealing how much he's able to see through her, and saying that he'll never know what's driving her. This is a perfect opportunity for Vesper to come clean and tell him everything, but the opportunity is lost. She gets a text, Bond realizes that Mathis is a traitor, Vesper is kidnapped, then Bond is kidnapped, and then she is forced to make a deal to save Bond's life by giving up the money Bond won in the tournament. After that, it's too late for her. She can't tell him her situation because the people she was working with would kill Bond. So they continue to fall in love, but she knows the relationship is doomed. Her only hope is to die and pay for her sins against Bond. She knows he'll hate her forever, but his hatred is worth it if it keeps him alive. She loves him more than she values her own life.

not only was that guy a professional freerunner, he is the original

Welcome back, and nice choice. The Craig era is definitely a mixed bag, but they all are to be fair. One great thing about the series is that there have been enough takes that there’s something for everyone.

As a couple of people noted below, Casino Royale was the 1st. Fleming novel, hence the black and white start. The rights to the novel were originally obtained and made into a TV movie - with Bond being called Jimmy Bond in 1953. Then, another production company bought the rights and made a spoof with David Niven. Finally, in the early '90's EON Productions was able to obtain the rights and bought them. Before Cubby could deliver a movie, he died. When his daughter Barbara took over she did a "re-boot" with Craig.

The Vesper is the original Bond martini (Casino Royale is Ian Fleming's first bond novel). If you listened closer, the recipe he gives is 3 parts Gordon's, 1 part vodka, a measure of Kina Lillet. Gordon's is gin. Unfortunately, Kina Lillet is no longer made. The closest thing to it commercially is Cocchi Americano (though, the company says that their Lillet Blanc is close, i don't agree. In all the earlier bond movies, his drink of choice is the shaken vodka martini which doesn't appear in the books. They wrote it in because they thought it sounded cool, but it makes no sense. As a brit, he should be drinking gin. In addition, shaking a martini makes it cloudy and VERY diluted. Why is this manly man's man diluting his booze?

Oh I am so glad you started your Bond reactions with this one, Jacqui! Casino Royale was the very first Bond story and this film seems to have taken Bond back to his literary roots. It is clearly a spy thriller, and despite all the unrealistic elements, is much less cartoonish than earlier Bond films. Later Bond films did bring back cartoonish elements from the Bond movie series, but I hope you will love them anyway!

_Casino Royale_ (published in 1953) was Ian Fleming's first Bond Novel. This script follows the plot of the novel reasonably closely. One very memorable bit that was left out is that when Le Chiffre has Bond tied to the chair, it's an armchair in the novel, he carves the Cyrillic letter ш into the back of Bond's hand. ш is for шпион (shpion), the Russian word for spy. He says he does it so that the scar will let everyone know Bond's profession. (In the novel Le Chiffre ultimately works for the USSR.) Plastic surgery disguised most of the scar in time for the second novel, _Live and Let Die._ My favorite Bond film is _From Russia with Love_ (1963), for two reasons. First, it is the film that follows most closely the book; second, it is most like a proper espionage film rather than a super spy movie. My preference in spy films is for the more realistic ones. Probably my favorite is _The Spy Who Came in from the Cold_ (1965). Based on the novel by John le Carre, it stars Richard Burton and Claire Bloom. It is a dark, cold-war espionage story.

Your reaction just popped up in my recommend and I absolutely love your insight and commentary. I'm glad you liked the film!

Great reaction! “Quantum of Solace” is an absolute must see now. These 2 are my absolute favorites of the Daniel Craig era.

Pierce Brosnan is the "Action" Bond, Rooger Moore is the "Comedy" Bond. The closest to Daniel Craig are the actors Timothy Doltan and Sean Connery. They have more human aspects in their movies. I love them all. Great Reaction

For the OG Parkour movies - District 13 (2004) and District 13: Ultimatum (2009), both with one of the recognized founders of Parkour David Bell. There is also an American remake of D13, Brick Mansions (2014), with the late Paul Walker.

This one was very faithful to the book. Not many are like that. It was also based on the first book. Vesper was not is only love, but you have to go back to see the most important relationship. Book bond was very human. Movie bond is more of a true sociopath. As a general rule... Sean Connery was cold and professional, but the movies were still finding themselves. From Russia With Love was a pure spy thriller. Goldfinger came after it and was the first to introduce the gimmick equipment. That also started the puns after a kill and people loved it so they built on it for later movies. George Lazenby only did one movie. It was okay but he wasn't a good Bond. The movie itself is one of the few that has a significant bit of lore. Roger Moore leaned hard into the camp elements, including slide whistle sound effects over what would have been a really impressive stunt. He had some really good films (For Your Eyes Only), but he also had Moonraker. Timothy Dalton went hard the other way. He was cold and merciless, and even when he tried to to a lighter moment, he still had a scary look about him. He only did two. The Living Daylights was really good. I hated License to Kill, but others seemed to like it. Pierce Brosnan was too suave. That sounds strange, but the other bonds would get hurt, or messy, or they'd just look rough at some point. Brosnan's hair never got messed up (at least that was the feel.) The other thing was he tried to be hard, but didn't follow through. If Connery asked a bad guy where the girl was and the guy didn't answer, Connery would shoot him in the knee then point out that he had more bullets than that guy did knee caps and ask again. Brosnan would move the gun to a different position and ask again, then move it an ask again, then movie it and ask again. Brosnan's era also saw them trade the Aston Martin or BMW's, and swapped out Bond's pistol form the iconic PPK, to a generic P99, probably because Walter made a product placement deal. Craig comes the closest to the book Bonds. He does have some poor movies, but they are all part of a single story arc. You can't skip one or watch them out of order. The problem is, the links are very subtle and rely on an attention to detail that three years between movies was hard to achieve. For example, the necklace Eva Green wore on the train and in the poker game was given to her by her boyfriend who was captured and held for ransom. In a later movie, bond sees a different woman wearing the same necklace. That's our clue that the "boyfriend" was running a scam on women in the intelligence fields.

This was supposed to be an origin story, so Bond is what he is with women because of his experience with Vesper. Lovely video reaction, Craig's Casino Royale happens to be my favorite Bond movie of all time and I've watched all of the Bond films. 😁

Happy to see this made it past the egregious copyright system here on RU-vid, loving your reactions so far, wishing you all the best with your channel in 2023!

The bad guy doing parkour is played by Sébastien Foucan, who was actually one of the co-founders of the parkour movement

Of all the movies this is the most accurate to the book, which was the first book, and in this Craig is very accurate to who he is that book. Connery is my favorite bond but this is definitely one of my favorites of the movie series.

Hey there, Jacqui !! I'm a bit late in my comment on this one (my weekend was a bit nuts!). But, truly, thank you so much for pushing through all your editing and upload issues! This is one of my absolute favorite James Bond stories. And unlike many, I really don't have a favorite James Bond actor - each one has added their own flavor to the character, and there have always been things to love about each of them! The movies over time, have obviously gotten better with special effects and general movie making techniques, but there has been a consistency in story telling that has always impressed me. I love that you liked it so much! And it's truly so much fun to watch you react - you're very charismatic and your sense of humor is awesome! 🥰 Looking forward to joining your Patreon soon! Thanks again, hun! Ciao! xo

The intro to this movie got me into parkour when I was a kid. Everything about this movie is done so well, I'm glad you enjoyed it

Casino Royale is based on the first bond novel. So yes it’s an origin story, whereas the previous films from 1962-2002 only had slight continuity’s with each other while some didn’t have them at all. They also took a lot of liberties with the source material. The great thing about watching the Bond series is seeing bond and the world evolve with the time periods that the films are made. The womanising and emotionally detached persona is mainly a smokescreen for bond to hide his pain from the job as well as the losses of friends and love interests. He’s actually a very conflicted man.

I think you will really enjoy the series! The Craig era is a good place to start because it’s a more self-contained chunk of the series. There are 1 or 2 not as good ones in the Daniel Craig run but stick it out and it’ll be worth it. Afterwards, I would recommend going back and checking out at least few of the older ones, even if it’s on your own time. The older ones are all fairly standalone so no real need to watch them in any particular order.

Casino Royale is one of the BEST James Bond movies! Ya know that beginning epic foot chase was always one of my FAVORITE parts of this one!

The book has the best last line, 'The bitch is dead.' In this, Bond says it in the boat, not in the end.

While I occasionally caught a few Bond films as a lad on our television (we had no cable TV until I was 10), I actually got into the Bond films by reading the books. When I was roughly 8-10 years old, my entire extended family on my father’s side chipped in to rent a cottage on the Outer Banks of North Carolina. While I was there, I discovered that the owner of the cottage had a collection of nearly 20 original paperback 007 novels, by Ian Fleming. When it was too rainy or dark to surf, I would sit and read those novels. That’s how I knew the formula for a proper Vesper Martini before this film emerged, and I recall introducing it to my friends, who thought it was absolutely tops. The proper recipe is-if you hadn’t written it down during the film: 3 measures Gordon’s gin 1 of vodka (I prefer potato vodka over grain vodka, so I use Luksusowa) 1/2 measure of Lillet Pour over ice and shake till extremely cold. Add one large, thin slice of lemon. I think it’s fantastic.

The person James Bond is chasing in the beginning is one of the people that helped develop parkour. Can't remember his name at the moment. I'm pretty sure he's French.

It’s great that you’re starting off with the Daniel Craig/James Bond movies; in particular Casino Royale, because it was the first James Bond novel written by Ian Fleming. I do hope that once you complete this era, you’ll go into the earlier films that feature Sean Connery, George Lazenby, Roger Moore, Timothy Dalton, and the earlier Pierce Brosnan films before Die Another Day.

I'm a 'perfect' Manhattan man, but the Vesper is definitely a worthwhile cocktail. Though I think the vodka is skippable. And maybe a better gin than Gordon's, like a nice St. George if one can afford it. Or at least Hendricks. That's a beautiful gin. Not a James Bond man myself, but this one film stands head and shoulders above the others. If there were only one James Bond film, this should be it. Plus, a tour-de-force performance by Mads Mikkelsen, the incomparable Eva Green and her heart-stopping scowl, and the always magnetic Jeffrey Wright, all tearing up scenery with aplomb. What more can anyone ask?

I'm enjoying your channel! (And envious of your success, but in an inspirational way!) Your reaction style is a pleasure to watch.

3 measures of Gordon’s is indeed Gin. A very nice one at that. Excellent review

Welcome aboard 😊, and for me as it’s the first video of yours I’m seeing Jacqui.

M: “so how was the mission 007 ?” Bond: “actually it’s just 7 now”

Sébastien Foucan is the man bond is chasing in the beginning. he is the inventor of free running and an early developer of parkour

Sean Conery is the man's man of James Bonds. Not as much tech obviously back then compared to newer movies but he represented 007 the best. I know most are too young to remember his films by Goldfinger, The Man With the Golden Gun and From Russia with Love are my faves, and I would recommend them once you are ready.

I think the older Bond movies were definitely more campy and formulaic. Not that those are nessicarily a bad thing, they actually became part of the appeal. However, a lot of the older films were not overly thought-provoking and were more just a fun action movies with some clever one-liners, cool gadgets, and pretty girls so I really enjoyed how they humanized this version of him. Instead of getting almost this superhero character that was kind of untouched by everything that happens to, and because of him, in this version we kind of see how his trauma, for better or worse, shapes him as the series goes on and how his past made him the asset and operative that he becomes to MI6 as the films go forward (I don't want to say more and spoil anything). Glad you enjoyed it!

This video was a good introduction to you as a new viewer. Will definitely check out more. Gotta support the fellow Good Place fan.

The title of the next movie is _Quantum of Solace._ Quantum means a very small amount of something and solace means consolation. So after Bond loses the woman he loves, what might he find to be a small amount of consolation? Hint: it’s not ice cream.

Vesper's death is still one of the most horrific things I've seen in a movie. Best Bond movie ever BY FAR.

This is one of my favorites, I watched it when I was very young and it was a delight Thanks for reacting to this movie

Worth noting that this is the first official movie in the series based off the original novel that introduced the character. The first act is pretty much all original to the film, but once M assigns Bond the job of entering the card game the film actually sticks surprisingly close to Ian Fleming’s original novel, which was very much a character piece more than the pulpy action thrillers that the sequel novels became. It’s not the closest adaptation of one of the novels out there (that would probably be On Her Majesty’s Secret Service), but it’s very successful at capturing the spirit of the original story. Also, Mads Mikkelson as Le Chiffre is easily one of the top 5 villains in any Bond film. And yes, the torture scene is in the original novel, pretty brutal for 1953.

Really good reaction Jacqui! I love the Daniel Craig Bond films. Really good stuff. A definite improvement over the previous installments. All of the Craig Bond films received positive critical acclaim. The general perception is that Casino Royale and Skyfall are the best ones. No spoilers from me for the record. Casino Royale is really about how Bond became Bond, and how Vesper's sacrifice shaped James as a human being. Happy 2023 to you!

for my 14th birthday party, my parents took us to see this in theaters. an amazing experience. Afterwards we went home and had a Halo 2 system-link party. All night we were talking about how cool the movie was.

First of all, I love seeing someone who's cinematically literate react to the Bond series (not that there's anything wrong with being a casual movie watcher). I totally get why you and many other reactors choose the Craig era to react to first, although I personally like seeing people start from the very beginning, as it gives you a better feeling for what makes the Craig era unique and more context in general. One thing you should know is that all of the Bonds until Craig are meant to be one and the same character. Sure, they sometimes joke around a bit with the audience, knowing that it's a new actor in the role, but there is connective tissue between Connery, Lazenby, Moore, Dalton and Brosnan. Whereas Craig's Bond is to be seen as a new timeline. Kind of like a different version of the same character in an alternate universe. The free running guy actually needed no stunt man, as he was literally the one who started the sport. He did all of the stunts himself.

A majority of the Bond films up to Casino Royale were episodic and lacked a continuous story from movie to movie. So when they'd recast Bond, there was usually no acknowledgement of the different actor within the plot, though I think they've made the rare sly joke about it once or twice. (However, some fans have possessed a headcanon where the name "James Bond" is merely a title or cover identity passed on from agent to agent whenever they retire or die, explaining the changing actors across the decades-spanning series.) But with Casino Royale, they used the casting of a new Bond as an opportunity to dispose of the campy over-the-top excesses of the previous movies and start completely anew to tell Bond's origin story as a freshly designated Double-0 agent. This movie came out a year after Batman Begins rebooted the Batman franchise, and they took direct inspiration from that stripped down and back-to-basics approach and even filmed under the working title "Bond Begins." The Daniel Craig Bond movies also make more of an effort to be a serialized story with a continuing narrative.

I came here from watching your the last of us reactions which are fantastic and this is one of my all time favourite movies , as usual you’re on point with your predictions , great reaction .👍🇬🇧 .

Queen Jacqui. Nice. (I'm still waiting on your Believe sign.) I caught something that amused me in light of the Darth Nathan observation. During Roy's monologue about Chelsea, you became Chewbacca. Listen to the noises you make in response to Roy. Admittedly, you make a remarkably attractive wookie, but still... I think you are right about Keeley becoming the mentor. I agree that Ted is headed back to the US, but I wonder about Beard.

The other versions of the character are generally more campy and emotionally detached but in nearly all the films its pretty clear that he cares. Some emphasise his emotional state more than others and he certainly doesn't *fall in love* in every movie. I would say Casino Royale is a good place to start because it is such a complete character study. I would watch the rest of the Craig films and then go back to the beginning and watch the Connery ones, or at least the first three Connery films.

i love your reaction and im so glad you liked this movie, as far as i remember this is the first james bond movie i watched as a kid, also i gotta say when you returned continued watching i swear you looked like eva green XD

Love your take on the film Jacqui. When seeing Daniel in Layer Cake we thought he'd make a great Bond villain, 'cos he looked a lot like my dad's good friend who was Russian, so it takes a bit to get my head around the blond blue eyed Bond, and half expect to hear a Slavic accent. Some interviews at the time of the reboot suggested the move to more of a Jason Bourne style action and toning down the jokes, gadgets etc was a response to the success of the Bourne films.

Sebastian Foucan, who plays Mollaka is one of the originators of parkour/free running. The drink he orders, a Vesper, is primarily Gordon's gin, 3 parts to 1 part of vodka with other mixers. This is probably my favorite of all the Bond movies, like the early Sean Connery (who is my favorite Bond) films, this is much less campy and less reliant on the gimmicks from the Q branch as other ones were.

This really is a complete re-imagining of Bond. It's MUCH darker than any of the previous Bonds (much closer to the character Fleming wrote, to be honest), and a more modern take because he's clearly flawed (you can argue that he's genuinely broken as a human) - but that's also part of why he's so good as an agent. Also, this is BIG return to old-school stunt work and avoiding CGI. In a lot of ways, this movie parallels the terrific Mad Max film.

I am looking forward to watching your reactions and thoughts about the Craig Bond films. When you are finished I hope you'll go back and start with the "first" Bond, Dr. No, so we can appreciate the changes in society and film making reflected in the series.

Awesome reaction! Yes, keep going with the Daniel Craig bond films! Told you we'd wait until you got everything sorted out :)

This was the first Bond movie in a long time that actually was based on one of Ian Fleming's novels. The very first one, in fact. Other than this, they had long since run out of titles, but the rights to Casino Royale was owned by someone else. When they finally got it, and also a new actor for Bond, they decided on a complete reboot, and said that it was Bond's first mission. Until now, when a new actor took over, it was just treated as a recasting. But having watched all the Daniel Craig movies, they hang together on their own in a way that the old Bond movies never did, so they can probably be treated as their own thing.

Jaqui: "blinking lights and beeping noises are never good in action movies!" Artoo: "tooo-weeee??"

That man, Sébastian Foucan, actually invented free running!

I am glad I worked on No Time to Die. One of the best experience I had.

Great reaction. Would be great to see you finish the series !!

the serious and more human, grounded, and emotional bond is kinda a Daniel Craig exclusive, i mean some of the previous movies did that, but they said they really wanted to humanize his character and make it more realistic for this series.

The martini that Bond says in the movie. Is the original martini that the author of the Bond novels created specifically for James Bond. It's called the Vesper Martini.

Alton Brown said "There's nothing Vodka can do that Gin can't do better."

in the first scene, the guy he was chasing was the Parkour world champion. James Bond is a bad ass.

Nice recap at the end. Good Job!

The creative choice I love is how they hold the Bond theme until the last scene when Bond becomes the hard-core take no prisoners assasin we know and love.

fun fact the roll over sense was done by a stunt man and they broke the world record for most roll overs with a drive in the car, the record has been broke but at the time it was really impressive

The focus on Daniel Craig's blue eyes is deliberate. When he was first announced as the casting choice, a good fraction of the Bond fanbase initially cried foul because DC doesn't fit the "classical" description of a Bond actor. He's 5'10, blond, blue eyed in a role up to that point described in the books and all five previous actors as Tall Dark and Handsome. The immense pressure brought on by skepticism before a single frame was even shot really, deeply affected production. As early as the title sequence, Chris Cornell repeating "You Know My Name!" over a closeup of those peepers does the Heisenberg thing earlier and better. The repeated focus on the cold blue stare seems to have become a trademark of the Daniel Craig era.

My favourite Bond movie and Daniel pretty much resurrected and saved the flailing Bond franchise. His young, early Bond had some much more energy and less developed polish, but full of grit and believable self confidence - it totally breathed new life into Bond.

The dinner scene on the train by itself is worth the price of admission

I'm glad you were finally able to post again. A suggestion/request for future reactions: Put earbuds in both your ears. You're missing out on half the sound mix with only one in. (You might even miss out on some lines of dialogue.) I know some reactors like to keep one ear "free," but usually that's during group reactions, so they can more easily hear the other person. I'd guess that wouldn't be as important when doing a solo reaction.

You're good at this !! 😍

Love this reaction vid! I too fell in love with James Bond (and for sure Daniel Craig) after seeing Casino. Please react to all the others too!

Would be a fun reaction i can imagine, after the newer Bond movies. To go back to the older ones aswell. Also with the difference in what was normal in movies, like in the Connery/Moore ones compared to later ones. Fun fact with the car, that Aston was so well build and aerodynamic. They were completely unable to make it roll or even get it to do a slide by itself. So they had to put in an air ramp to get it to roll like that. On a side note, because of the construction. We get to see two different nice looks so who can be upset at that kind of a continuity error.

Getting his heart broken is the final step to becoming the ruthless 00.

While Casino Royale is indeed the first Bond book (thus Bond getting his 00 status), Dr. No is the first film. By watching them out of order you are missing things like Bond coming out of the ocean duplicating Honey Ryder (Ursula Andress, first Bond Girl) emerging from the ocean in Dr. No. Plus the evolution of Bond music themes.

That was an excellent reaction Jacqui to a great movie. I also have to say that james bond fans can be as passionate as Star Wars fans. Probably you´ll get a lot of comments like "When is the next bond reaction coming. I can´t wait😭" 😂

Loved your reaction to this. I’m a huge Bond fan so of course I want you to keep going. Please do the other Bonds, they are so well done especially with the “reboot” of Casino Royal. Daniel Craig is amazing as the character and his movies top any of the others in the franchise. His arc is so well done and I know you will have a blast watch the remaining 4 movies.

Yes, this was his origin story. James's first love was Eva Green's character. He truly did love her. Everyone says "womanizer" but he wasn't that way with his first love. After her betrayal (even though she did love as you said she was blackmailed) he knew he couldn't trust anyone (man or woman) and it harden him. Daniel great job portraying that with you learned your lesson line. So yes, he did become a sort of "womanizer" but mainly because he never truly loved after Eva's character. What this shows isn't just flamboyant man who gets off on using people. I really was great telling of putting human factor into James Bond. I am a huge fan of Eva, and she did amazing job playing his counterpart. She had amazing wit when delivering her lines. In odd irony it was personal taking out Mr. White as yes it was part of the job, but he was directly involved in Eva's characters death.

I think Casino Royale is my favorite in the series precisely because it broke James Bond, and the Bond movies, down to his very basics to build him up again. Each movie after that slowly starts embracing the tropes, campness, and action, which I'm not personally a sucker for. Casino Royale, though, is a Damn Fine cinematic experience. Also, Jacqui, you HAVE to watch the Hannibal TV series! Truly some of THE best television of the millennium and CRIMINALLY under-watched. The directing, writing, cinematography, editing, sound design, production design... The ACTING... Everything is superb. (You just have to give it a few episodes to finally shake off its very generic, network tv, buddy cop, procedural setup [probably mandated by the network in a very misguided effort to hook more viewers-which backfired and is probably the reason why not many went on to watch it] because when it does... HOLY SHIRT!!! Just 3 seasons of utter brilliance)

"God I miss the Cold War." - Hope you're not gonna talk over ALL the smart dialogue in this film...

Bond's creator Ian Flemming made him much more human in the novels and short stories. Daniel Craig, Timothy Dalton and George Lazenby got the closest to the character in my opinion.

at the 30 minute mark you needed another "my sweet summer child"...

Casino Royale introduced me to James Bond and was the first Bond film I saw at the cinemas. A friend had invited me for his birthday and it was us plus his dad (a big Bond fan). I watched the other Craig Bond films with my parents, except for No Time To Die due to the pandemic. We made up for that at home tho. I'm really looking forward to your reactions to the other Craig Bond films and perhaps those of the other actors. :)

They do something very interesting with the music in this film. Normally we hear the Bond theme at the start of the movie and all throughout. In Casino Royal they go straight into You Know my Name. There are a few places in the movie where it sounds like they are playing the theme but it’s actually just some of You Know My Name which sounds like it because it takes some musical cues from the Bond theme. In fact throughout the entire movie we only get a little of the Bond theme when he does something very Bond like, (arriving in an exotic local or when Vesper brings him back from the dead in the Aston) We only get the full theme at the end when he’s “learned who to trust”, has Mr White on the ground and he introduced himself as Bond, James Bond. We hear the full theme because he’s finally become James Bond 007. Just thought it was a neat use of music they used for his origin story.

I never get tired of the chase between Bond and the bomber.

Glad you've entered the Bond Community! This is my favorite one, and unfortunately you've started from the top, LoL! There are some great ones yet, some misses too, but none are hated. Well, maybe one, you'll see.

Life long bond fan, seen em all... Connery was the best... until Daniel Craig. I remember when he was cast and everyone went, "but he's blonde!" Craig OWNED this role so much, and brought so much life and reality to it that he is far and away the best. Also the production of the films of his era are simply top notch. They ditched the silliness without losing the fun. And damn that is the most painful torture scene to watch. Ingenious and diabolical. These films put him through some stuff. We get more of his back story, iconic villains... and a send off that is utterly heartbreaking and yet so completely earned. First time to your channel but this was fun. Look forward to watching more with you.

Hotels lock the stairwell so you can't go on to the floor but you can exit from the floor to the stairwell, the only door that will be unlocked from inside will be the ground floor one.

Daniel Craig's Bond is probably the most human and darker of the Bonds. Connery is the original, suave, and OG. Lazenby is the oddity. Moore is the campy Bond. Dalton is also a darker Bond. Brosnan is mix of suave and campy.

In the opening chase the parkour expert and co-founder of the sport Sebastien Foucan plays the bomber. No stuntman needed except for Craig obviously.

Daniel is about 37 years old here assuming the movie was filmed in 2005, it was released in 2006, today Daniel is 54 years old.

I've watched Bond movies since they came out in the 60s. Daniel Craig is my favorite Bond, and Casino Royale is my favorite Bond film.