Aspect Ratio: 2.40:1
Audience Rating: PG-13 (Parental Guidance Suggested)
Binding: Blu-ray
Brand: Sony
EAN: 0043396163362
Format: Anamorphic
Label: Columbia Pictures
Manufacturer: Columbia Pictures
Number Of Items: 1
Publisher: Columbia Pictures
Region Code: 1
Release Date: 2007-03-13
Running Time: 144
Studio: Columbia Pictures
Theatrical Release Date: 2006
MPN: COLBR16336

Casino Royale introduces James BOond 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.

Customer Rating:
Summary: Fiasco
Comment: I have unfortunately joined the other angry reviewers who have bought this DVD only to find that it does not play on their equipment. I suggest that Amazon post a notice on Sony products warning possible purchasers that there are serious compatibility issues. None of us should be wasting money shipping DVDs to and fro because Sony is dishonest about its products.

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Customer Rating:
Summary: James Bond: Part I
Comment: My interest in James Bond died the day I saw Pierce Brosnan shoot a machinegun. Gone were the careful headshots of a man who was an expert with his pistol. Replacing that deadly accuracy was frenetic scenes, random gunfire, and Bond bending the laws of reality. The Bond films had become a parody of themselves.

Enter Casino Royale, which makes up for the shambling travesty that was the Casino Royale Bond spoof. Daniel Craig takes on the role of Bond as a newbie, a newbie who is a ruthless killer. Gone are the delicate acrobatics that were the trademark of other Bonds. This Bond is a hulking brute, smashing through walls, ruthlessly shooting people, and otherwise achieving his missions through sheer brute force. It seems jarring at first, but this is the origin of Bond, from thug to international assassin.

The plot, bound by the rules of the original novel, doesn't entirely make sense. Why the entire world, including both the U.S. and British authorities, feel that beating a criminal at a card game is the best way to coerce him is beyond me. But if you're willing to buy into that fact (a requisite, really, for the spy genre where nothing is ever so simple and direct) then the film has a certain cadence to it that really enthralls.

Until the end. The part where, we are led to believe, Bond is going to settle down with Vesper Lynd, a treasury agent, in Venice. Yeah, right.

About ten minutes could have been cut from this scene alone. We get that Bond is enamored with Lynd, that he wants to give it all up for her, but after the torture, the shooting, the gambling, the chasing, the movie becomes something of a snore until it picks up again. And then we're off to the beginning of another movie, with no resolution whatsoever.

Casino Royale is a much improved film, but it's the foundation for the Bond mythology, and as such it breaks previous expectations and struggles to establish new ones. It's much better than the Bond films that went before it, but they set the bar pretty low. As a book-end to Quantum of Solace, Casino Royale can't be really appreciated without seeing the two movies back-to-back.

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Customer Rating:
Summary: Best Bond Ever...
Comment: Its got everthing: intrigue, suspense, great special effects, good acting, excellent cast, and proper character development for a 2 hour movie. Excellent!

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Customer Rating:
Summary: Bond Reborn Better Than Ever
Comment: For the original series of James Bond films, Sean Connery defined the part quite effectively. Since Connery other actors such as George Lazenby, Timothy Dalton, Roger Moore and Pierce Brosnan have attempted to portray this persona with the same elan with varying degrees of success. In my opinion none have measured up to Connery in the qualities of an international British agent with unsurpassed physical skills, sophistication and attraction for women. None until now. Daniel Craig makes one heck of a Bond! He fits this role equally well. Thus this movie is quite successful. The locations-Italy, Montenegro, the Bahamas- are fantastic with wonderful photography. Some exotic, mind-dizzying technology is used but not too much. There are some exciting action scenes such as in Miami and particularly around the casino at Montenegro. Eva Green plays Vesper and provides some excellent verbal jousting with Craig such as on a train in Europe. Vesper also becomes the name of a drink (6 parts Gordon's Gin, 2 of vodka, one of Kina Lilet all shaken until cool). Overall this is a wonderful movie.The Griffon Trilogy

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Customer Rating:
Summary: Double Dipping Bond
Comment: I've been a 007 fan ever since DR. NO premiered as the bottom half of a double drive-in bill in Kansas City. I loved Connery; thought Lazenby's OHMSSS the best of the Bond bunch; suffered through the Moore era; loathed
Dalton's petrified agent; tolerated Brosnan's glossy but empty 007 - and woke up during the last two minutes of CASINO ROYALE to hail Daniel Craig as THE new Bond on the block. Naturally I snatched up the original DVD
release.

So now here comes Sony with a new "collector's edition" (double-dipping, as they do so well). There actually are some snippets that make this one worth having, notably the "deleted" which actually do add a little more to the film. The extras are puff-pieces - but watchable.
Only for Bond die-hards, or folks who believe Blue Ray will replace regular DVD.

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