DVD of The Week: Casino Royale (2006)

When I first saw the trailers - many months ago - for the cinema release of a new Bond film, I wasn't impressed. In fact it looked like an average TV thriller to me.

But the closer it got to release date the more good things I kept hearing and reading about Casino Royale and Daniel Craig.

It turns out I was wrong and the critics were right (for once). Casino Royale (out on DVD today) is a blast - certainly one of the best Bond flicks and possibly the best. It's stripped down and raw, pretty much gimmick-free and more gritty and brutal than most of the earlier films.

The cartoonish nature of the franchise has gone, along with the slapstick violence, supervillains bent on world domination and the wise cracks after every kill. This is basic Bond and Daniel Craig nails it.

The level of realism even extends to Bond not being a very nice guy - in fact he's a cold-hearted, emotionless SOB for most of the film. How else would he have got (and held onto) his licence to kill?

The film takes a very brave turn towards the end, easing its foot off the accelerator and lulling the audience into accepting a potentially anti-climatic finale before suddenly rachetetting the action back up to top gear for a full-blown Bond set piece.

And maybe the slow patch, the quiet before the final storm, drags on a bit too long, but in retrospect I see that it was developing Bond's character for future films - something that has probably never really been done before (except in the much maligned and overlooked On Her Majesty's Secret Service ... let's hope Daniel Craig doesn't take George Lazenby's approach too far).

Casino Royale is everything you always thought a Bond film was, but really wasn't. It's high adventure and all out action nearly all the way, with sharp suits, heroics and a strong leading man who lives by his wits and his own resources (i.e. no invisible cars and no comedy sidekicks!!!)

But beware - the 12 certificate is obviously a sop to the moneymen as the film features a short, but nasty, torture sequence that isn't really suitable for the kiddiwinks (although nothing like the squirm-worthy one in Syriana), and this Bond prefers fisticuffs to guns, so there's a lot of physical violence as well. Really it should have been a 15 at least. You have been warned.