Shaken. Not stirred.

I do not take lightly my idolization of 007, or my appreciation for the past 20 Bond movies. So it's not without serious reflection that I've decided Casino Royale is the best James Bond film ever.

Allow me to enumerate and elucidate my reasons for thinking this movie is just so goddamned good.

NOTE: No explicit spoilers follow - very little that you wouldn't really already know from the previews, and no information that will give away the plot.

1. Pre-title sequence

Almost every Bond movie begins with an action-based sequence before the main title and credits. It usually involves Bond on some kind of mission, and the outcome always influences the main storyline in some way.

Casino Royale's pre-title sequence is a masterpiece. Featuring rough, realistic fighting shot in grainy black and white, it begins the reinvention of 007 as we know him.

2. Title sequence and song

Chris Cornell, a favorite singer of mine from the bands Audioslave and Soundgarden, wrote and recorded the song You Know My Name for the title credits. The song is great, and it's got a masculine, slightly grunge sound that blends well with the tone of the movie. It's the first time that a male singer has recorded a Bond title song since a-ha did the song for The Living Daylights.

The title sequence is a welcome change from the usual display of dancing naked female sillouettes. In fact, there is hardly any sexual presence to speak of: it's mostly simple animation focused on a sillouette of Bond and the creative use of spades, hearts, diamonds, and clubs, not only to foreshadow the poker game in the plot of the movie, but also to suggest the strategic risks that 007 is known for taking with his life. It ends with a stunning shot of Daniel Craig as Bond, letting you know that The Man Has Indeed Arrived.

3. Plot and Dialogue

The storyline of the movie is awesome. It eschews the hackeneyed explosions and flashy gadgets worn out by the franchise, and focuses on Bond's wits and the cost of betrayal.

Past Bond films - every one of them - have followed a rigid formula. Gun barrel sequence, pre-title sequence, title sequence. Bond visits M and Q-Branch, and says "shaken not stirred" and "Bond, James Bond", by about the middle of the film. He gets captured and somehow escapes. He beds at least two women. He gets involved in a car chase in which he shows off the latest Bond gadgets. He kills the villain in a grandiose fashion. And the film concludes with him getting cozy with the main Bond girl of the film.

Certainly a tried-and-true formula, but one that was becoming trite and boring after 20 reincarnations. Wisely, the makers of Casino Royale broke the rules. They didn't destroy the formula altogether, but they firmly departed from convention, and the result is an engaging and fresh story.

Instead of a car chase, there is a pursuit on foot, which is infinitely more interesting because it is not limited to streets, and it involves the characters' physical stamina as well as their quick thinking. And instead of the cheesy, smarmy Bond lines typical of Bond movies, the few one-liners delivered by Craig are believable and actually charming.

There's hardly any superfluous violence in Casino Royale. None of the bad guys die in impressive, earth-shaking denoument explosions; their final ends are actually believable.

4. Bond girl - Eva Green as Vesper Lynd

Without a doubt, the smartest and (and I think prettiest) Bond girl ever. She's every bit Bond's match for wits, and she doesn't just swoon into his arms after 2 corny lines and let him take her. She stands her own and Bond can't complete the mission without her.

5. Villain - Mads Mikkelsen as Le Chiffre

I don't know how they found this guy, but he's so fucking cool. He's much more reticent than other Bond villains, and his presence on screen is more captivating. And he doesn't portray the stereotypical, cackling, meglomaniac Bond villain who pets his cat and dreams of world domination. Instead, he's a believable modern bad guy: a private banker to terrorists, and a cruel, unforgiving, selfish, very wealthy man.

6. Judi Dench as M

It's Judi Dench. Need I say more? The woman should get an Oscar for every part she's ever done.

7. Daniel Craig as Ian Fleming's James Bond 007

This will require an entire post of its own.