20 Years Later, This 4-Minute Opener Is Still Better Than Other Every Bond Movie

When Eon Productions and the Broccoli family, the longtime stewards of the James Bond franchise, loosed Casino Royale into the world in 2006, there were incredible financial stakes pinned on some very new, very unproven ideas. A grounded, almost believable take on the original Ian Fleming novel that was intended to bring the series back to its roots after the breathtaking badness (and, to some, beauty) of Pierce Brosnan‘s final outing, Die Another Day, the film also starred a new Bond played by an actor few knew outside the art house world, where he’d recently played the lover of tormented queer artist Francis Bacon.

But director Martin Campbell pulled off a miracle. Casino Royale remains the highest-rated Bond film outside of Sean Connery’s initial outings, per Rotten Tomatoes, and the highest period on Letterboxd. And beyond its pure craft, charm, and pacing, much of what makes the film special is contained in its blistering cold open, a shockingly violent sequence depicting how Bond earned his 00 status: by making two kills.

‘Casino Royale’ Announces That It’s a Bond Film For Adults In Just 4 Minutes

Considering how roundly it’s mocked today, Die Another Day was also the perfect note to end the Brosnan Bond cycle on. By the time the film arrived at its absurd ice palace climax, it was clear that the engine was running out of gas and new blood was needed. Audiences were gravitating toward the more grounded, visceral action of the Bourne films, and appetites for absurdist, ’60s-style spy fantasies were running low. Casino Royale was a huge gamble, but it was also the only way to reinvigorate a stagnating series.

From the initial black and white, German Expressionist-channeling frames as Bond’s target enters his office, it’s clear that Casino Royale is operating on a different wavelength — likely in a different universe — than what came before. We cut to fragments of Bond’s first kill, the target of which was a shaggy assassin in a bathroom. It’s laden with grunting, brutality, strangulation, and shattering porcelain; Bond is feeling every blow he takes and every blow he deals. The scene is such a break from the slick and antiseptic style of previous films that it’s borderline jarring.

Then, as Bond is asked, “Made you feel it, did he?” the Craig cycle genuinely begins. The target, a defector from MI6, assures him that he “needn’t worry. The second is —” and Bond plugs him in the head with a single, suppressed round. “Yes, considerably,” Craig says. The reality of the violence bodies endure in service of governments and the cold-blooded efficiency necessary to keep the wheels moving is immediately established … but so is this new Bond’s steely, smirking attitude toward it all.

‘Casino Royale’ Doesn’t Miss a Step For 133 More Minutes

Remarkably, Casino Royale doesn’t miss a beat as it continues on. With master action craftsman Martin Campbell at the helm (notably, he also knocked it out of the park with Brosnan’s first outing, GoldenEye) and yet another genre veteran on editing duties (Stuart Baird, who also directed stellar ’90s action films like Kurt Russell’s Executive Decision), the film never really stops moving. Bond’s cold efficiency is embodied in every single action beat, from his opting to crash his body through drywall rather than parkour over it while he chases a bomb maker, to his stabbing of minor villain Dimitrios inside a Body Worlds exhibition.

And still, when Bond’s “armor” begins to break in the film’s second half — whether he’s comforting Eva Green’s tragic and beautiful love interest Vesper in a shower after a bloody confrontation, or suffering some extremely PG-13-challenging genital torture meted out by the film’s main villain, Le Chiffre — you can see every conflicting instinct in Craig’s performance.

While Casino Royale does seamlessly transition into its sequel, Quantum of Solace, Campbell’s touch is missed there. The story is continued, but the brutality and vulnerability of Craig’s Bond doesn’t gel as well, resulting in, generally, the lowest-rated entry in the modern cycle. But the initial film is still a modern masterpiece. Nothing is out of place, and it gave audiences a Bond that had feelings and knew he was a monster — and did it while still delivering clockwork thrills and style.

Casino Royale