casino royale

THE FLICK: The irony of giving Pierce Brosnan the boot as James Bond is that financially it was a pretty poor decision. The “Remington Steele” era tallied up unprecedented box-office receipts worldwide and tied-in perfectly with an array of videogame adaptations that gave 007 his highest profile in decades. Creatively, however, the series has been nothing more than a bloated corpse for some time, shocked back into a jerky semblance of life every two years out of some moribund British tradition rather than any artistic need. So it’s to the producer’s credit that they took a chance on Daniel Craig; a stumpy, blonde pug-ugly version of Bond better suited as a secondary villain than as the suave super-spy to which audience’s had become accustomed. Not only that, but they ditched all they “Q” gadgets (laser watches, exploding lapel pins, etc.) that had been on the verge of overwhelming the franchise. In Casino Royale, Bond rolls into town in a Ford Focus. If that doesn’t scream working-class government operative, I don’t know what does. Most of the praise heaped upon this series “reboot” is well-earned and eerily similar to 1969’s On Her Majesty’s Secret Service which starred another new-comer (one-timer George Lazenby) and focused on Bond’s personal life just as much as the outlandish plot. Other than the opening footchase – which is the cursory bone thrown to appease stubborn fan expectations – Casino Royale is more interested in Bond’s emotions than its villain’s motives. But it wouldn’t be nearly as interesting if we didn’t have over 40 years worth of backstory behind it. Based on the first Ian Fleming’s first Bond novel, which went through a number of right’s issues before winding up back in the Broccoli family, director Martin Campell uses a different set of skills to launch this version of 007 than he did on GoldenEye in 1995. Switching out baccarat for Texas Hold ‘Em, his challenge is to make the big card game between Bond and lead bad-guy Le Chiffre as exciting as any of the extravagant set-pieces in franchise history. He does it by means both predictable (poison, card tricks and shoot-outs) and unexpected (a challenging love-interest and Bond’s own overconfidence). The end result is a 007 adventure with more depth than the novel’s themselves, and a Bond that wins back the title of world’s top spy. THE FEATURES: As great as the last Bond Ultimate sets were, this 2-disc edition can’t help but seem slightly disappointing. The 007 films always play best with a degree of nostalgic perspective and Casino Royale is too fresh for that sort of discussion. However, what’s here falls under the category of “good enough” until a decade of so has passed by. Becoming Bond is an exceedingly well-produced look at the selection of Craig as the sixth actor to take over the role of 007. We get a history of the Casino Royale rights issues (which included the 1967 film spoof with Woody Allen) and examination of the rabid controversy around the casting. James Bond: For Real focuses on the stunts and action sequences that demanded a harder edge for a new “harder” Bond. And finally Bond Girls Are Forever features interviews with members of that “exclusive club” of bikini clad counterparts to 007’s innate masculinity. A music video for Chris Cornell’s “You Know My Name” theme song wraps things up.