YOU know when you're in the popcorn queue between Jonathan Ross and Dermot O'Leary that you're attending a very important screening indeed.

Yes, The Bas Gaz was there at the very first UK showing of Casino Royale in Leicester Square a few Fridays ago, and it's my pleasure to report that this most eagerly-anticipated film is quite the blockbuster.

Those who may have been panicking about any aspect of the work of the new "blond Bond" Daniel Craig should put their concerns to one side and go along to have their preconceptions blown away by what's a very good movie indeed.

It takes the standard tropes of any previous instalment of our agent's adventures - the cars, the girls, the locations, the gadgets, the one-liners and everything else spoofed by the Austin Powers franchise - melts them down and, from these new beginnings, creates a modern Bond for an expectant, post-Jason Bourne generation.

The pre-credit black-and-white noirish opener depicts his final assignment before being given "00" status, where we witness a leaner, meaner Bond crack some sinks using people's heads with a little more realism than previous incarnations have been allowed.

Then, after a very nice title sequence featuring hearts, aces, spades and clubs, we're with him for his first few official excursions into legitimate super-spydom. Bond fans will enjoy watching him destroy an entire building site chasing a suspect before the big baddie, Le Chiffre (Mads Mikkelsen), even properly enters the frame for the film's core poker game.

That scenario, which could have ended up as rather staid, is greatly enlivened with the interruption of each hand by various ingenious excuses for the utilisation of some Bond props and some frenzied fisticuffs too.

Film focus Starring: Daniel Craig, Judi Dench, Mads Mikkelsen
Director: Martin Campbell (GoldenEye, The Mask of Zorro)
Running time: 144min
In a word: Surprising
Our verdict: Watch it
If you want to know more:

www.sonypictures.com/ movies/casinoroyale

And Eva Green, as Vesper Lynd, manages to convert her Bond girl role into a proper part. Now that's impressive.

It takes Casino Royale's plot a little while to settle, and the same can be said for its leading light. Action man Craig has barely any dialogue in the first hour, which prevents an audience from identifying with him, but, it seems, this has all been part of the plan.

It's precisely the point that it takes time to warm to this new hero, who, it is made clear, needs to have his rough edges knocked off by a little trauma and heartbreak. As the running time progresses, so we're allowed into his head a bit more, meaning that, come the conclusion, he merits our admiration, the famous music and his final utterance, "Bond, James Bond".

The Oscar-winning scriptwriter of Million Dollar Baby and director of Crash, Paul Haggis, was drafted in to do some work on the script, and the latter is noticeably sharp, new and improved too. The one-liners are much more varied than just a few throwaway puns, providing real laughs and then real poignancy as the film finally reveals its hand in the dramatic concluding Venice set-piece.