How Casino Royale reinvented the James Bond franchise: An analysis
In 2002, my parents, after much begging and annoyance on my part, gave in and brought me to the cinema to see the newest James Bond adventure ‘Die Another Day’; I was five years old. To this day my parents have no idea how or where I discovered James Bond, but I was adamant that we had to go to the cinema to see the new film. I recall having the time of my life; I absolutely loved the film. I was exhilarated by the over the top action scenes, the magic of the invisible Aston Martin and the gigantic space laser that could eviscerate anything its possessor desired. I was too young to be aware of ratings at the time, or other people’s views for that matter. Then, four years later, I went to see Daniel Craig’s debut as James Bond, Casino Royale. I was upset that Pierce Brosnan was no longer James Bond, he had always been my hero, but I was willing to give this new fella a shot. I donned my tuxedo, took my mother’s hand and we made our way to the cinema. I left the cinema in a state of confusion. I had no idea what I had just watched but, as an all knowing nine-year-old, I was quite certain it was not James Bond. There were no gadgets or gizmos; gone be the invisible car and the watch that could do almost anything. There were no “Bond moments” in which the Bond theme played while the master of espionage defied the odds to cheat death once again. I’ll never forget my mother’s horror as I sat beside her while Daniel Craig was stripped naked and tortured by Mads Mikkelsen’s “Le Chiffre”. What we didn’t realize at the time was that, with Casino Royale, they were completely reinventing the wheel and officially rebooting the series. They were saying goodbye to suave sophistication and raised eyebrows and saying hello to gritty realism. This was not the fantastical James Bond of the previous forty years but instead a real person; a person who cuts and bleeds and feels. All in all; this was not a movie made for children. It took me until I was around fifteen to really appreciate Casino Royale and now, after well over one hundred views, I can honestly say it is my favorite film in the series.
The film’s opening really sets the tone for the changes that unfold in the following two and a half hours. There are no explosions, no giant set pieces and a deliberate lack of spectacle. The opening sequence shows James Bond achieving his license to kill and it immediately removes any glorification around the life of a globe-trotting spy. It’s shot in black and white with a sufficient amount of grain on the footage; the creators are pulling no punches here, they want you to feel these death’s just as Bond does. After a brutal fist fight in a toilet, Bond holds his enemy’s head down in the sink and drowns him. The camera remains on Craig’s face here and we see the emotions he goes through as he takes his first life. The scene then cuts back to real time where Bond is sitting face to face with Dryden, a man guilty of selling secrets. Dryden taunts Bond about not having a license to kill; the question Dryden poses to Bond, “Made you feel it, did he?” is nearly like the creators are asking the audience the question. I remember being scared watching this scene in the cinema, I didn’t like the black and white or the look of James Bond. It wasn’t fun, it was horrifying. I guess that means I must applaud director Martin Campbell, job done. My mother was also horrified, so two points to Campbell.
Casino Royale does many things that were never done before in the series and two of them take place within the opening twenty five minutes; the first was that it humanized Bond and the second was that they had a foot chase in the movie. Bond chases a bomb maker on foot and the scene is a brilliant example of how action demonstrates character. Instead of simply having a dialogue scene where a character says “Boy, this new agent is really reckless and inexperienced”, they show us clear examples that indicate exactly that. As the foot chase takes place, Bond gets bruised and battered. He sweats, gets dirty and we see the physical toll the chase is taking on him. For the vast majority of the chase Bond is on the backfoot, struggling to keep up with Mollaka. There is a moment in the chase that typifies the differences between Casino Royale and the rest of the series. Bond is on top of a crane and must jump to a second crane to make it safely to the ground. If this were a Roger Moore Bond film then the Bond theme would have begun to play as the newest gadget from Q branch swung Bond coolly from crane A to crane B, accompanied by a raised eyebrow and a smirk. But such luxuries are not present for Daniel Craig’s Bond. He attempts the jump using sheer human strength and, after some bangs and bruises, makes it safely to the ground, minus any sophistication.
The attempts to humanize Bond in Casino Royale are clear to see. There is a considerable amount of attention given to the effects that the life of an assassin has on a person. Back in the early days of Bond there was a phrase that was often thrown around: “Men want to be him; women want to be with him!”. But the former part of that phrase is removed from Casino Royale. They do all they can to tear down the fantasy surrounding James Bond and make him someone we feel and care for. A small but very effective creative choice is the amount that Bond bleeds in this film. Bond spends at least half the film with cuts on his face, a constant reminder of the effects of his job. Up until Casino Royale, James Bond hardly ever bled, he would get himself into brutal fist fights and, with a quick brush of his hair, look good as new again. But here, the life he lives has a considerable effect on him, emotionally as well as physically.
There is a beautiful scene that takes place after an hour and twenty minutes of the movie and it brings with it an intense degree of realism, the likes of which the Bond franchise has never seen before. After taking the lives of another two men we see Bond in his hotel bathroom. He is bloody and fragile, reeling from the aftermath of the altercation. He cleans the blood off his face and downs a glass of whisky. After, he stares at himself in the mirror and we can see from his eyes that he is feeling the emotional impact of taking two lives. I’ve always wondered what Bond is thinking as he looks at himself in this scene, his eyes hold so much thought and pain. Maybe he is questioning the life he has chosen, or perhaps he is trying to justify his murders. The scene is shot almost as if it is from an indie movie with considerable camera shake to highlight the shakiness Bond feels at that moment in time.
It would be a crime to discuss Casino Royale and not to address the woman at the heart of the movie: Eva Green’s Vesper Lynd. Just as Casino Royale redefined all the other aspects of Bond it also redefined the role of the ‘Bond girl’. There is no room here for the likes of Pussy Galore, Plenty O’Toole, Christmas Jones, Holly Goodhead or the hapless Mary Goodnight. In the past, Bond girls were often damsels in distress, helpless women who waited around for James Bond to come save the day and, in most cases, save them. But Vesper Lynd is different for many reasons. She is strong, independent, and charismatic. She is capable of handling Bond; she even has the ability to put him in his place: “You think of women as disposable pleasures rather than meaningful pursuits. So, as charming as you are, Mr. Bond, I will be keeping my eye on our government’s money and off your perfectly formed ass”. In the end, Bond falls for Vesper and for the first time since On Her Majesty’s Secret Service, I genuinely bought into Bond’s love. Their relationship goes through a fascinating arc, starting off in an abhorrent manner and then transitioning into true love. Vesper is a worthy match for Bond and, as seen in the film, she can make him change and become more human. She is in many ways what James Bond has always needed in his life; somebody to make him care, someone who will question his actions. “It doesn’t bother you killing those people?” Vesper asks to which Bond replies “Well I wouldn’t be very good at my job if it did”. And here, Vesper makes yet another attempt to probe James Bond’s moral compass: “Just because you’ve done something doesn’t mean you have to keep doing it”.
Casino Royale was an overwhelming success, and it guaranteed the series continuation for years to come. In some ways, the Brosnan era had to tear down the wall of Bond so that the Craig era could build it back up again. In the eyes of many, Daniel Craig’s era has not always been successful, but the creators deserve credit and applaud for attempting something different and personally, I absolutely love what they have done with the “Craig-verse”. Craig’s final Bond outing “No Time To Die” will hopefully (Covid dependent) be released in April 2021 and in my eyes this will cap off the best incarnation of James Bond there has been to date. If I could go back in time, I would find nine-year-old me and tell him to hang in there; it will be worth it eventually.
