Casino Royale is the best Bond flick of all time

[andydreisch]

I saw Casino Royale last night. And, naturally, I thought about putting to the community this assertion: Casino Royale is the best Bond flick of all time.

Agree/Disagree ... vote!!!

[wjohnson]

Dr, No - best
Thunderball - 2nd best
From Russia with Love - 3rd best
Goldfinger - 4th best
Casino Royale (with Craig) - 5th best
Spy Who Loved Me - 6th best.

This is not open for discussion.

[andydreisch]

You forgot Live and Let Die.

[stevec]

Nah - the best has been the ORIGINAL "Casino Royale" with Peter Sellers, David Niven, and Woody Allen.

[wjohnson]

The best thing about Live and Let Die was the song. I can't decide if that or Nobody Does it Better by Carly Simon is my favorite Bond song.

[andydreisch]

I agree! Live and Let Die, the song, was better than the flick.

Ah, the good ol' days of Paul McCartney and the Wings. Awesome stuff.

Andy

[rickcrites]

Hi Andy,

What made this the best Bond of all time for you? I haven't seen it yet, so I'm curious.

If it is THAT good, we might see it in the theater, instead of waiting for it to come out on video (as we do with so many films).

Thanks,

[andydreisch]

Well, rickcrites, I was taking a little editorial license. I actually don't think CR is the best Bond flick, just stiring the pot, that's all.

I do think that CR is among the best, and much better than I thought it'd be, actually. Different, for sure, but I liked it.

Andy

[RLackey]

Jeez. How this post escaped my attention, I'll never know.

I've actually exhausted many hours of life debating this very subject amongst my crew of rabid Bond enthusiasts. The product of our analysis was four criteria by which the quality of a Bond movie can be accurately and objectively judged. These criteria are marked on a scale of 1 to 10 added and then added to the "X Factor."

1) Quality of Bond
Casting of the lead makes or breaks a Bond movie. Her Majesty's Secret Service being the finest example of a good script gone horribly Bond, if the man in the tuxedo is not spot on, all is for naught.
1 = George Lazenby
10 = Sean Connery

2) Quality of Villain
Pierce Brosnan's performance was terrific, but a guy who kills people with a television made Tomorrow Never Dies feel like you were watching a tabloid. The villain *must* rock in order to succeed.
1 = Eliot Carver
10 = Auric Goldfinger

3) Quality of Bond Girl
Eva Green's walk off homerun in Casino Royale evidences rather dramatically how drastic the impact of a good Bond girl can be. If this role is filled well, it can turn around even the poorest story.
1 = Denise Richards
10 = Daniela Bianchi

4) Quality of Car
Dude. The ride must be sweet.
1 = BMW Z4
10 = Aston Martin DB5

"X Factor" aka "Bond Factor"
The X Factor is the multiplier by which one can apply to any one of the criteria in a given film. The value of this multiplier is applied to an area demonstrated extraordinary "Bondness" to a maximum of 2. For example, if the individual cast as Bond is very, very Bondlike in his delivery, an appropriate multiplier is applied (e.g. for "The Spy Who Loved Me" Roger Moore delivered his finest Bond, yielding a 1.5 Bond Factor to Quality of Bond).

By these criteria, we can assess Casino Royale as follows:

1) Quality of Bond: 8
2) Quality of Villain: 4
3) Quality of Bond Girl: 9
4) Quality of Car: 6 (was an Aston Martin, but lacking any wicked stuff like a rocket launcher).

Add a Bond Factor of 1.3 to Quality of Bond for Extraordinary First Appearance, and Casino Royale scores a (10.4 + 4 + 9 + 6) 29.4. Very respectable on par with Brosnan and Moore with the promise of reaching Connery status.