"Bond is back, and he’s blond!" Those words, uttered on an entertainment television show to introduce actor Daniel Craig as the next James Bond, caused many a diehard Bond fan to cringe or scream obscenities. I was dismayed. My choice had been rejected by EON Productions, the filmmakers entrusted with the Bond legacy. But regardless of who they’d chosen, Bond just couldn’t be blond.

But on sober reflection, I thought that if the filmmakers capture the true nature of Ian Fleming’s fictional character, then it doesn’t matter if he’s a blond or even a redhead. They clearly had this in mind, because Daniel Craig is a fabulous James Bond, and Casino Royale is the best Bond movie in almost 40 years -- the best since On Her Majesty’s Secret Service (1969).

Casino Royale is loosely based on Ian Fleming’s first Bond novel, first published in 1953, which introduced the secret agent and several of the series’ recurring characters, including Felix Leiter of the CIA and "M," Head of the British Secret Service. But the filmmakers have wisely updated the villains and changed the locales to represent the problems of today’s world. Bond’s nemesis, Le Chiffre, is no longer an agent of the Soviet Union and the banker of a communist labor union, but an independent and a money manager for terrorist groups; when Bond gambles, he no longer plays Baccarat but Texas Hold-’Em Poker; and Le Casino Royale has been relocated from the west coast of France to Montenegro.

The biggest and most welcome change is James Bond himself. Fans of the books will recall that Bond was never the punning, two-dimensional, debonair gentilhomme portrayed by Sean Connery through to Pierce Brosnan, but a ruthless killer. Not particularly good-looking but dangerous and alluring to women, Bond was an assassin employed by the British government who enjoyed the good life afforded him by a large expense account. He was a misogynist who liked sleeping with women but disliked working with them. Women were distractions who got in the way of the job. Fleming gave Bond many of his own views -- and Bond was, of course, a creation of the 1950s.

Through Daniel Craig, director Martin Campbell has emphasized Bond’s physicality and toughness, which must have been necessary to complete a mission at all costs. We also see emotions in Bond that have rarely, if ever, been seen before: sadness, depression, desperation. His conversations reveal more depth than before, and more personal disclosure. Thanks to screenwriters Neal Purvis and Robert Wade, no longer are Bond’s lines simply setups for the next pun. Bond is now a real person. Even the villains, though still colorful, are more realistic and more dangerous than ever. Though we know that Bond will never be killed onscreen, it’s clear in Casino Royale that, unless his missions get a lot easier, he’ll be dead in a few years.

Le Chiffre (Mads Mikkelsen) invests funds for terrorists, but lately he’s been playing fast and loose with his clients’ money. Now deeply in debt, Le Chiffre plans to win $100 million at a private poker game at Le Casino Royale, in Montenegro. If Bond can defeat him at the card tables, Le Chiffre will have no choice but to turn himself in to MI6 for protection and divulge all the secrets of his terrorist clients. Aiding Bond in this task is Roland Mathis (Giancarlo Giannini), MI6’s local representative in Montenegro, and Vesper Lynd (Eva Green), a beautiful MI6 agent seemingly impervious to Bond’s charms.

The exotic locales are standard for a Bond flick, and the women are as beautiful as ever. The only disappointment is Green, whose portrayal of Vesper Lynd has neither the reserved beauty nor the underlying sensuality of Fleming’s original Bond girl. It’s difficult to believe that Bond would fall for her.

That aside, Casino Royale delivers on every level a Bond film should: great action, superb stunts, exotic locales, seductive women, and lots of style. It’s perhaps a bit long, but it’s one of the best films of the year. Assuming EON Productions doesn’t revert to its old tendencies but continues on this path, the Bond franchise will be saved, and Daniel Craig may be remembered as the best Bond ever.

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