Casino Royale movie poster
Poster © Sony Pictures Releasing. Shown at reduced size for review and commentary.
GenreAction, Adventure & Thriller
RatedPG-13
Runtime2 hr 24 mins
ReleasedNovember 17, 2006
StreamingSee Where to Watch
DirectorMartin Campbell
StarringDaniel Craig, Eva Green, Mads Mikkelsen

Casino Royale (2006)

movie.guru URL: https://movie.guru/casino-royale-movie-review
Casino Royale's Details
GenreAction, Adventure & Thriller
RatedPG-13
Released11/14/2006 (Odeon Leicester Square); 11/16/2006 (United Kingdom); 11/17/2006 (United States)
StreamingSee Where to Watch on this page.
Running Time2 hr 24 mins
Budget$102–150M (reported)
Box OfficeUpdated daily from Box Office Mojo. See the numbers below.
Based OnCasino Royale by Ian Fleming
CountryUnited Kingdom, United States
LanguageEnglish
Casino Royale's Interests
GeneralTexas hold 'em, Aston Martins, an Omega watch, parkour, tuxedos that fit perfectly.
MusicDavid Arnold. Chris Cornell sings the theme, "You Know My Name."
MoviesSkyfall (2012). Craig's Bond, a little older, a lot more personal.
TelevisionWorld Series of Poker. Same game, fewer henchmen.
HeroesM. Has zero patience for Bond and tells him so to his face.
Casino Royale's Crew
DirectorMartin Campbell
WritersNeal Purvis Robert Wade, Paul Haggis
ProducersMichael G. Wilson, Barbara Broccoli
CinematographyPhil Méheux
MusicDavid Arnold
Edited ByStuart Baird
ProductionMetro-Goldwyn-Mayer, Columbia Pictures, Eon Productions
Distributed BySony Pictures Releasing
Casino Royale's Trailer
Official Trailer • Rotten Tomatoes Classic Trailers
How Casino Royale Performed
movie guru's TLDR

Here’s the thing nobody admits about Casino Royale: it ends, then keeps going, then ends again, and the Venice stretch at the back feels like a bonus disc. Up until then, it’s the best Bond movie ever made. Daniel Craig shows up looking like a guy who could actually win a bar fight, and the parkour chase in Madagascar makes every other action opening look lazy. Mads Mikkelsen’s Le Chiffre, with his scarred eye and his inhaler, turns a card game into the tensest scene of the year, which should not be possible. Eva Green’s Vesper gets the best first conversation in the whole series, a train-car roast where both of them lose. Judi Dench’s M is fed up from the start and I love her for it. $606.3 million worldwide, 94% with critics. An 8.8 because it rebuilt Bond from scratch and made him human. $176 says you call it poker night this week, lose every hand and blame your tell.

What works: Daniel Craig’s rough-edged Bond, the Madagascar chase and a poker game that’s somehow more tense than any of the action.

What doesn’t: It keeps ending and then starting again, and the Venice section after the poker game feels like a second movie nobody asked for.

Who it’s for: People who think Bond movies are too silly, and Bond fans ready to see him get knocked around for once.

Spoilers

Vesper was working for the people behind Le Chiffre to protect a man she loved, and she dies in Venice when a sinking building takes her down. Bond tracks down Mr. White and finally introduces himself the classic way.

Guru’s Take
8.8/10
Great
Casino Royale's Blurbs
About me:

James Bond (Daniel Craig) has only just earned his double-0 status, and he's already giving M (Judi Dench) a headache. A chase across a construction site in Madagascar puts him on the trail of Le Chiffre (Mads Mikkelsen), a private banker who handles money for terrorists. When one of Le Chiffre's schemes falls apart, he needs to win the money back fast, so he sets up a poker game with enormous stakes at the Casino Royale in Montenegro. MI6 buys Bond a seat at the table, and the Treasury sends Vesper Lynd (Eva Green) to watch the cash. Martin Campbell directs. One hundred forty-four minutes, one very sharp tuxedo.

Who I'd like to meet:

Anyone with a good poker face. Shaken or stirred, he really does not care.

Casino Royale's Cast (in credits order)
Daniel CraigJames Bond
Eva GreenVesper Lynd
Mads MikkelsenLe Chiffre
Judi DenchM. Dench was the only cast member retained from the Pierce B
Jeffrey WrightFelix Leiter
Giancarlo GianniniMathis
Caterina MurinoSolange
Simon AbkarianAlex Dimitrios
Isaach de BankoléSteven Obanno
Jesper ChristensenMr. White
Ivana MiličevićValenka
Tobias MenziesVilliers
Claudio SantamariaCarlos
Sébastien FoucanMollaka
Malcolm SinclairDryden
Richard SammelGettler
Ludger PistorMendel
Joseph MillsonCarter
Darwin ShawFisher
Clemens SchickKratt
Emmanuel AvenaLeo
Tom ChadbonStockbroker
AdeInfante
Urbano BarberiniTomelli
Full cast and crew on IMDb.
Casino Royale's Edit History
Every change to this page, newest first. Movie data updates are logged like any other edit.
  • (cur | prev) 14:30, 18 October 2026 DataBot +40 Numbers refreshed: IMDb users 8.0 / 10 (756,548 votes) → 8.0 / 10 (756,631 votes).
  • (cur | prev) 14:30, 17 October 2026 DataBot +480 Numbers refreshed: Worldwide box office $606.3M; Domestic box office $167.4M; Opening weekend $40.8M; Profit / loss (est.) +$114.2M; Rotten Tomatoes 94%; CinemaScore A−; box office chart updated; RT 94% (266 reviews); Metacritic 80 / 100; CinemaScore A−; IMDb users 8.0 / 10 (756,548 votes); movie.guru score 8.6.
  • (cur | prev) 12:00, 17 October 2026 DataBot +2,000 Profile created from Wikipedia and Box Office Mojo: cast, crew, release dates, budget, official trailer.