I am absolutely NOT trying to trump Stephen and Sam's upcoming AMT review.

In fact, I was in vigorous and often violent debate with myself about whether or not to post this before their review came out, but then I decided that I, as an amateur reviewer/movie watcher/Bond fan at BEST, will not go anywhere NEAR as in depth in Stephen and Sam will go, and will probably get a lot of stuff wrong, just because I'm a goob that way. That being said, here's my review:

Short Version:
The book, boring.
The movie? Not so much, but with some changes.

Long version:

No MONEYPENNY? That ain't right.

James Bond kicks off his 21st outing in movie theaters with a thrilling chase scene involving all sorts of cool acrobatic stunts by the guy being chased. Eventually, he catches up to him, but in place and a time where he, in a word, shouldn't.

This leads him down a path towards discovering a plot to manipulate the stock market to make millions, wreck a new prototype airplane, and the sudden and urgent need for one hundred and one million dollars by a man known only as Le Chiffre.

Thus, Le Chiffre sets up a high stakes card game in Montenegro, at a place called Casino Royale. Bond, being the best card player in the MI-6 division is sent to win the game and rob Le Chiffre of the money he needs.

Along the way, there is danger (of course), beautiful women (of course) and vodka martinis.

I read the book before going to see the movie, and so I knew most of the plot, but I was surprised and pleased by seeing exactly WHAT happened to make Le Chiffre need the money, even if it isn't exactly what happened in the book (I'm a little spotty on that- it was an audio book and I kept getting distracted).

Anyway, the action scenes were exciting, and yes, I got a little tense at some points. There was a bit more action in the movie than in the book, but I can live with that. It all fit in well, even if it seemed some plot points were shoehorned in to give it some action.

Daniel Craig as Bond turns in a passable performance. He's a darker Bond than Brosnan was, and I think that's to his advantage. About the only problem I could really find with him, was that he looked a little too old to play the part, and I don't know if that's just me, or not.

Eva Green as Vesper Lynd was not exactly the way I imagined her, but she also turns in a fairly well done performance.

All in all, I quite enjoyed the movie. It felt different from the rest of the Bond movies I have seen, mostly because a lot of the trademarks aren't there. There's no Moneypenny, no Q, the gunbarrell opening, while there (sort of) is not the same, and it's in the wrong place (though it was quite an imaginative way that they brought it about, which redeemed it a little bit), the Bond theme only showed up in bits and pieces until the end credits, and none of Bond's usual lines were there.

References were made of course to vodka martinis, and their mode of preperation, and only once do we hear Bond speak his name, full name. But when he does... It was a scene to remember.

All in all, pretty good movie. It seemed to keep itself under control, and not go over the top on the action scenes (at least, not horribly so).

Wasn't too thrilled with Baccarat being replaced with Texas Hold'em Poker, but, eh... I'll live with it.

4/5 Stars