Casino Royale Movie Review

1) Provide a description of the film. Discuss the plot and characters and how they influenced the film. Was the plot line or character development more important? Why?

This James Bond movie with Daniel Craig is the first movie after Bond gets his 007 and follows him as he tries to take down Le Chiffre, a terrorist banker during a poker game in Montenegro. Le Chiffre lost all his organization's money, and is trying to win it back with a high stakes poker game. Bond follows him to this game with Vesper Lynd, a woman sent to keep an eye on him. Bond ends up winning the game (after almost losing it and almost dying) and falling in love with Vesper. However, it turns out that Vesper was working on the other side secretly and takes the money. Bond discovers this and tries to figure out if she was actually being dishonest but Vesper ends up committing suicide. The character development was more important in this film because no matter what crime or action Bond is involved in, it always goes back to James Bond. Additionally, his character development with Vesper is a large part of the film.
2) Think critically about how the film was shot, directed, use of lighting, etc. What do you think was effective in the making of the film? What took away or could have been done differently to enhance the film?

I really liked the way the film was shot. For example, in one scene when Bond is almost killed because he is poisoned, the camera was all shaky and close to his face which really added to the chaos of the scene. It was decisions like this with the shooting that really enhanced the film. I also really enjoyed the music. The song used in the opening credits was used throughout the rest of the movie (instrumental) and it nicely connected everything together. One thing that could have enhanced the movie would have been if they hadn't rushed the end so much. I felt as if a lot of really important things happened super quickly.
3) What is you overall opinion of the film? Would you recommend it? Why/why not?

Overall, I really enjoyed this film. I usually don't like action movies, but this one wasn't boring and was really well done. I thought that Daniel Craig makes a really good Bond, and that the overall plot line was interesting and different. I would recommend it to others because it's a lot a fun to watch and is really well done.