New Century, Old Bond

I commented a while back on my excitement about the upcoming newest installment of Bond, Casino Royale and talking about the hiring of Eva Green as Vesper Lynd. I have no problem with Daniel Craig as Bond, and what's more, the series needs a bit of a shake up, like the way they resurrected the Batman series. Well, according to Wikipedia, that's just what we're going to get:

The plot of the novel and the plot of the film are said to be similar. In the novel, the villain Le Chiffre goes to the casino Royale-les-Eaux in an attempt to recover SMERSH's money he lost in a bad investment. There, however, he was prevented from obtaining this goal by James Bond who beat and bankrupted him in a series of games in Chemin de Fer. Due to Le Chiffre's inability to pay back the money he had lost, he was subsequently killed by SMERSH.

The film is believed to be similar to this; however, two major changes are known. First, the villain Le Chiffre is a banker for terrorists and similar to the novel has lost his client's money, although not in a bad investment, but because of Bond's intervention in a terrorist plot. Because of this, Le Chiffre goes to the Casino Royale in Montenegro where he attempts to win back the money he lost. The second major change is the centerpiece card game being changed from Chemin de Fer (Baccarat) to no-limit Texas hold 'em poker.

I can understand why Texas Hold 'Em has been inserted, thanks to the poker phenomenon that has occured over the last couple years. Still, it feels a little forced, but other than that, I think the updates to the original story sounds good to me. However, what's even more interesting is the following, which describes the opening sequence:

Indeed the pre-title sequence is known to be Bond undertaking a mission in which he earns his stripes in the double-O section. According to Fleming, Bond obtained his double-O number by completing two tasks. The first, an assassination of a Japanese cipher expert on the thirty-sixth floor of the RCA Building at Rockefeller Center in New York City. The second, an assassination of a Norwegian who became a double agent and betrayed two British agents. In the film, Bond supposedly kills an MI6 Section Chief and his contact in Pakistan for selling secrets. The entire sequence is said to be filmed in black and white and is rumoured to be followed, untraditionally, by the gun barrel sequence and the title sequence.

Okay, that gave me goose bumps. Get rid of most (but not all) of the gadgets. Get back to the hardcore Bond. Get my money back in the theater.