Viewed – 22 Jan 2009  Blu-Ray

You can read my original review of Casino Royale below, and I have recently sat down to watch the Blu-Ray edition.  My impressions?

The image quality throughout is the best I have yet seen Blu-ray deliver.  The opening black ‘n’ white prologue proving especially pleasing to the eye.  The level of detail present in the brighter scenes in Madagascar and The Bahamas is just phenomenal – and any doubters of the HD format should be silenced once and for all.

The movie itself stands up to repeated viewing and the love-story between Bond and Vesper (the stunning Eva Green) is both believable and creates an air of emotion and atmosphere often missing from the franchise.  The closing Venice set-piece is all the more heart breaking as a result.

This is a Bond film that has it all – heart-in-mouth action, intelligent characterisation, a credible boo-hiss villain, and a story that is grounded in reality for once.  Held up next to the other movies that preceded it and even the more recent Quantum Of Solace – this is streets ahead.

The deluxe edition, spanning two packed Blu-rays has a wealth of behind the scenes featurettes, a picture-in-picture commentary, a documentary on Ian Fleming, as well as True HD sound.  The packaging also should get a special mention as its in a lovely fold out case that has a nice to the touch coating and we also get a small booklet to flick through with some great pictures and several write ups.

One of the best Bond movies ever made on a stellar Blu-Ray disk.  Unmissable.

Casino Royale review:

(Cinema, Nov 28 2006)

I don’t know whether or not I’d call myself a Bond fan – more a casual admirer, having grown up liking the classics such as Goldfinger or Live & Let Die. I also really loved Die Another Day, the (sadly) final Pierce Brosnan outing. Yet despite initial trepidation, and my general concern over the casting of Daniel Craig as the No.1 super spy – it turns out he’s the best Bond yet. A bold statement I hear you say, and granted I was reluctant to bestow such an honour on someone who looks too ugly to be the smooth secret agent we all know and love. Yet he is, because he has all the basics, the charm, the humour and the action credentials, plus he’s probably harder than any Bond there has ever been – even in their prime. He also seems more real, with more genuine emotion – or maybe Daniel Craig is just a better actor. Yet this realism is definitely how the film has been produced, and it works wonders, giving the Bond franchise a new beginning, and in some ways free reign for the film makers to remake any Bond from the past (my money’s on Goldfinger). Director Martin Campbell (who also directed Goldeneye, not to mention Mask of Zorro) brings together everything you need, superb action (with an opening hit that has to be seen to be believed) and a gripping story based on an Ian Fleming novel, which hasn’t been done in years, obviously making the whole thing stick together, just like the classics. So we should never have feared, Bond is back in a big way – this time fresh, exhilarating and above all else – cool.

Verdict: 4 /5