It’s a new world. A New Bond. The worlds longest running franchise has taken a long, hard, cold look at itself... and thank god, it needed it. After  reaching beyond the point of parody with invisible cars, hollowed out volcanoes, blond teutonic supermen and fantastical space lasers powered by diamonds, Bond comes back to earth with not so much a bang, as with a crash, wallop and plenty of rough charm.  And with the ilks of the Bourne movies showing up the Bond franchise for being a staid, stuck in the mud, over-fantastical unreal movieland spy paradise of fast cars, fast women and fast action,  it was time to come back to somethign a little more real. The reality of brutal coldhearted violence, of espionage, of  grit; rather than the glamour of some quipping Englishman who could walk through a nuclear explosion without a single drop of his own blood being spilt like some invincible neitzschien ubermensch in a tuxedo.

With this total reboot, comes a total restart; one long overude because, after all, according to the official history, Bond would be now be 86. Instead, it becomes clear that Bond is a name, an identity, not the man himself. Here he is on his first mission, earning his licence to kill Double-O status ; tracking down a terrorist plot in this post 9/11 world and the terrorist financiers behind it from Uganda to the Bahamas, from Miami to Montenegro to Italy, from hyperadrenalised chases in the backstreets of building sites to the poker tables of exclusive casinos, Bonds fits it all in without so much breaking his stride.

This is a new bond, that’s for sure; a ruthless assassin, a charmer of women, a highly efficient and brutal killer, with an edge of physicality and dangerousness the likes of which you’ve never seen in Bond before. And this is Bond: unlike the previous men who played Bond, here you get a sense with Daniel Craig that this man fully inhabits the role without a hint of irony or self-reverentialism, just an actor who unlike the other men before him, can actually act rather than just shoot things up and look good whilst doing it. This bond has three dimensions, an emotional depth which the others (except On her Majesty’s Secret Service) clearly lacked, yet with a physical brutality you never knew he had in him before.

Without doubt though, the film does feel flawed in places; its slightly overlong and erratically paced  and at 2 and a half hours, its by far the longest bond yet. Like Die Another Day,Its feel like it will end way before it actually does, just before another action sequence is tacked onto the end; breaking the three act structure by having two second acts before the story is resolved.  Its action sequences peak early and the film does feel distinctly fragmented in its plotting, with its biggest and most explosive action sequence placed in the middle just before forty minutes of seemingly interminable card games; yet for all its rebooting it plays it safe when it should have been daring. The direction is assured, capable and yet oddly unmoving. It could be a case of too many cooks spoiling the broth here, for Casino Royale is really the work of no less than four directors; Martin Campbell (Goldeneye, Zorro) behind the camera, Paul Haggis (Oscar winner for Crash) behind the script, Alexander Witt (Resident Evil II) on second unit action sequences and Stephen Baird (Star Trek Nemesis, Us Marshals) as the editor. Its almost as if the surfeit of carefully chosen yet easily manageable talent has left it with a so-far but no too far approach to the reinvention when we all know the best way forward to be is go all out, where the stakes are so high its everything or nothing. Not here, though. It sets its sights high and doesn’t quite achieve it Its so close, but so far away. It feels like they’ve been given the chance to go all out, and restrained themselves, held back at the last minute and playing it safe.

More Batman Begins than Superman Returns, Its certainly the best bond movie since Goldeneye, and possibly since the Spy Who Loved Me. Its certainly up there in the top five, and with its return to more down to earth brutal violence, espionage and style, its like a return to the era of On Her Majestys Secret Service, For Your Eyes Only, or From Russia With Love; its Bond without the self-parody, but with the self-awareness. Its not perfect, but its one hell of a reinvention, and possibly the best action movie you’ll see all year.

When The Stakes are high, always bet on bond. Accept No Substitute. Bond is Back. And back for Good.

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