Conventional wisdom holds that a successful performance in a blockbuster owes as much to stuntmen as it does to actors, but dismissing Craig's contributions would be doing a disservice to his extraordinary performance. But casting Craig ended up serving a dual purpose: It clearly severed Casino Royale from the movies that came before it, and ensured that an exceptionally talented actor would chart the course for Bond's future. In appearance and style, Craig was certainly an unconventional choice for the role also-rans like Goran Visnjic and Henry Cavill, with their dark, chiseled good looks, fit the typical concept of 007 much more neatly. Ian Fleming's original novel provided the basic framework: A short, grim story about a secret agent who neither saves the world nor gets the girl. The 2006 adaptation of Casino Royale retains a single holdover from the Brosnan movies: Judi Dench's M-presumably because Casino Royale's creative brain trust correctly intuited that no actor in the world was better suited to the role.

Ian Fleming's original novel provided the basic framework: a short, grim story about a secret agent who neither saves the world nor gets the girl. Today, the idea of a dark and gritty reboot has correctly become a much-derided cliche, but after surfing down a glacier and fencing against Madonna, Bond was desperately in need of a dark and gritty reboot. The decision to reboot the franchise was a kind of preemptive strike-a recognition that that Jack Bauers and Jason Bournes of the world were starting to make James Bond look a little creaky. Die Another Day, Brosnan's final turn-often written off as a flop today-was actually the highest-grossing James Bond movie of all time. The decision to reboot the franchise and start fresh with Casino Royale was bolder than it might seem today.

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