Casino Royale

To be fair, the movie's first big invented action scene is a parkour-flavored race through a Madagascar construction site, featuring Sebastien Foucan, one of the major figures in the extreme urban sport. But a lengthy sequence in Miami delivers only a minor plot point, suffers from boring overkill and could have been cut entirely or reshaped, except that its cost must have been prohibitive. Although Campbell's direction seems energized at times, he also seems caught up in intrusive action as an apology for the film's other complexities.

Some casual fans will be annoyed at a movie in which many of the best scenes are the romantic moments between Craig and Green. At 26, Green comes off as five or 10 years too young for the part as written, but maybe her ravishing and near-innocent beauty makes her the right kind of woman to have melted Bond's cold heart. Craig also has quality interactions with Judi Dench in her best turn as M and Jeffrey Wright's Felix Leiter, who had darned well better play a bigger role in the next film.

It's here that the Fleming/Bond purist in me must digress: The decision to have Bond engaged in a game of Hold 'Em poker is an absolute betrayal of the character and an embarrassing piece of pandering. In the book, Bond plays baccarat and like every other obscure casino game he plays through Fleming's series, it's proof of the complexity of a man who can adapt to any circumstance and who takes even leisure pursuits -- gambling, food, drink -- seriously. If somebody suggested that James Bond risk his masculinity on a game played by fat, unshaved Internet addicts on ESPN, 007 would probably shoot them.

It's a tribute to Craig that neither the poker nor the Miami sequence nor the usual product plugs cripple "Casino Royale." Simply having the right Bond in place is enough to make this the best film in the franchise since I can't remember when, and to make me excited for what comes next.