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List Price: $14.94 | | Label: Sony Pictures
Salesrank: 459
Released: March 13, 2007 |
| Our Price: $4.45 |
| Used Price: $1.99 |
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MPAA Rating: PG-13 (Parental Guidance Suggested)
Media: DVD |
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Editorial Review:
Casino Royale introduces James Bond before he holds his license to kill. But Bond is no less dangerous, and with two professional assassinations in quick succession, he is elevated to "00" status. "M" (Judi Dench), head of the British Secret Service, sends the newly-promoted 007 on his first mission that takes him to Madagascar, the Bahamas and eventually leads him to Montenegro to face Le Chiffre, a ruthless financier under threat from his terrorist clientele, who is attempting to restore his funds in a high-stakes poker game at the Casino Royale. "M" places Bond under the watchful eye of the Treasury official Vesper Lynd. At first skeptical of what value Vesper can provide, Bond's interest in her deepens as they brave danger together. Le Chiffre's cunning and cruelty come to bear on them both in a way Bond could never imagine, and he learns his most important lesson: Trust no one.
Description of Casino Royale (2-Disc Widescreen Edition):
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 galvanizing 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 "armor" and falls in love with Vesper (Eva Green), the ravishing banker's representative fronting him the money.
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For longtime fans of the franchise, Casino Royale offers some retro kicks. Bond wins his iconic Astin-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
Stills from Casino Royale (click for larger image)
Beyond Casino Royale on Amazon.com
On Blu-ray |
CD Soundtrack |
Why We Love Daniel Craig |
The Amazon.com James Bond Store |
Where Have I Seen Daniel Craig? |
Bond on Set: Filming Casino Royale Book |
Casino Royale (2-Disc Widescreen Edition) Reviews:
Awful 
2009-12-28 - I remember back at the tail end of 2006 people were ranting and raving about this movie - well I knew it was just hype and I was right - overated nonsense.
I thought "Die Another Day" was ridiculous but at least for the silly story line the special effects were bang on, and at least the acting was humerous if a little overdone.
Anyway - the acting in this is bare minimual, its actually really boring, so is the story line, the villians, Ashesh the terrorist bomb maker is a nutcase that comes across like he's not a nutcase - its boring.
A long came of Poker and Daniel Craig getting whacked in the ghoulies rounds off the festivities - avoid please!!
Insults your intelligence 
2009-12-18 - Horrible movie-don't waste your money.Bond chases the guy through a construction site with everyone watching but when they are running through the site at the end noone notices them.Seems like someone who have called the cops with all of the shooting and ruckus going on.Of course they jump from obstacle to obstacle which would have killed the normal person.
Then after Bond is surronded by an army of men with guns he somehow is able to escape.It's like the script was written by a 5th grader."Let's have all kind of cool stuff that doesn't make sense."If you are a true bond fan of the James Bond classics then this movies will disappoint-big time.
Decent 
2009-12-15 - While I miss Brosnan as Bond, the new Bond is okay in my book. I don' think the franchise is as good as it was but still watchable.
Great action 
2009-12-14 - This is a good movie to collect. Of course, it's 007, what more can you ask. The action... great, the story.. great, the plot... superb. I highly recommend this movie for 007 fans out there.
James Bond: brought to you by SONY!
2009-12-08 - Nothing like a dozen product placements every five minutes to remind you that SONY made this film. Talk about killing any feel of reality...which is ironic, as that's what this movie was going for: more reality and less spoofing.
And at that, it does pretty well. Sadly, Bond's sense of humor has been all but excised, which makes him barely Bond, in my opinion. As a fan of the books first, Connery's Bond second, and all the other Bonds way down the list, I appreciated the emphasis on less gadgets but did miss the wryness that Fleming and Terence Young brought to the character. Young defined the cinematic Bond first and best, and while this movie aims to redefine him, it barely touches the elan, wit and smoothness that made the early Bonds, and Fleming's Bond, so special.
I like Craig more here than in Quantum, but I still think he lacks the dry humor and stresslessness that makes Bond. I'd take him over Moore, Dalton, etc any day, though. The balls out scene shows some humor, but so dark as to be ridiculous. Nice try, though.
And sorry, but there are so many weak Hollywood moments here. For instance, when they have the first beefcake shot of Craig as he walks out of the sea, his hair is all washed back. In the next shot, after the girl swoons at the sight of him, he is still in the same spot...but his hair is now magically and strategically plastered over his forehead. That's a bad continuity man on set, and a bad editor after, and just bad filmmaking, period. Face it, he's going bald...give him a wig a la Connery, or just let him keep his laughable Tom Sawyer haircut and be done with it.
Savile Row suits at two grand a pop...and a six dollar Supercuts hairdo? Come on.
It's stuff like that, and the nonstop Sony logo on every product, that makes this film cheesy after a while...plus, it's 30 minutes too long, I didn't buy the romance (Bond swooning?), and the poker scenes are horrible. Any decent poker player has to laugh at how badly set up those hands are. Last guy goes all in with a non-nut flush on a paired board where the other three players are calling the turn? Not likely he'd last that long playing that badly. Etc. Terence Young would have cut that in two seconds.
But, this Bond is more about selling Sony and a sense of "reality"...and in the end, that's what makes it real enough to be boring after 90 minutes. I've seen this a few times now and each time it seems to get looonger.
But hey, I'm gonna go buy something Sony. Don't know why...I just...feel like it....
