The Alternate Ending DVD Review: Casino Royale
Posted by Dave Tomlinson on 04.02.2007
This spy comes in from the cold... with a vengeance.
Greetings 411ers. My name is Dave Tomlinson and this is my debut as a DVD reviewer for the site (though I made an unofficial debut in this weeks Top 5). I certainly appreciate any and all feedback, so please drop me a line if anything occurs to you.
Casino Royale
Film:
Apparently there are no 007 stories left to tell. After 20 films (and 2 unofficial) and 40+ years of continuity, it was time to let James Bond fade away into the cold… just kidding. No, instead of trying to come up with another story, more crazy gadgets, and another silly Bond girl name, James Bond has been completely updated and redefined for today’s much more dangerous spy game. “Casino Royale” was Ian Flemmings first James Bond story, though it was never made as a serious Bond movie. Now it finally gets the serious treatment it deserves.
Dropping all the back-story and continuity from the first 20 films, this one opens with simply Agent James Bond (Daniel Craig) of the British Secret Service, not yet a “double-oh”, in Prague to eliminate an MI-6 station chief who is selling British secrets. More accurately, he’s there to rack up the two confirmed kills necessary to become a 00 Agent. He scores his first in brutal fashion, beating a man to death in a public restroom, and achieves his second with a cold blooded execution by gunshot.
His 007 status now confirmed, he’s off to Madagascar on the trail of bomb maker Mollaka (Sebastion Foucan) whom MI-6 is interested in questioning, they want to know who he’s working for. This leads to one of the best foot chases ever filmed. Mollaka, after making James and his partner at a sporting event (who knew watching a snake and a mongoose fight would be cause for gambling?) takes off through a building construction site using his wicked Free Running skills (Foucan literally invented the sport) to do things “The Matrix” team wish they’d thought of. Not yet the sophisticated Bond we know he’ll become, James ends up killing Mollaka before he can be questioned, and gets photographed doing it no less. M (Dame Judi Dench, the lone hold over from previous Bond films) is furious and comes close to firing Bond on the spot, but instead tells him to go “bury his head in the sand” until she knows she can trust him. Bond, not content to let it go, heads off to Jamaica to find out who Mollaka was working for. After adding a few more kills to his resume, he eventually uncovers Le Chifre (Mads Mikkelson) international banker to the world’s terrorists. Bond foils yet another bomber’s attempt to destroy a new jetliner, causing Le Chiffre to loose millions of his customers’ dirty money in the stock market.
Le Chiffre, desperate to make his money back and pay off the dangerous men he owes, puts together a high stakes poker game at the titular casino in Montenegro. And here’s where the film slows down almost to a halt. Card games are notoriously hard to film because of their stagnant setting, even director Martin Campbell (“Goldeneye”) admits as much, though he does a pretty good job of keeping things moving. Bond, being naturally the best poker player in the service, sits in on the game under some pretense, but Le Chiffre knows who he is and why he’s there. Putting up the ten million dollar buy in, with a sardonic smile and a quick wit, is Vesper Lynd (Eva Green), a British treasury agent. She clearly is unimpressed with Bond and engages him in the kind of verbal sparring not seen since the days of Tracy and Hepburn. This is where the movie truly breaks out and declares itself a Bond for the new millennium. Vesper is no ordinary Bond girl, which I know is a cliché but it’s really true here. I don’t mean she can kick ass like Michelle Yeoh or Halle Berry, or that she asserts herself as some modern woman of independence while falling into bed with James at the first opportunity. I mean her character is a real woman, not a one dimensional sex toy that usually passes for a Bond girl. He genuinely falls in love with her, and vice versa. That is to say, it seems real while simultaneously tossing a few knowing pot shots to Bond history (Lynd’s brief undercover name is Stephanie Broadchest, wink wink, nudge nudge).
Minor grievances aside (the plodding pace of the second act) I can’t say enough good about this movie. I’ve had it for less than a week and already watched the film twice, after seeing twice in the theatre. It’s not just the best Bond movie (an honor previously held by “Goldfinger”), and it’s not just my new favorite (nudging “Goldeneye” out of that spot) it’s maybe one of the best action movies I’ve ever seen, getting up there into “Terminator 2: Judgement Day” territory.
Most of the credit goes to the two leads. Daniel Craig certainly blew away all his critics with his turn as a somewhat flawed, rough around the edges James Bond. Much more physical than any other Bond, and with ice cold blue eyes, we see him making some mistakes on his way to becoming a great secret Agent. By the time he says those famous words “Bond. James Bond.” there can be no one left who says Craig is just as good, if not better, than Connery. And of course Green brings a real heart to the film, melting James’ cold heart as few thought possible. Judi Dench is, of course, always great as M, giving her an almost maternal role in Bonds life. Martin Campbell moves the action along, while still telling a pretty tender love story between Bond and Lynd. Screenwriters Neal Purvis, Robert Wade and Paul Haggis (the latter of “Crash” fame) do a great job of updating the 1953 book for modern day. All this is capped off by the best Bond song I can remember. Chris Cornells “You Know My Name” perfectly captures the tone of this new realm of Bond films.
Extras: Disc 1
Nada. Just the Film.
Disc 2
Becoming Bond: A look at the speculation about who would be taking the part over from Pierce Brosnan, and the subsequent filming of the movie. This includes a look at the rest of the cast, the legal hassles with the rights for the book, and the locations they filmed on.
The Real Bond: A look at the filming of the stunts, mostly centering on the free running chase at the beginning, worth a look for the extra free running footage shown. Also, the effects team set a world record for flipping a car (a beautiful Aston Martin DB5) 7 times.
Bond Girls are Forever: We’ve all seen this special a million times. It’s been updated to include Halle Berry in “Die Another Day” and Eva Green. I really hate how they just gloss over “Goldeneye”. No mention made of Famke Jannsen or Izabella Scorupco, which bothers me as I have a real thing for red heads. Another peeve is the claim made by every actress from about 1975 on that “I’m a different kind of Bond girl.” No… you aren’t. Eva Green is the only one who can say that, and she doesn’t. Incidentally, she’s also the only one who can lay claim to being a “Bond woman” instead of a “Bond girl” as she’s the only one to act like a real woman, and not a teenager.
Music Video: “You Know My Name”. Again, just a great tune.
Tech Specs: Video
Everything looks good here. I don’t have the coin (or the TV) for Blu-ray or HD DVD, but the film looks great on my glass screen. It’s never too dark or washed out, everything is crisp and clean.
Audio
This DVD falls prey to a problem with some discs these days, the dialogue is too quiet and the action scenes are too loud. This means I’m in a constant state of turning it up and down. Maybe if I had a better stereo set up I could balance things out a little more.
The 411: After becoming somewhat stagnant in recent years (and nearly a self parody with “Die Another Day”) the Bond franchise roars back to life with a realistic, gritty, gadget free reboot of the series. A great script, awesome action and two very talented leads makes for not only a great 007 movie, but a great action movie. I’d highly recommend buying this disc.
