Casino Royale and my new fitness regimen

Daniel Craig is James Bond. (Boy, is he.)

Yes, this Bond film is a bit more brutish than its predecessors, but it retains enough of the Bond-esque humor, charm, good looks, and fancy cars to be true to the genre. While we couldn't predict the plot (which is a real pleasure), it was easy enough for my sensitive self to see where a scene might turn a bit ugly with plenty of time to squinch my eyes shut. And while I haven't ever had to do that in a Bond film before, it wasn't such a huge divergence that it really bothered us. In fact, the greater physicality of it all was part of what really made it great fun, so I'm willing to take the bad with the good. For one thing, I don't remember ever seeing a Bond spend so much time running full speed. Craig really looks believably powerful when he's going flat out. There is a lengthy chase scene early in the movie that features free-running -- this might be the best on-foot chase scene ever in movies. The fellow he is chasing is played by Sebastien Foucan, one of the originators of parkour and the creator of free-running. These ain't no stunts.

Overall, great fun and true Bond.

(And just for the record: My husband had his sporty little Craig-Bond swim trunks way before this movie ever came out.)