James Bond: 5 Reasons Why Casino Royale Is Daniel Craig’s Best Bond Film (& 5 Why It’s Skyfall)
The James Bond movies make up one of the longest running and most lucrative franchises of all time. Since 1962, the British secret agent has captured the attention of the world with his adventures that include compelling political intrigue, high octane action, and beautiful and exotic locales.
Daniel Craig is the most recent actor to portray the iconic spy, overcoming initial skepticism to become one of the most popular (if not the most popular) Bond actors of all time, with his work in Casino Royale and Skyfall being particularly noteworthy. Problem is, both of these movies are considered not just to be Craig’s best works, but the best Bond movies as well. Which one is superior, and which defines both Craig and Bond better? Without further delay, here are 5 reasons why it’s Casino Royale and 5 more why it’s Skyfall.
10 CASINO ROYALE: The Chase & Fight Scenes
As a result of the Bourne franchise, many action movies in the 2000’s worked on becoming grittier, with realistic and highly choreographed fight scenes replacing the heightened brawls of yesteryear. Before Casino Royale, the Bond fight scenes had generally been fairly standard, if not poor; James Bond would generally either just shoot someone, have a scuffle, or ‘judo chop’ the enemy before coolly trotting off.
Fortunately, the makers of Casino Royale knew that they had to fix their fight scenes if they were to drag Bond into the 21st Century successfully. The use of parkour, the opening bathroom brawl, and the intense fight on the staircase were incredible and memorable fights that cemented the fact that Craig was a new Bond for a new generation.
9 SKYFALL: A More Human Bond
James Bond has always been an emotionally distant character, with the spy hiding behind alcoholism, womanizing, and witty quips as a way to avoid his past. While Casino Royale showed a softer side to Bond, Skyfall showed the his past in more detail than any other movie.
While Spectre would take Bond’s backstory too far, making Blofeld his childhood friend and brother, Skyfall managed to strike a perfect balance, carefully not revealing too much about Bond while still making him sympathetic.
8 CASINO ROYALE: It’s A Bond Origin Story
The 2000’s was the decade of the origin story, with Spider-Man, Batman, and Iron Man all receiving their respective origin story movies. Not to be outdone, Casino Royale was the closest thing to a James Bond origin story the world is likely to get.
The film starts before Bond is even a 00-Agent, showing the character before he’s even started using his iconic ‘The name’s Bond, James Bond’ line. This showed the world a new dimension to the Bond character.
7 SKYFALL: It Merged Classic & New Bond Into One Movie
While Casino Royale is considered to be one of the best Bond movies, it also feels vastly different from any other Bond movie. While classic elements do appear, so much of the series’ signatures and iconography – such as Q and his iconic gadgets – is missing, leaving it dramatically different from its predecessors. In fact, Casino Royale could me mistaken for any grimdark spy movie of the 2000’s if Daniel Craig never introduced himself as Bond.
Skyfall, however, delivered a balance between the gritty realism of Casino Royale and the earlier films in the franchise, bringing back Q (and his banter with Bond), Miss Moneypenny, and even some gadgets on the famous Aston Martin DB5.
6 CASINO ROYALE: Chris Cornell’s Theme
Adele’s Skyfall is certain to be considered one of the best Bond songs of all time, and rightly so, but the late Chris Cornell’s You Know My Name is one of the most underrated Bond themes of all time.
The song sounds dramatically different to any other Bond song that came before it, perfectly matching the rawness of Casino Royale and telling the audience that this is going to be a very different Bond movie.
5 SKYFALL: The Cinematography
Skyfall is one of the most gorgeous Bond movies ever shot, period. Several locations looked incredible, with the sweeping scenes of the Scottish countryside, Macau, and urban London looking fantastic.
Additionally, the fight scene set in Shanghai (above) was one of the best scenes in the movie. The lighting made it both memorable and exciting to watch, with this fight being one of the best in Bond’s history.
4 CASINO ROYALE: Vesper Lynd
The Bond Women (or Bond Girl, as they used to be known) are some of the most iconic elements of a Bond movie. Generally, the character of Bond’s companion right can make or break a movie, with Christmas Jones being an example of a terrible Bond woman.
Fortunately, Eva Green’s performance as Vesper Lynd has been hailed as one of the best of all time. Lynd got closer to Bond than any other (except for his wife in On Her Majesty’s Secret Service), showing a softer side to the spy and even breaking his heart during the film.
3 SKYFALL: Raoul Silva
James Bond has one of the best cinematic rogues galleries of all time, with the spy locking horns with the likes of Auric Goldfinger, Francisco Scaramanga, and the iconic Ernst Stavro Blofeld since 1962.
This wealth of villains shows just how successful Javier Bardem was as Raoul Silva in Skyfall, with many suggesting he is one of the best Bond villains of all time.
2 CASINO ROYALE: It Rescued The Bond Franchise
In the early 2000’s, the Bond franchise was in bad shape. Pierce Brosnan’s final film as Bond, Die Another Day, had been a critical and commercial failure, with many believing that this could be the end of the Bond franchise.
Fortunately for fans of Bond, the franchise was rescued by Casino Royale, with the film acting as a ‘soft-reboot’ for the franchise, correcting its course for the modern audiences.
1 SKYFALL: M & Bond’s Relationship
Before the introduction of Judi Dench’s M in Goldeneye, the character of M was largely just used to give Bond a mission at the beginning of the movie and then (generally) never appear again in the film.
However, Judi Dench’s M changed this. She was a notable part of the Pierce Brosnan era – especially in The World is Not Enough – but her best performance came in Skyfall. The film’s plot focused on M more than ever before, showing her relationship with Bond as something more akin to a mother and son than a boss and her employee.
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