Casino Royale

What a strange film. It shouldn't really work, Bond's such a tired genre on reflection and no matter how hard you want it still to work you wonder if they really have the balls to pull it off. I'm not sure this film has balls, the first half hour gets to be a drag, endless action as if Bond has to prove himself in a hollywood action-a-thon, but what the film does have and where the balls do clearly reside is in Daniel Craig. He's a revelation, charismatic, brutal, brutally believable often and he single handedly keeps this pretty messy affair of a film afloat - its a huge task and that he does it with aplomb is all the more reason to forgive the overall film its flaws. The biggest test is to come though - making sure the next one, where the element of surprise Craig is afforded here, won't be so redolent...