Sluggo said:
I think the Casino Royale remake (could you even call it a remake?) was excellent.

I wasn't sure how to classify it since the first one was a weird comedy. But it certainly fits within the scope of this topic.

To me, it's just a Bond film where he wasn't a 00 at the beginning. The whole reboot tag gets overused these days, sometimes as nothing more than a clever marketing tool.

And while we're on the subject; As a lifelong Bond uber-nerd (all the films, soundtracks, one-sheets, seen all in the theaters since 73, etc, etc), I should offer up this - Casino Royale is my favorite 007 film ever - by far.

It was finally the 007 film I'd always wanted. Others had come close, but Casino Royale delivered on every level. In fact, I haven't watched any of my DVDs of the previous films since.

To me, it's an excellent example of what a fresh look at a character & story can be. It's the opposite of the current trend in remakes\reboots\retcons\etc. It kicked everything down a notch and got back to story. No invisible cars, plans of world domination, or villains genetically changing from Irish to Japanese. Casino Royale was a basic story - wealthy businessman funding a terrorist organization and a government agent trying to stop him. It was the story that was interesting - not the fluff.