Casino Royale ****

Die Another Day, the last Pierce Brosnan Bond movie, is on cable right now. While channel-surfing, I came across it and heard the following dialogue:

Halle Berry (from off-camera): "Don't pull it out, James. I'm not done with it yet."

You probably thought she was talking about his weiner, right? Wrong; she's talking about a diamond in her belly button. Huh. Huh.

This type of cheese periodically bogs down the James Bond franchise, like the later Roger Moore movies. In comparison, Casino Royale is completely dairy-free. Think of it as Royale Without Cheese.

The story begins at the beginning of Bond's career, as he gets his 00 designation. This Bond is not a cartoonish superhero. He's human and capable of making mistakes and misjudging people. He's also the toughest Bond since Sean Connery. And the buffest--several women in the theater gasped in the scene when he steps out of the ocean in his bathing suit.

How are the action scenes? They're incredible. There is an insane chase scene near the beginning of the movie where Bond chases a bomb-maker up and down the girders of a high-rise building under construction. The actor who plays the bomb-maker is incredibly athletic and acrobatic; it's like watching Jackie Chan at his most death-defying. (Trivia from imdb.com: "The style of free-running/movement Mollaka the Bomb-Maker uses in the Madagascar Chase near the beginning of the film is called Parkour. Sebastien Foucan, who plays Mollaka, is also one of the creators of Parkour.") That vertigo-inducing action sequence was the highlight of the movie for me, but the action and suspense really never let up.

As I sat there watching scene after scene of sharp dialogue, believable movie physics, deepening intrigue, and actual character development, I thought, "Man what's not to like? This is one of the best Bond movies ever."

I've had 48 hours to think about it, and I still think it's one of the best Bond movies ever. And the cool thing is that they started over from the very beginning. So, if we're lucky, we may be treated to tasty, dairy-free Bond movies for years to come.