The spectre hanging over Casino Royale, and indeed all of the Daniel Craig era, is the Bourne series. Goldeneye made a big deal about the Cold War ending, but it still felt like a story in which Bond had a rightful place. Often Bond has been at his best when he acknowledges his mortality and the world changing around him, while retaining the character elements which made him so popular in the first place. Sometimes it has done this so nakedly that the films in question date badly, whether it's Live and Let Die's attempts at aping Shaft, The Man with the Golden Gun cashing in on Enter the Dragon, or Moonraker trying and failing to be the next Star Wars.

Part of the secret behind the Bond series' longevity is that it has always adjusted its character and storylines to the culture and politics of a given period. It may even be the best film in the entire series. Casino Royale is a worthy exception to the rule that reboots are pointless and underwhelming, delivering just the sort of reinvention that the franchise needed. Faced with its deserved critical kicking and Pierce Brosnan's subsequent departure, the guardians of the series must have felt that starting from scratch and going back was the only way forward.

It may seem hard to believe in an age of cinematic universes where knowledge of superhero continuity is a badge of honour - but then we remember that Spider-Man and Superman have both been rebooted twice in the space of a decade.ĭie Another Day marked the Bond series' 40th anniversary in the most deeply disappointing way possible, serving up a glorified greatest hits compilation which played out like reheated leftovers.

Perversely, the more successful a given reboot is, the easier it seemingly becomes to pull this same trick again the second that a particular instalment mildly underperforms. Rebooting a film franchise can often come across as an act of desperation: an admission that the characters or story have been taken as far as they can possibly go, and a cynical means of luring in a new generation on the pretence of giving them ownership over 'their version' of a property. Rating: PG-13 (Nudity|A Scene of Torture|Sequences of Violent Action|Sexual Content) Learning that Le Chiffre plans to raise money in a high-stakes poker game, MI6 sends Bond to play against him, gambling that their newest '00' operative will topple the man's organization. After receiving a license to kill, British Secret Service agent James Bond (Daniel Craig) heads to Madagascar, where he uncovers a link to Le Chiffre (Mads Mikkelsen), a man who finances terrorist organizations.

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