James Bond in review - Casino Royale (Martin Campbell, 2006)

"I have no armour left. You've stripped it from me. Whatever is left of me, whatever I am, I'm yours."

Rewind to 2000. The Bond producers finally acquire the rights to Fleming's first and most influential Bond novel Casino Royale and are looking to bring 007 into the 21st century with a bang. With Brosnan's contract not quite through after the release of The World Is Not Enough at the turn of the millennium, it would be another six years before we would be introduced to a new 007 and taken back to the genesis of Fleming's spy.

Daniel Craig is 007 number seven

Whilst distinctly having a very different look to the previous 20 official films in the series, (which makes sense as this is essentially the birth of James Bond), Casino Royale is arguably one of the best films in the series. The direction is crisp and taut; director Martin Campbell returns to Bond after introducing Brosnan to audiences in great fashion in Goldeneye in 1995, the acting is also meticulous, particularly from Eva Green as the defining Bond girl Vesper and the ever brilliant Judi Dench returns as Bond's icy boss M : all the elements generally seem to click.

One of the most beautiful and the most integral of Bond's ladies - Vesper Lynd (Eva Green)

Despite a backlash from many claiming that Craig was NOT BOND he delivers brilliantly and gives perhaps the strongest debut performance of a Bond actor. Bond returned to battle the box office here and overseas once again and, surprise surprise, he triumphed, even after 44 years and six incarnations of the eponymous hero. All in all a terrific kick start to what some have suggested to be a dying franchise after the commercially successful but realistically disappointing Die Another Day. 'You know his name, you know his number', as the old Bond tagline says.