DVD Reviews
DVD Review: Casino Royale
By Jeff Swindoll
Mar 12, 2007, 14:15 GMT

“I believe in a reasonable rate of return.”

James Bond is back and has a new face as well as adapting Ian Fleming’s first Bond novel. 

The mysterious Mr. White (Jesper Christensen) sets up a meeting with Steven Obanno (Isaach De Bankole) and Le Chiffre (Mads Mikkelsen).  Le Chiffre is an expert at investing large sums of money and with dubious means getting a high rate of return.  Obanno wants to use these funds to fund his terrorist activities. 

James Bond (Daniel Craig), who has just acquired his double-o status, stumbles onto Le Chiffre’s plan to destroy a new jumbo jet and since he’s short selling the stock in the jet company and stands to make a killing when the company falls into bankruptcy when the new jet is destroyed.  Bond succeeds in foiling the plot. 

So now Le Chiffre is up the proverbial creek and raises a high stakes poker game at the Casino Royale to recover the 100 million that he failed to make with the terrorist plot.  M (Judi Dench) sends in Bond, along with treasury agent Vesper Lynd (Eva Green), to play against Le Chiffre and win the match so that he’ll have no choice but to “defect” to MI6 and reveal his secret terrorist contacts. 

Legal wrangling had surrounded the first James Bond novel by Ian Fleming and had kept it from being filmed by Eon Productions.  Those hurdles have now been cleared and it was decided to “reboot” the Bond series and start over from the beginning.  It was also decided that a new face was needed instead of keeping Pierce Brosnan in the role (though it was decided to keep Judi Dench as M?).  The hunt was on for a new face to fill the shoes of Connery, Lazenby, Moore, Dalton, and Brosnan.  Each viewer will have to decide whose shoes were the biggest from that list. 

Daniel Craig was the man chosen for the role.  This led to some grousing on the parts of certain fans.  I cannot claim to be one of those because the first time that I saw Layer Cake I thought that he’d make a good Bond.  Now it is true that Craig may have the looks that make him more fit for a bouncer or Bond villain/henchman, but I ended up liking him in the role.  Everyone has their opinion. 

I’ll even play devil’s advocate and say that when I watched Casino Royale the first time that I’d still had doubts, but by my third time through I’d come to accept him as Bond.  James Bond.  I’d never heard of Mads Mikklesen (think a smashup of Peter Lorre, Christopher Walken, Christopher Lee, and Henry Silva), but I thought that he was the perfect embodiment of the role.  Eva Green is also acceptable as Vesper, but does not rise to the heights of Dame Diana Rigg.  

This Bond is a bit more realistic and lacks the world toppling plots by the villain or fancy gadgets for Bond.  In all honesty this is what I’ve been wanting the series to move towards, even though I’ve always been entertained by the Bond films that had those other elements.  One hopes that the legal wranglings have also freed another organization from limbo and that the mysterious employer of Mr. White is the Special Executive for Counter-intelligence, Revenge and Extortion (SPECTRE).

I’m not sure where this “new” series is going (remaking the Fleming books [an exciting but also frightening premise] or in another direction entirely), but I think that Casino Royale goes a long way in reinvigorating interest in our favorite super-spy. 

Casino Royale is presented in anamorphic widescreen (2.35:1) and enhanced for 16x9 televisions.  A fullscreen release is available separately.  The film is presented on the first disc with the special features on the second disc.  Those features include the 26 minute “Becoming Bond.” 

It has interviews with producers Barbara Broccoli and Michael G. Wilson, director Martin Campbell, casting director Debbie McWilliams, Daniel Craig, screenwriter Paul Haggis, Maj. Paul Kearney (of the Royal Marines), stunt-coordinator Gary Powell, Craig’s stunt double Ben Cooke, screenwriters Neal Purvis and Robert Wade, actress Caterina Murino, Eva Green, Judi Dench, actor and freerunner Sebastien Foucan, special FX coordinator Chris Corbould, Mads Mikkelsen, actor Jeffrey Wright, and actor Ade. 

Next is the 23 minute “James Bond: For Real” and adds interviews with art director Peter Francis, freerunners John Kirk and Curtis Small, 2nd unit assistant director Terry Madden, stunt double Marvin Campbell, stunt driver Adam Kirkley, and 2nd unit director Alex Witt. 

Next is the 2002 “Bond Girls are Forever” (47 minutes) that has been updated with new interviews by Mary D’Abo to include Eva Green and Caterina Murino.  The 4 minute Chris Cornell music video and a collection of trailers for other Sony DVDs (but none for Casino Royale!) finish off the special features. 

I suppose that everyone will have differing opinions about this new Bond, but I can say that I thoroughly enjoyed it and it only increased the more that I watched it.  The extras are okay, but only really an hour of it is new.  The Bond girls documentary is good, but only made new by about 5-10 minutes of interviews. 

One can’t help but think that a more elaborate special edition is down the road sometime (perhaps to coincide with the next Bond film).  Bond is back and I’m eagerly awaiting the next installment.

Casino Royale is now available at Amazon. It is available for pre-order at AmazonUK for a March 19th release. Visit the DVD database for more information.