Casino Royale (DVD, 2007, 2-Disc Set, Full Frame)

Still not on a par with the days of Sean Connery, the new Bond is quite an improvement over effeminate versions portrayed by Pierce Brosnan and Timothy Dalton. You can finally see some of the manly qualities that Bond should have, without all of the fancy-pants poncery of the more modern Englishmen to play the part.


But enough about the acting, as that's hardly what people would buy a Bond film for!


The Bondgirls: very nice this time around. I remember hearing an uproar about Eva Green being selected for the female lead, but I think she's perfect. Quite good in this film. She was thankfully not another Xena: Warrior Princess 21st-Century female action hero stereotype. She was tough, yet vulnerable, and quite feminine. The other ladies were quite easy on the eyes, as well, though they don't get much screen time. It's a one girl show this time around.


The Plot: though I realize nobody watches Bond films for the clever plot, this one was not so ridiculous as some of its predecessors. Though not as intricate, with only mild twisting and turning, it is at least believable. Basically, the villain is a banker-to-the-warlords who takes a huge loss when his stock market scheme is foiled, and needs to make up the defecit before the warlords realize he was gambling with their money. Intro the high-stakes Texas Hold'em tournament (yeah, you heard right!) held in Montenegro - probably the most unlikely premise for Bond to appear anywhere, it is an obvious latch-on to the growing popularity of the card game. Anyway, Bond needs to win, because he's Bond, and the villain needs to win, because he doesn't want to sleep with the fishes, see. Violence and intrigue ensue. Pretty standard stuff, if you cut out the poker bit.


The Action: yes, beside the Bondgirls, this is the reason most people would spend two hours watching a Bond Film. And, for the first time in the last few installments, this edition actually lives up to expectations. After a short flashback for expository purposes, we are treated to a relatively original chase scene, something you can rarely count on in a Bond film. The action here was well-balanced between tension-building realism and the over-the-top unlikeliness Bond films are noted for. I was impressed. Later on, there is a short car chase that ends in an interesting, if somewhat Snidely Whiplash-esque, manner. A somewhat less interesting fuel truck fight (I know I've seen it in a previous installment) sets the stage for one of Bond's clever tricks that the audience isn't let in on until the end. Also, they do some interesting things to a Venician building towards the end.


The Cars: this was a little disappointing. The Astin-Martin was nice, but that's about it. One moment that tickled my fancy was when they showed bond driving a rental car that looked like a Ford Focus, or something similarly lame (no offense to Ford employees - I'm sure it gets excellent gas mileage).


The Gadgets: surprisingly few gadgets entered into the story, and nothing that allows Bond to make a MacGuyver-like escape from some holding cell. Every last deus ex machina in the film was due to something else saving Bond's bacon. I missed the laser pens, and John Cleese, but you can't have everything.


Overall, I would say this is definitely above averageon the Bond scale, and I would recommend all Bondophiles buy it. People with only a mild interest in Bond films may want to rent first.

Have to say I bought it because I'm a huge Daniel Craig fan, and have been following his career for sometime. I think he is up there with many of the great English/UK actors. Choosing him for James Bond was the best thing they ever did to keep the Bond legacy going. Even Sean Connery was delighted at the choice.

Casino Royale certainly bought me back to some of the first Bond films, like Dr. NO, and Goldfinger to name a few, with lots of action, great acting, beautiful woman, great locations but with a modern up to date format. I was glad to see less gadgets, but the gadgets in Casino Royale fit the movies modern day venue.

I actually didn't dislike anything, even the movies length. In order to do a good Bond film you need time to get into the characters, plot, villians, I feel the movie moves well, and I didn't get bored at all. I had heard from a few people that it seemed to drag, and could have been a bit shorter, I disagree whole heartedly. I gave it an A+ and look forward to seeing Daniel Craig in the next installment, which is due out in Nov. of 2008.

One final comment as to Daniel Craig, please see some of his other films, like Infamous, Road to Perdition, The Mother, Sylvia, Obsession, Laura Croft, just to name a few, he's excellent, before you pass judgement as to his role of James Bond. My opinion is he will be standing on our American stage one day accepting an Oscar as Best Supporting or better yet Best Actor, that's how good he is. A consummate actor for sure. That's MY review.

when Fleming sat up atop his Jamaican plantation Goldeneye almost 60 years agao and ghostwrote the stories from his darker life with his fellow preppy assassins for Queen and country, he'd no way to envision the technologival pyrotechnics that so nearly destroyed the terrifying central thems of his Bond series--a warning that the Cold War had gotten the world to the point where it needed apolitical and amoral semi-psychopathic maniacs like James Bond to save it--into almost comic book comedy;

the Pinto II nadir was surely casting Roger Moore in place of Sean, sort of substituting your even older great great uncle for your grandfather;

of course, it was always hoped Lazenby would warm into the role after a simply splendid OHMSS--still perhaps the most realistic of the Bond movies and surely the most accurate to the book with the same title and featuring the still best Bond Girl ever, Diana Rigg--but we all know how that fared;

enter the moody Bonds who seemed more like women, crowned by a simply ridiculous Priss Brosnan, who even fought like a grade school girl;

this Bond is something special, accurate to every description Fleming made of his character physically, sartorially, arrogantly and athletically;

and it's a good thing, too because this Vesper was enchanting, mesmerising as the one from the book, as much a man's as a woman's woman;

Ian wanted Dr. No to look like this, but between Saltzman and Broccoli and the British Official Secrets Act wound up settling for something dramatically less;

he must be looking down terribly pleased he finally won out;

Wow....this is the best Bond movie since the era of Sean Connery. Daniel Craig's interpretation of Bond is gritty and because he is a new "007", still vulnerable to everyday vices.
I think that people need to look at the storyline here as a new beginning, instead of trying to compare it to the past titles. "Casino Royale" was the first Ian Fleming Bond novel and it follows the story pretty close (of course the book was written in 1953, story updated to today's headlines) even down to the brutal torture scene with the chair.
The DVD set is a 2 disc collection. I always opt for the widescreen version and this is transferred beautifully in 2.40 anamorphic widescreen. (Of course you may not like widescreen if your TV is smaller than 27"). Sound is mixed in Dolby Digital 5.1 and really makes nice use of all channels.
Disc 2 bonus features include "Becoming Bond" and James Bond for Real". Also has Chris Coronel's video of the theme song, and a brand new featurette: "Bond Girls are Forever".
The debate will go on for years as to who is the best Bond...my choice for the future is Daniel Craig.

Yes, Casino Royale is another Bond movie. However, it is anything but typical. This film marks the first time Daniel Craig takes the helm, and the result is a pleasure to watch. Craig brings Bond "back to basics," as there are no gadgets and few women to get in the way of his mission. The action scenes also return the focus to Bond's body, as the chase scenes mostly include Bond running; gone are the tanks, planes, and boats of previous installments. For readers, this film is also almost exactly like Flemings novel of the same name, which puts this film at the forefront of the Bond cannon.