What Green does, here, is beyond wonderful. This reversal of traditional gender roles is essential to Vesper’s character in that she, as Bond puts it, strips him of his armour. He, ultimately, is the one that falls at her feet. Green gives Vesper a cautiousness, a protective layer that allows her to resist Bond’s charms, so, thankfully, unlike painfully two-dimensional caricatures of women that came with those outdated, earlier 007 outings. And to think, some still believe that he was the smart one. Within minutes, Vesper strips James of his bravado and reminds him of exactly what he is a lonely, self-interested misfit exercising his internal anger in violence on behalf of his country. When we and Bond first meet her, she stuns us with a scathing psychoanalysis of cinema’s most-adored alpha male. The accountant assigned to keep an eye on a rather reckless James Green’s Lynd is a staggering mix of biting wit, emotional detachment, and vulnerability. The driving force, however, behind my admiration for Bond’s origin story is Eva Green’s quietly devastating performance as Vesper Lynd. There are numerous reasons for this, from the refreshing purge of tired, misogynistic clichés, to the introduction of a humanised 007 and the wonder that is, of course, always Judi Dench’s M.
‘Casino Royale’ is, without a doubt, my favourite Bond film.
