So, in the case of the 007 series, what were the mistakes Casino Royale was meant to correct, and what is the original state being returned to? The answers to my questions are actually more complicated than the simplified narrative that rebooting a franchise is meant to imply. As in the case of the Batman films, to reboot a movie franchise also suggests wiping away earlier missteps. If a remake often carries with it the suggestion of lazily repeating something that worked, a reboot suggests freshness, a clean slate, a return to some “purer” original state. But, as the film affirms in both its narrative and its aesthetic, there are no clean breaks.Ĭasino Royale stands near the beginning of the film industry’s twenty-first century craze for “rebooting” established properties, a program which arguably began with Christopher Nolan’s Batman Begins. Casino Royale is an attempt, rather, to “make it new,” to begin again. Skyfall affirms the traditions of the 007 canon, and the service of Queen and Country, as it reworks the conventions in order to enrich and sustain them. I do not wish to diminish the achievement of Skyfall, but Skyfall exhibits the thoughtfulness of an old man reviewing his accomplishments and considering his legacy. While Bond aficionados generally recognize the significance of Casino Royale, my impression is that Skyfall has largely superseded Casino Royale in the popular consciousness as the “serious” James Bond film. I would argue, though, that Casino Royale is the only true “hard reboot” in the franchise’s history. Readers following the Three Brothers’ James Bond 007 Retrospective this year will know that I described For Your Eyes Only and The Living Daylights as “soft reboots” (and Anders examined GoldenEye as a kind of reboot). That, in my estimation, is the film’s true achievement. Or was it? The tone was noticeably more serious, the acting more nuanced, the dialogue crisper and more about witty exchanges than one-liners, the small dramatic moments given as much attention as the big action scenes-but it was still recognizably Bond. From the black-and-white pre-credits sequence in which Bond ruthlessly makes his first two kills in order to acquire his 007 status, to the interruption of the climactic car chase with Bond crashing and then being tortured, this was James Bond as I had never seen him before. I remember sitting in a movie theatre in November 2006 and being stunned at the achievement unfolding before me, feeling sheer delight at how good this Bond film was.

It’s been nine years since Casino Royale was released and I can still recall the excitement and shock.

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