[casino royale] first bond reviews by the press

Times: Every decade gets the Bond it deserves and we are living in some pretty scary times. Craig combines Sean Connery’s athleticism and cocksure swagger with Timothy Dalton’s thrilling undercurrent of stone-cold cruelty. While the rather foppish Pierce Brosnan had the bland chiselled looks of a male catalogue model, Craig’s face is endlessly fascinating. Mirror: Easily the best Bond film since Golden Eye, it's 144 minutes of non-stop, end-to-end action that proves there's plenty of life in the world's longest-running movie franchise. Dark, gritty and surprisingly violent, the suave, smooth-talking secret agent of old is replaced by a steely-eyed killer with a dash of vulnerability. Mail: Daniel Craig is probably the best and most serious actor to have been cast as 007 and this film makes full use of his range. He's also the toughest and most virile leading man since Russell Crowe's Maximus in Gladiator. Will Casino Royale be a huge hit and continue the franchise? I think it will.