The law of diminishing returns is very real when it comes to franchise fare, meaning that lightning doesn’t often strike twice for any high-profile IP. However, bringing Martin Campbell back into the James Bond fold to direct Casino Royale proved to be a masterstroke in every imaginable fashion.
Of course, the filmmaker had previous for rebooting cinema’s most famous secret agent in spectacular style, with GoldenEye introducing Pierce Brosnan’s spin on the legendary MI6 operative to the masses following the title hero’s longest-ever absence from the big screen, and it immediately went down in the history books as one of the best Bonds ever.
Repeating the magic, Campbell only went and did the exact same thing via Daniel Craig’s first stint under the tux, with the black-and-white prologue alone leaving audiences completely and utterly convinced they were in the midst of greatness. Sure enough, Casino Royale wasn’t just the highest-grossing James Bond blockbuster ever made at the time, it instantly stood tall as one of the finest.
We’re going to go out on a limb and say Campbell won’t be getting a third bite at the cherry when the next movie ends up securing the person to steer the ship from behind the camera, but going two-for-two on classics is a hell of a legacy to leave behind.
GoldenEye might be nowhere to be found, but Casino Royale currently flying high as one of the most-watched features on both Prime Video and iTunes this weekend (per FlixPatrol) hammers home that greatness never goes out of style.