The film opens with its traditional pre-title sequence, this time a grainy black and white vignette showing a young Bond (Daniel Craig as the youngest actor to take on the role since George Lazenby) making his first two professional kills - thus earning him his 00 status. The new film version takes us back to the beginning of Bond's career but updates the setting from the Cold War to the War on Terror. The 'Casino Royale' novel marked the first appearance of James Bond, a Cold War era spy with a newly acquired 00 license to kill. Now, Eon Productions is ready to put all those Bonds behind them to begin again, and let us see how Fleming's character came to be such a lethal and efficient secret agent. And most recently, Pierce Brosnan's Bond announced the franchise's move toward slick productions loaded with clever quips and prone to poke fun at Bond for being a misogynistic dinosaur. In the late '80s there was a swing back toward grit and realism with Timothy Dalton's brief outing as Bond. That trend peaked in the 70s and 80s when Roger Moore took over the Bond role and the series became more and more over the top (the best of these being 'For Your Eyes Only' and 'The Spy Who Loved Me'). By the mid 60s it began a move toward gadgetry, special effects and spectacle ('Thunderball,' 'You Only Live Twice'). No' and 'From Russia With Love' in the early 60s. It began by sticking close to Ian Fleming's books with its films 'Dr. One of the reasons for this success has been the franchise's ability to reinvent itself during its 40-year plus history.

So for their 22nd Bond film, the producers have decided to go back to the beginning to in essence re-launch what has become one of the longest running and most successful film franchises of all time. But this is the first time the official Bond franchise (the one overseen by the late Albert Broccoli's Eon Productions) has actually filmed the novel. Technically, this is the third adaptation of 'Casino Royale.' There was an Americanized TV version with Barry Nelson as Jimmy Bond in the 50s, and a spoof starring Woody Allen in the 60s.

The latest Bond adventure is 'Casino Royale' (opening November 17 throughout San Diego) based on the 1953 novel in which Ian Fleming introduced 007 to readers and reboots the franchise with gritty vigor. This month Daniel Craig becomes the sixth actor to take on the role of the famous MI6 British agent.

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