It’s a stripped down, ‘de-cheesed’ (at least for Bond) origin story—James Bond’s first mission. I really enjoyed the move away from the more cartoonish elements of the last three, and must, sadly, demote Pierce to ‘third best Bond’ as Daniel Craig really nails the right mix of dangerous and vulnerable (chaotic-good for the nerds), and he’s pretty funny as well. I’ve always thought it would be interesting to take Bond back to the sixties, because it is largely the style of that decade that makes the originals so great. It’s tough to out-dapper Sean Connery when people don’t even wear hats anymore. But Casino Royale does feature plenty of old school Bond moments, as well as fresh elements: expensive suit paired with submachine gun, the original Aston Martin, a chase sequence stylishly mixed with free running. There are, of course, the requisite and blatant product placements, and the pretending (pretend ending) is as overly long as it is overly obvious. But all in all, it’s easily the best Bond since Connery left the role. Go see it now while everyone else in Happy Feet (yikes).