A List Of Things Thrown Five Minutes Ago

YOU KNOW MY NAME: It's easier to discuss Casino Royale by noting what it doesn't have:

• Ludicrous gadgets. Cell phones and laptops are used frequently, a couple of small GPS devices play a major role, and Bond's car has a hiding place for medical supplies and a gun, but no missiles that pop out of headlights, tuxedos with built in parachutes, or laser watches. No Q or R at all. Marshall J. Flinkman would be disappointed.
• Ludicrous deathtraps. No cages suspended over shark tanks or laser beams that are positioned to slowly slice Bond in half. Sure, there's a nasty little bit involving a chair with the seat cut out and a large rope with knots in it.
• A villain with bizarre and/or incomprehensible motivation and bizarre physical tic. Yes, Le Chiffre has a condition in which he cries tears of blood, but no "former Korean general who's had plastic surgery to look like a British aristocrat" or "man with bullet lodged in his head so he feels no pain" here. And what does he want? Money. And not in a "I'll start World War III for the ratings!" sense, but just he wants his money.
• A lengthy pre-credits action sequence. We get about five minutes of black and white before the credits, and you have to wait for the ludicrous (and brilliant) action sequence until after the credits (a foot chase involving a construction site and "free running" that's astounding to watch).
• The traditional Bond movie ending. No "Christmas comes but once a year" here.

It's brutal, effective, and jarring. Well worth your time. Be forewarned that the comments are a spoiler zone, since I expect some people will have comments on the third act of the film, which serves as a pretty big departure from traditional Bondism.