Fan Verdict - Casino Royale

Each month, a different James Bond film is selected for review, rating and discussion by the largest online community of 007 fans - the Keeping The British End Up forums.

Fans rated the following elements of the movie on a 1-10 scale (10 being best): Bond, Babes, Villains, Humour, Sadism, Snobbery, Action, Locations, Gadgets, Music and 'Tilt' - a rating to account for any qualities not captured in the main categories.

Also up for discussion were the 'best bits' of the movie, including: most 'Bondian' moment, funniest scene, best line, best location, best action sequence, best Bond girl and best overall performance.

Casino Royale overall score:7.9

 


Above: Cover art for the "Casino Royale" score, composed by David Arnold...



Most 'Bondian' Moment
Winner: With Le Chiffre dispatched with and a clue from Vesper, Bond pays the mysterious middleman Mr. White a visit - shooting him in the knee and introducing himself as "Bond, James Bond."
Honourable mentions: Dispatching Dryden, Bond's second of two kills to reach 00-status.

Funniest Scene
Winner: Bond arrives at the Ocean Club in the Bahamas and makes the most of a mistaken identity. Pretending to be valet at the club Bond poorly parks a Land Rover, causing a distraction so he can slip into the security office unnoticed.

  Rating Results
Category Average Score
Sadism 9.1
Bond 9
Locations 8.9
Babes 8.6
Action 8.6
Villains 8
Snobbery 7.4
Humour 7
Music 6.6
Gadgets 5.6
Overall 7.9

Best Line
Winner: "Sorry, that last hand nearly killed me..."
Honourable mentions: "Does it look like I give a damn?"

Best Location
Winner: Casino Royale, Montenegro.
Honourable mentions: Venice, Italy.

Best Action Sequence
Winner: Bond pursues a swift bomb-maker in Madagascar, bounding his way through a hazardous construction site.
Honourable mentions: Bond engages in a brutal battle in the bathroom of a Cricket Ground with a thug who is buying information from Dryden, the rogue MI6 agent.

Best Bond Girl
Winner: Vesper Lynd.

Best Overall Performance
Winner: Daniel Craig as James Bond.
Honourable mentions: Eva Green as Vesper Lynd.


What The Fans Said
Below are selected quotes from reviews by Keeping The British End Up members. Click here to read all the reviews in their entirety.

"Casino Royale brings us something new. And not just with a blond Bond, or reboot. No, this film brings in everything that makes the spy win our hearts: women, mystery, excitement, danger, glamour and most of all, enjoyment. And yet at the same time, it gives us a feeling of freshness, modern look and feel and something which can bring back the series." -- 007calbrit

"Casino Royale was sold as a complete reinvention of the franchise, but for me, it doesn't go far enough. It reintroduces Bond at the beginning of his career, off to stop the evil Le Chiffre from winning a poker game at Casino Royale in Montenegro. The book is a great thriller. The film is an action film and the two don't gel. The film has an over reliance on over the top, if greatly done, action sequences that don't really fit into the story, despite how hard they try to.'" -- thegiantcookie

"Daniel Craig brings both a serious demeanour and a schoolboy cheek to Bond. While on assignment, however, the character seems to be written as some kind of remorseless bad-boy, which is unfortunate. The film's humour is fine and all, but I kept wondering when Bond would stop trying to wow Vesper and actually show himself to her." -- Louis Armstrong

"In noir-fashion, we see James Bond earn his legendary double-oh number. The bathroom fight brought me back to the Dalton era. In this scene, James Bond is in his most brutal form. Between slamming the enemy into the urinals and drowning him in a sink, these flashbacks certainly deliver thrills. We also see how cold James Bond can really be when he shoots Dryden (the 00-section chief). A quickly-cut shot shows a family photo on Dryden’s desk as the bullet strikes him. And at last, we also get an idea of how the gun barrel sequence came to be." -- Mr. Brown

"Craig's debut as 007 is among the very best Bond performances ever committed to celluloid." -- St. George

"I can't understand how some people can say this film is less 'Bondesque' than others, because you have more about Bond here than in the previous 20 movies. But, even more, you have all the classical ingredients: spectacular action scenes (especially the free running chase), glamour, exotic locations and even some fine humour." -- Champion Alonso

"It is Eva Green as the troubled and multi-facetted Vesper Lynd who is the most memorable person in this film. The most complex and beautiful of Bond's leading ladies, she is integral to Bond's life and his measure of the female of the species. It is Vesper and Tracy in On Her Majesty's Secret Service who define James Bond and his misogyny." -- James Clark

"Overall, Casino Royale is a good way to spend your evening. Relish in the scenery at Montenegro, enjoy watching how Bond gets his hands on the ultimate car, the Aston Martin DB5 and discover Bond's affection for gambling. We embark on the beginning of key relationships in this film, truly a treat for the enthusiast." -- MOOREDIFINITVE

"I don't care what people say but I like David Arnold and this is easily one of his best scores. "City of Lovers" is one of the most beautiful and effective tracks in the whole series and easily beats most of John Barry's work." -- Count Chocula!

"Upon my last viewing, I really took a liking to the scenes in the Bahamas. I really loved them. Solange had a great introduction, Dimitrios villa is magnificent, the scene with M is great - all of it is fantastic. I love it." -- FieldsMan

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