Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #711 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

Oh dear
The packaging says 'best bond for decades'. Oh.
Problem is I have seen them all, have them all, and this is...well.
Graphics based on computer games rather than real life, so aimed at new generation I guess, but is there really any need to carry over the limitations of games graphics into a film when real actors are available?
Dialogue - oh dear.
Pace - tedious.
Plot - well, I guess there was one.
Music - probably.
Action - repetitive.
Poker - oh, so sophisiticated. Yawn.

Bond has turned into a hooligan
Miscasted Bond folks.. If Cubby Broccoli were alive he probably would not approve.. The movie doesn't work for me, and the attempt at realism is not all that realistic anyway.. Why reinvent a well established suave and debonair character like James Bond and turn him into a hooligan? it isn't even larger than life anymore, almost boring for the most part.. Sad really but then again things change and you can choose to accept it or not. 21 bond films was really enough for me but I had my hopes up for another until I heard that they were casting Craig who really doesn't fit the mold.

Bond as it should be done
Don't get me wrong, I have loved the Bond films all my life and have seen them all many, many times. I have also read the books. For a long time now I have hoped that the film makers would look once again at the novels. With Casino Royale they have and the film is a classy, stylish, hard hitting masterpiece. It's great to see an almost uncertain Bond becoming the high living, world traveling gentleman thug of a killer. I have to say that even the long scenes in the casino are as thrilling as any car chase and gun fight. It's just so well done. Mention must be made of the score, David Arnold teases us throughout with the Bond theme and its only.... when it explodes into the movie and we are left without a doubt that Bond is ready to take on the world. It looks gorgeous and the camera work is mercifully free of unnecessary shaking as over used by the Bourne movies. And Daniel Craig was born to play Bond. Long may he do so.