Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #3979 in DVD
• Released on: 2007-03-19
• Rating: Suitable for 12 years and over
• Formats: Box set, Collector's Edition, Dubbed, PAL
• Original language: English
• Dubbed in: Hungarian, Spanish, Czech
• Number of discs: 2
• Running time: 138 minutes

Amazon.com

The most successful invigoration of a cinematic franchise since Batman Begins, Casino Royale offers a new Bond identity. Based on the Ian Fleming novel that introduced Agent 007 into a Cold War world, Casino Royale is the most brutal and viscerally exciting James Bond film since Sean Connery left Her Majesty's Secret Service. Meet the new Bond; not the same as the old Bond. Daniel Craig gives a galvanising performance as the freshly minted double-0 agent. Suave, yes, but also a "blunt instrument," reckless and possessed with an ego that compromises his judgment during his first mission to root out the mastermind behind an operation that funds international terrorists. In classic Bond film tradition, his global itinerary takes him to far-flung locales, including Uganda, Madagascar, the Bahamas (that's more like it) and Montenegro, where he is pitted against his nemesis in! a poker game, with hundreds of millions in the pot. The stakes get even higher when Bond lets down his armour by falling in love with Vesper (Eva Green), the ravishing banker's representative fronting him the money.

For longtime fans of the franchise, Casino Royale offers some retro kicks. Bond wins his iconic Aston Martin at the gaming table, and when a bartender asks if he wants his martini "shaken or stirred," he disdainfully replies, "Do I look like I give a damn?". There's no Moneypenny or "Q," but Dame Judi Dench is back as the exasperated M who, one senses, admires Bond's "bloody cheek." A Bond film is only as good as its villain, and Mads Mikkelsen as Le Chiffre, who weeps blood, is a sinister dandy. From its punishing violence and virtuoso action sequences to its romance, Casino Royale is a Bond film that, in the words of one character, 'makes you feel it', particularly during an excruciating torture sequence. Double-0s, Bond observes early on, "have a short life expectancy". But with Craig, there is new life in the old franchise yet, as well as genuine anticipation for the next one when, at last, the signature James Bond theme kicks in following the best last ! line ever in any Bond film. To quote Goldie Hawn in Private Benjamin, "now I know what I've been faking all these years". --Donald Liebenson

Synopsis
After a great deal of discussion--on the part of fans and producers alike--over Daniel Craig’s (THE MOTHER, MUNICH) suitability for the role of James Bond, he more than proves himself in this explosive revamping of the franchise. Under the direction of Martin Campbell (THE MASK OF ZORRO) and with Paul Haggis (CRASH) helping with the re-writes, this addition to the Bond canon manages to hold true to the essence of the stories--the villainous villains, the fabulous sets, the beautiful women, the fast-paced action--while updating the formula with subtlety and humanity. Trading in the Cold War era for a new, post-9-11 landscape, the tale unfolds in locations that span the globe, including the Bahamas, Venice, and the Czech Republic. It opens in Madagascar, where Bond pursues a guerilla bomb-maker in one of the most breathtaking chase scenes ever--and it all takes place on foot. Botching that assignment, Bond goes to Montenegro to square off against terrorist baddie Le Chiffre (Mads Mikkelson), an international loan shark who gambles with the money of his equally dangerous clients. Beautiful British Treasury representative Vesper Lynd (Eva Green, THE DREAMERS) supplies Bond’s own funds, appearing on his arm in Montenegro, while M (Dame Judi Dench, PRIDE AND PREJUDICE) keeps a close watch on the action from headquarters. The extravagant poker game forms the centre of the action, with Jeffrey Wright (SYRIANA, THE MANCHURIAN CANDIDATE) putting in an intense appearance at the table; interrupting the game are assassination attempts, poisoning, and other dramatic events that keep the adrenaline pumping. The flirtation that unfolds between Bond and Vesper Lynd is only in keeping with the spy’s M.O. as a ladies’ man. What differs here, however, is what sets this Bond apart from the rest: the romance is taken seriously, and it exposes a vulnerability in Bond that he’s never shown before. This, however, only makes him the tougher, as Craig's Bond is darker, less campy, more brooding and mysterious, than his past incarnations ever were.

Customer Reviews

The rebirth of Bond...
Film franchises over the last couple of years have a found a great way to inject more energy into the series and try to head in a different artistic direction. And as with Batman, Bond has gone back to it's roots and recreated itself.

And it works, we get a slow edited film which may bore some - but it helps to establish depth to a new incarnation of a character most are already familiar with. There was uproar when Daniel Craig was announced as Bond - but after the release of Casino Royale he felt like a natural choice, infact after watching this it felt as though he'd played the character for years.

I really enjoyed Brosnan as Bond. He was perhaps my favourite, but the films were getting a little bit too ridiculous - but because it was Bond coming out with the horrifically cheesy lines, the films somehow got away with it.

Craig gives us a Bond capable of the suave uber-cool on-screen-image that comes with the role. He also brings with him a vulnerability and fallibility that we're not used to seeing. This makes the film a bit more edgy - after all, Bond might not necessarily walk away damage free - he makes mistakes and sometimes needs someone to save him.

We get the womanising gentlemen scoundrel we want to see, but there's compassion too, and in Casino Royale we see the emotional shutters come down after being hurt - the making of the cold action hero.

James Bourne is Better, but Not Good Enough
A lot has been made of Casino Royale's new direction. Out with the nonsense, back to basics, enter James Bourne. Q is agreeably absent, and the nearest thing to Moneypenny is a control-room full of 20-something CSI wannabes. In cleaning up his act, however, Bond appears to have misplaced his licence to thrill.

That Casino Royale constitutes a 'back to basics' reincarnation (a 'reboot' of the Bond timeline, in comic-book argot) speaks volumes about how far the series had lost its way - sort of like a drunk waking up after a twenty-year bender and learning to put one foot in front of the other again. Like bourbon or vodka, pyrotechnics and body counts are kept firmly out of the repentant screenplay's reach. Nothing happens in Casino Royale that could not conceivably happen in real life, which for a Bond movie is an astonishing and dubious accolade. Simply put, action movie 'basics' - explosions, tension, effective pacing and straightforward characterisation - are not in place. The latter is a moot point, for Bond's fling with Vesper Lynd is meant to be the romantic affair to end them all, her death the wound that never heals. Yet all the script can offer is the kind of clunky, unremarkable dialogue that Bond fans will recognise from the slow bits in Goldeneye. The power of Bourne's relationship with Franka Potente is never matched; there are, in fact, far more memorable romantic interludes in earlier Bond: Her Majesty's Secret Service and the Louis Armstrong sequence, for instance.

Casino Royale is both boring and complacent enough to assume its audience will forgive its boringness through their fondness for all things Bond. Undoubtedly better than Die Another Day - but that's hardly grounds for comparison.

terrible
if you liked this film (in the case dat it should be suitable to be part of the james bond phenominon) then you are not a true and proper bond fan. i found this to be a pthetic attempt to get more money because the company knew everyone who liked bond will watch this whether it was imence or terrible. it makes no sence to be set in present day yet be set when bond is just starting? okay good for u bond now look in a few years time u will be fighting the soviet union and lateer ull be doing a mission 6 years back in the millenium... cos this makes sence?!!? :l
judi dench as m wtf its good for pierce coz its modern day but this is ment to be before dr no isnt it so why is the same actor playing a character set after 3 other m'sdaniel craig is too serious and u can ell in quantum of solace they make him try tobe more tongue and cheek but he is no sean connery he scrapes timothy dalton (also too seirous) BOOOO