Casino Royale

So good! The first of the five James Bond films Daniel Craig was signed for, this is a phenomenal entry into the franchise.

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The writing is excellent. In this movie, James Bond does something he’s never done before, retire, and something else he’s only ever done once before (in 1969), fall in love.

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Beyond those things, now that Daniel Graig’s run as Bond is finished, we can see that the writers were thinking about all five movies as a whole story. Yes, they are episodic, but never before in the history of a Bond series has there been a single villain over the course of so many movies.

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There are so many memorable scenes in this film! Like Bond rolling up to a resort in Nassau in a Ford compact car and rolling out in a silver Aston Martin. The scene where Bond gets poisoned had my heart pounding! And where else have you ever seen a funny torture scene?

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Almost everything about this movie is excellent: the casting, the dynamics, the pacing, even the opening credits are great. The only thing I didn’t like is the theme song, but that’s not enough to take away any stars.

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