10 Films BETTER Than The Book They Were Based On

While Casino Royale was Fleming’s first James Bond novel, it was the twenty-first film, serving to introduce Daniel Craig’s brutal portrayal of the character; the franchise was keen to veer away from the silliness of the later Pierce Brosnan movies in favour of a darker, more grounded tone.

Many of the films based on Fleming’s novels are loose adaptations at best, as if the source material was skim-read on someone’s lunch break, but Casino Royale sticks closely to the books plot and merely updates the setting while adding a depth to the characters that was missing in the original story.

Bond’s characterisation in the novel is somewhat lacking; his only character traits present are his chauvinism, drinking, and hyper-competence, but Daniel Craig had decades of inspiration to draw on for his version of the super-spy and that all comes through in his debut.

Better yet is Casino Royale’s villain, Le Chiffre (Mads Mikkelsen). In the book Le Chiffre is merely a stepping-stone for Bond so he can confront the series more notable baddies but Mads Mikkelsen’s performance elevates the character to one of the franchise’s most memorable villains.