CASINO ROYALE was the first book and Bond was his most human in it. Fans of Ian Fleming usually twitch with disgust at even hearing the title of this god-awful film-thank goodness someone FINALLY wanted to do the Fleming novel some justice! In the books, Bond was a bourbon drinking, chain-smoking assassin.

It was purported to be a comedy, though practically none of the film was funny and like YOU ONLY LIVE TWICE, the plot was impossible to follow and bore no similarity to the book. While some of the characters were retained, the movie was an abysmal mess-a very high budget and confusing mess. Sadly, in a few cases (such as YOU ONLY LIVE TWICE), about the only similarity between the books and the movies were the titles! In fact, the original CASINO ROYALE was a horrid film in practically every way except for the music. While some of the Bond films have been a lot of fun, most have practically nothing to do with the great Ian Fleming novels. Here Bond is aided by stunningly beautiful Bond Girl and British treasury operative Vesper Lynd (Eva Green), earnest CIA agent Felix Leiter (Jeffrey Wright), and dapper MI6 agent Mathis (Giancarlo Giannini), though Bond gets impatient when they cramp his style.For many years, I have longed to see a James Bond series actually based on the books. All of this is warm-up for the big showdown with the requisite dastardly, damaged villain Le Chiffre (Mads Mikkelsen), which centers around a high-stakes poker game. And then he destroys much of the Miami Airport in order to stop a bomb's explosion. First he chases one man through the 'Nambutu Embassy' in Madagascar, wreaking havoc and, as M puts it, violating 'the only inviolate rule of international relations.' Later, he beds a villain's wife (Caterina Murino) to extract information, leaving her open to terrible retribution. Bond's early 007 adventures involve all manner of brutality and rule-breaking, as he fixes on his targets with unshakable ferocity. Starring Daniel Craig as Secret Agent 007, director Martin Campbell's CASINO ROYALE takes viewers back to James Bond's beginnings, when M ( Judi Dench) elevates him to the extra-special rank of 007.

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