Bond is back and this time he doesn’t give a damn whether his vodka martini is shaken or stirred. Casino Royale is the first of Ian Fleming’s James Bond thrillers and the twenty-first Bond film to hit the big screen over the past forty-five years adding the most recent instalment to what has become a British institution.
This time, however, things are very different. Following in the tuxedos of Sean Connery, George Lazenby, Roger Moore, Timothy Dalton and Pierce Brosnan, Daniel Craig’s Bond is “more gritty than pretty” and has been likened to early Connery. Craig’s casting originally caused much controversy with the die-hard Bond fans, inspiring two media campaigns: www.craignotbond.com and www.givecraigachance.com. He is the sixth actor to play the iconic secret agent, and funnily enough for a character that is quintessentially English is only the second Englishman to take on the role. In truth, he’s as far away from the tall, dark, and sophisticated spy as you can get signifying a definite and deliberate change from the Bonds of yore to a more modern day hero.