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Watching "Casino Royale" twenty years after its release is a revelation. Quite bluntly, action movies don't look like this anymore, and I was surprised how gripping and tense the fight sequences were in this movie. Why? What feels so different? It's the minimal use of CGI, and the focus on stunt-work and practical effects. Nolan's Batman trilogy shares a similar raw feel and its because you're generally watching humans do all that jumping! It helps that "Casino Royale" has all the ingredients of a good "Bond" movie with an excellent villain and love interest. After a couple decades of cartoon bad guys Mads Mikkelson turns in a subdued, creepy performance as the major contrast for our hero. Eva Green might be my favorite bond girl. Most love interests of Bond say cheeky one-liners, but Green's has the backing of intelligence and wit equal to 007. It's an absurd thing to say, but this felt like a real relationship. I like nearly everything about the movie. You'll bounce between fifteen minute action scenes where not a word is said, to an equally long poker game that has nothing but good dialog. What I like about "Casino Royale" is that from a distance this movie follows the formula religiously, but at the same time feels like a fresh reboot of a very different, more confident, brutal Bond. Take the "chase" scene that starts after Green's Vesper Lynd is kidnapped. Having not seen the movie since release I blurted out "here we go" as the cars raced off. In less than a minute it was over, almost taunting me for assuming previous action expectations. If it has any flaw it's the overly long epilogue past the casino climax. I understand why it's there, and how it attaches Bond to our heroine, and sets up the sequel, but it does take a long way to close. Some small editing could have resolved to credits quicker. Still, this is a fabulous movie, every bit deserved of its praise on release. In the years since, when every movie is shot entirely on green screen sets, its only improved. Special effects generally only get better over time, but "Casino Royale" feels like a peak moment for action before Hollywood figured out how to make high quality CGI work so well, that nearly everything looks the same.