Bong but to become a double. Oh it takes two. How did he die. Your contact not well. Why second is yes. What an installment in a long running movie franchise gets things right. You tend to know it right away. Consider casino royale. The twenty-first james bond film in the eon productions series released in two thousand six and starring. For the first time as bond daniel craig the first thing we notice the mgm columbia studio logos are in black and white intriguing though not the most radical thing in the world then the movie itself starts still monochrome starker darker recalling something more like nineteen sixty. Five's the spy who came in from the cold than pierce brosnan's immediately preceding couple of pictures to say nothing of octopussy in this first seen bond has the jump on trader waiting for him in his office. The mole is played by a snide malcolm sinclair in their tense exchange. We learned to surprising things. This bond has just been promoted to double o. seven. He's recently made his first kill a brutal bathroom beating. That's fed to us in snippets during the conversation with the ruthlessness that cuts the scene. Short bond commits his second kill as sinclair sits on armed at his desk. Cut back to that bathroom. Where bond spins round to deliver the lethal bullet to the first skill and the screen narrows around him in the series iconic gun. Barrel shot familiar but also thrillingly different in two thousand six. I was mostly indifferent about james bond. Atom bond was a relic from childhood which i regarded with nostalgic affection as a daily film reviewer. The run of pierce brosnan movies had begun to feel like professional obligations then casino royale and i was back on board. Still am after this revisit which was particularly interesting coming on the heels of the other bonds. We've been watching and discussing unpatriotic sean connery's from russia with love roger. Moore's the spy who loved me timothy dalton's the living daylights and pierce brosnan's goldeneye compared to those entries. Adam what would you say is the most distinguishing characteristic not only of craig's bond but of casino royale whole I don't even know where to start with that question. It's such a good one. But there are so many aspects to craig's bond. I think we could start with and actually this movie was reviewed back on film spotting in two thousand six sam was our host then co host josh. Not just our producer so he sat across from as i recall. We both were fans of this movie. And both fans of craig. I look back at my notes from that conversation. And i said this is just kind of funny talking about fifteen years later. I suggested that he is a more believable. Interesting complex bond which we need in two thousand six so bringing bond into i guess what i was thinking of the modern era our our current time thousand six well in twenty twenty one. I think that's as true as ever if not more true and you're right that everything about that opening sequence sets the table for setting up a new take on this character. I like the way you phrased it familiar yet. Thrillingly different this idea throughout and we'll talk about a lot of these aspects. I think there are many ways that the movie decides to subvert our expectations bond. But it doesn't do it in a way where it seems like. That's the glee of it. That that's the purpose or the intent of the movie. Let's have as much fun as we can. With this relic. Let's thumb our nose at the series. No it's not about thumbing your nose it is about establishing this new character and maybe we'll get back to that opening sequence a little bit more later. I wanna talk about craig and answer your question as best i can. I think the most significant difference with craig versus all the other bonds is that the movie establishes him as quote unquote a blunt instrument which is apparently how fleming originally thought of james bond again. I'm not familiar with the source material. And it's not something that's informing at all my take on bond or on craig's bond but that that phrase and i think m may even refer to him as that or very clearly suggest that's what he is. That is something different than that kind of very debonair. Very smooth bond. We have always seen there. Is something just a little grittier a little more dangerous a little scarier a little more human or a lot more human about craig's bond than the other ones we've seen including going back to when we talked about from russia with love and connery is just really leaning into the movie star aspect like bond. Is this movie star. Figure in the movie knows. It's kind of winking at us throughout. I'll give you a couple of examples and there are so many we could talk about the distinguish this van from others. But in that opening chase sequence the big set piece that starts with them getting the phone ellipse and just destroying that entire construction zone right there few moments that really stand out to me that clearly martin campbell. The director wants us to pay attention to and their moments like the one where we see the guy he's chasing who's very fleet of foot and is very athletic and is able to jump from one perch atop some construction zone onto some other landing and when he does it. It's perfect everything about. It's perfect in bonn does it. He stumbles and he. He's barely able to hang on and has to pull himself up when he jumps over a wall unlike the other guy who just kind of like a cheetah jumps over it he of course is a little bit more human. He's still james bond. He's still incredible physical specimen that's the other real defining characteristic of craig's bhatt obviously but when he jumps over he kinda comes down with a thud and then has to start running again right or he just brakes right through the wall. And that's the other one. That's that's the best example to support my case right where they're running through this building that's under construction and the guy he's chasing somehow manages to just kind fly through an opening and the next thing we see is bond chasing after him and he just goes right through it. He doesn't have time to mess around..