“That last hand nearly killed me.”

Unlike Timothy Dalton’s last outing, License to Kill, Brosnan’s Die Another Day, despite being the most over-the-top of the Bond films I’ve seen, was the highest grossing James Bond movie (LTK - $34.67m, DAD - $160.94m#). Point is, although it made a decent amount, getting rid of Brosnan looked like a head-slapping move for producers Barbara Broccoli and Michael G. Wilson, and that’s not to mention casting blonde actor Daniel Craig to fill the suave spy’s shoes.

The question of the hour is: how does Craig stack up with the likes of Connery or Brosnan? Lazy answer: it’s too early to tell. What I will say is, Craig is unlike any Bond I’ve seen, but at this point, I’m not sure if that’s a good or bad thing. Craig certainly fits the darker mold that this reboot is taking James Bond. Casino Royale shows how Bond became Bond, not only receiving his double “00” status, but his perception and mistrust of others. As a comic book fan, I’m all about mythology and like Batman Begins, Royale establishes this James Bond as charismatic, dark and egotistical.

While he’s still a man’s man, jumping off buildings, driving fast cars and seducing beautiful women, there is that extra touch of darkness mixed with his naive ness in dealing with delicate situations. Yes, previous incarnations were brash and rarely thought their actions all the way through, but Craig’s Bond makes mistakes. In one instance, a minor bad guy actually gets the jump on him.

OK, so enough with the mythology and Bond differences bull crap, how was the film itself? While I loved Brosnan as Bond in his four outings (yes, including Die Another Day), for all the reasons I stated above, I am excited to see where this new franchise will take the character while still keeping what people love about the Bond movies -- and what other spy-thrillers want to be.

Casino Royale stars Daniel Craig (Munich) as the sixth (if my math is correct) James Bond who, after a lengthy chase that ends with a bang (and embarrassment to MI6), he follows clues that takes him around the world, tracking villain and risky-gambler Le Chiffre (Mikkelsen; King Arthur) -- like any good Bond villain, he has a quirk, blood for tears. He also makes acquaintances with a beautiful member of the British treasury, Vesper Lynd (Green; Kingdom of Heaven). What follows are more car chases, lovely vixens and an angry and mistrustful M (Dench, reprising her role from the last four Bond flicks).

While I can’t yet crown Daniel Craig as a great James Bond, he is off to a solid start. This reboot features what everyone expects from Bond like the Ashton Martin car, other nifty gadgets and just that all around ruthlessness that makes him the hero he is (even when it feeds the ego). For his part, Craig does make a solid James Bond and he’s helped by solid performances in everyone from Eva Green as the new Bond girl, Jeffrey Wright (Broken Flowers) in a cameo-esque role, veteran Giancarlo Giannini (Hannibal), Dame Judi Dench and Mads Mikkelsen, whose sole purpose is not world domination, but high stakes gambling.

Director Martin Campbell takes on the challenge to reboot the franchise. He previously directed Brosnan’s rookie showing in GoldenEye with good results and Campbell manages to capture the dark nature of not only Bond, but the film as a whole. As a director, Campbell has solid work in his background, though nothing great. Mask of Zorro and its sequel, Legend of Zorro are good and entertaining, but he isn’t exactly known for this style, so compared to others, Casino Royale distinguishes itself from his other films and certainly from previous Bond movies as well.

Oscar winning writer Paul Haggis (Million Dollar Baby, Crash) contributes to the screenplay alongside previous Bond-writers Neal Purvis and Robert Wade (The World is Not Enough, Die Another Day) and it seems the latter provided the action material and Haggis was brought on board to give it some edge. Hopefully they’ll continue this with Purvis/Wade getting in the action and then bring aboard a dramatic writer to give Bond depth. Not saying Haggis necessarily, but others like Alan Ball (American Beauty, “Six Feet Under”), David S. Goyer (Batman Begins, Dark City) or even Francis Ford Coppola (The Godfather, Apocalypse Now).

If there was one fault in Royale, it would be that it’s too long and could’ve been cut down by a good 10-minutes. At 144-minutes, this entry sticks with the rest that, save for a couple Bond films, is in-line time-wise, but it seems like this could’ve been even tighter with the story.

My opinion on Craig is still on hold until Bond 22, but as a film, Casino Royale is a solid spy-thriller that takes James Bond to a darker place while still keeping in touch with his sly humor and all the things that makes the franchise as popular as it has been for 40+ years. So, I applaud the producers for taking a chance when the series was actually still going along at a good pace, and they’ve actually succeeded in boosting the popularity with new blood and a different style.

# - Source: Box Office Mojo