Smert Spionem

Woot, woot woot! Casino Royale yesterday. Happy to say that Daniel Craig (seen above with the last Doctor) was the aces in it. He's approximately eighty times better than the oleaginous Brosnan, proud owner of a genuine "face you wouldn't get tired of punching."



Also helps that the film is good. It took the Bourne identity to do it, but there's some actual substance behind the character, which helps tie together the usual run of set pieces and punch-ups. If there is a structural problem it's that the 'source' novel is source only for - at most - a third of the movie (it's a very long film), and there are times - especially towards the end - when it seems as though the usual action stuff is desperately being shoe-horned in. Nevertheless, it's nowhere near The World Is Not Enough in terms of egregiously unnecessary set-pieces, and the parkour stuff at the beginning is genuinely breath-taking - first time it's been the case in a Bond flick since Goldeneye's bungee jump, or possibly even the parachute sequence in The Spy Who Loved Me.

Jolly good stuff at any rate, and the pleasing sight of a 'James Bond Will Return' pay off line at the end of credits.