Casino Royale - DVD Release (2008)
Casino Royale
Directed By: Martin Campbell
Cast: Daniel Craig, Eva Green, Mads Mikkelsen, Judi Dench, Jeffrey Wright, Giancarlo Giannini
Rating: Five-Out-Of-Five Bananas
Special Features:
Director, producer & crew commentaries
The Road to Casino
Ian Fleming's Incredible
James Bond in the Bahamas
Ian Fleming: The Secret Road to Paradise
Death in Venice
The Art of the Freerun
Catching a Plane
Storyboard Sequence: Freerun Chase
Filmmaker Profiles
James Bond: For Real Documentary
Bond Girls are Forever
Chris Cornell Music Video
Coinciding with the cinematic release of Quantum of Solace, the deluxe edition of 2006’s Casino Royale, packages Daniel Craig’s first James Bond film with a multitude of special features that will appeal to fans of the Bond series and those new to the franchise.
Something of a departure from the standard gadgets, gizmos and girls structure of Bond films, Casino Royale follows Bond as he travels undercover to Montenegro to investigate Le Chiffre (Mikkelsen), the suspected financier of an international terrorist organision. Bond is accompanied by Vesper Lynd (Green) from the treasury and Mathis (Giannini), who assist him in the poker game he must enter in order to get close to Le Chiffre.
If you’ve seen Casino Royale on the big screen, the film is no less impressive on DVD for many reasons. Casino Royale is a very different Bond film from its predecessors, much as Daniel Craig is a very different Bond from Brosnan et al. Craig manages to capture a side of Bond that very few others do, coming across as simultaneously surly and charming, savage and sophisticated. It is this multiplicity in the character that sets the screen alight, specifically in the scenes Craig shares with Green and Dench. The chemistry between him and his leading ladies is electric, flirtatious but professional (yes, even with Judi Dench) and the film is s pleasure to watch just as much for the action as to witness the burgeoning romance between Bond and Vesper, which delays the inevitable until such time as the two have formed a friendship and relationship.
The action itself is gripping, with many of the fight scenes coming across a little bit better on the smaller screen: they’re claustrophobic at times, but intentionally so (check one fight in a stairwell as particularly nasty, and also ultimately necessary for the aforementioned romance.) While appealing enough on their own, these features of the film are heightened by the special features, which give an in-depth look into the action scenes (specifically the free-running/parkour elements of the opening scene) and the importance of Vesper’s character (and ultimately, her death in a scene that is both heart-wrenching for Bond and the audience.)
The special features themselves make the Deluxe Edition of Casino Royale more than worth it, and the multiple commentaries make repeated viewings equally fresh and enjoyable. Whether you’ve found Quantum Of Solace lacking, or it has just whet your appetite for more Bond, this three-disc edition will easily satisfy.
Verdict:
The only downside of the Casino Royale Deluxe Edition is the disappointment that all films aren’t as good and don’t come with such extensive special features!
Originally published on FrankTheMonkey.com