James Bond Retrospective: Casino Royale (2006)

Gadgets In this re-booted version of Bond there is no place for Q, the provider of Bond€™s gadgets since From Russia With Love, but that does not necessarily mean that Casino Royale is completely gadget free. While there is an obvious sense that this film marks an attempt to bring Bond back into the real world there is still room for an MI6 supplied Aston Martin DBS with a number of additional features. The car is equipped with a secret compartment in the dashboard which contains Bond€™s Walther P99 and a medical kit which includes a mini defibrillator with a direct link to MI6. The car only appears is a few brief scenes before it is unceremoniously destroyed in a record-breaking high speed crash. During a scene where Vesper is kidnapped by Le Chiffre€™s men, Bond gives chase in the Aston Martin but loses control of the car when he sees Vesper lying in the middle of the road. The car, which was fitted with an air cannon for the stunt, rolls an impressive seven times during the crash at a speed of over 70 mph. James Bond Will Return€.. The release of Casino Royale had the enormous weight of expectation on its shoulders. A whole community of internet bloggers were hoping the film would fail following the casting of Daniel Craig and many felt the franchise had reached a natural end with Die Another Day as the Bourne films became the spy series of choice. Opening to largely positive reviews, Casino Royale went on to break all box office records for the series and turned out to be the highest grossing film in the franchise€™s history taking over $594 million. With Bond reborn and the mistakes of the past behind them, the producers had already started work on the next film taking the unusual decision to make a direct sequel expanding the plot of Casino Royale. A sequel was an idea that had been flirted with before during the series€™ history but with the majority of the Bond films working as stand-alone adventures could the idea of a true sequel really work?........ To catch up on previous installments of the James Bond Retrospective click here: Dr. No, From Russia With Love, Goldfinger, Thunderball, You Only Live Twice, On Her Majesty€™s Secret Service, Diamonds Are Forever, Live And Let Die, The Man With The Golden Gun, The Spy Who Loved Me, Moonraker, For Your Eyes Only, Octopussy, A View To A Kill, The Living Daylights, Licence To Kill, GoldenEye, Tomorrow Never Dies, The World Is Not Enough, Die Another Day