A Look Back at Casino Royale on Its 15-Year Anniversary

Last year, avid James Bond fans were expected to be treated to the final film of Daniel Craig’s run as the iconic super-agent. Unfortunately, due to issues brought about by the global pandemic, the premiere date for the next 007 film, No Time to Die, has been pushed back to late 2021. Consequently, this year also marks the 15-year anniversary of the film that started it all, as far as Daniel Craig’s James Bond is concerned—Casino Royale.

In many ways, Casino Royale really was a Hollywood film that ticked all the boxes and made a lot of people happy. It had gripping action, a star-studded cast, and incredible writing. In fact, the film was so prominent in pop culture that it managed to influence a lot of people to try gambling out for themselves. James Bond has always been an iconic character and has always had a very popular hold in the lore of pop culture. However, the film was also released back when people were just starting to get used to the concept of social media as a mainstream thing. This meant that the movie managed to spark a lot of memes even before memes were an actual thing.

For instance, the opening sequence of the film featured parkour, the art of getting the human body from one point to another in as creative a means as possible. This was one of the earliest trends in the social media age. Of course, as has been mentioned, the film also influenced many people to try out gambling for themselves. The gambling industry in itself is also highly influenced by this movie. There are Android and IOS roulette games like Roulette Casino Royale by Tinysoft, Roulette Royale by Mywavia Studios and PC games like Casino Royale Slots by GamePlay Interactive which are very popular among the users. These are just a few examples of the kind of impact that Casino Royale has had on the gambling community at large. However, many parts of the world still found land-based casinos to be quite inaccessible. That’s why a lot of people have resorted to using their phones and computers to mimic the feel of the Casino Royale film. 

To commemorate the 15-year anniversary of the film, as well as the premiere of the culmination of Craig’s run as 007, this article will look back on Casino Royale and all the elements of why it really was one of the best films of that time.

Of course, Casino Royale follows the exploits of the iconic MI6 agent James Bond who is portrayed by Daniel Craig in his first stint as the character. Many Bond fans will argue that Craig is actually the best actor to have portrayed Bond since Sean Connery did it back in the 60s. In his portrayal, Craig brings a certain ruggedness and candidness to the character that many fans found more accessible and charming. 

Aside from Craig’s acting prowess and just overall charisma, the film itself carried a lot of what people have come to expect from blockbuster action movies out of Hollywood. But also, it came with so much more. There were just certain scenes from the movie that are now forever ingrained in peoples’ minds and in the lore of pop culture. For example, as has already been talked about, the parkour sequence during the opening scene just thrust viewers right into the heat of the action without any prior warning. This was a great introduction to the new series of Bond with Craig at the helm. Aside from that, there are also the iconic poker scenes that take place in the middle parts of the movie. Somehow, against all odds, Martin Campbell, the film’s director, managed to make a game of poker so incredibly suspenseful and tense that it managed to have audiences at the edge of their seats the entire time. Also, there is the iconic Vesper scene wherein Bond seemingly creates an iconic cocktail out of thin air, which influenced many bars around the world to incorporate the drink into their menus. 

Then, of course, there are the supporting characters of the film. Vesper herself, the fictional character who inspired the drink, was portrayed by Eva Green who looks every bit of what a Bond girl should look like: classy, elegant, and sultry. There is also Mads Mikkelsen, whose portrayal of the film’s chief villain Le Chiffre is so haunting and incredibly gripping. They are just a couple of parts of the many elements that make this movie so great and iconic.

Hopefully, No Time to Die will live up to the hype and be the type of farewell that is befitting of someone of Craig’s caliber.