Matt finds SOLACE in the CASINO ROYALE BLU-RAY: DELUXE EDITION DVD!
God, I hold my hands up. I got my original theatrical review of CASINO ROYALE so very, very wrong. Put it down to inexperienced naivety, put it down to being so pissed off at the whole reboot idea of starting Bond again after 40 years, put it down to a temporary batch of insanity, whatever you like... but I was so wrong. CASINO ROYALE is an amazing Bond movie, one of the best ever. I originally said in my review "the future of Bond is looking very bleak" but with my excitement for the next movie on an all time high with only weeks to go, well I couldn't have been further from the truth could I? No Bond movie has ever had the exciting platform or the canvas to play with and maneuver in than QUANTUM OF SOLACE has and it's down to this wonderful film from two years ago. I would highly recommend you check out the brand new and packed special edition Blu-Ray and DVD transfer of CASINO ROYALE as a preview to the new movie and to remind yourself just how we left 007... Now my heart has always been with the classic Sean Connery Bond movies. DR. NO, GOLDFINGER and THUNDERBALL, are probably the three I would say I enjoy the most but my head has always told me that ON HER MAJESTY'S SECRET SERVICE and FROM RUSSIA WITH LOVE are the finest bond movies ever made. But they all have something in the common... they were all made in the 60's. Post 1969, there's not a lot from the character I enjoyed, except glimpses in the odd movie. There's a few that are fun.. a few that are comical and the odd good movie but I usually stop my Bond marathons at 1969 with the possible exception of GOLDENEYE. And it's that 60's era and tone that GOLDENEYE director Martin Campbell in his second Bond outing managed to revert back to here. That kind of environment that couldn't be further away from the embarrassing DIE ANOTHER DAY and the other late Pierce Brosnan flicks. CASINO ROYALE is gut wrenching and unforgiving in it's portrayal of the Bond psyche and the dangerous world he inhabits. It's every bit as cold as those early Ian Fleming novels were, playing around with the idea of Bond being a "blunt instrument" that had been created by the government and had little humanity outside of his work. Killing people was his job... a license to kill and all that. Daniel Craig, in his first performance as James Bond was just a pure revelation, miraculously so after he had the weight of so many doubters (including myself) from the first moment he was cast. We see his first clumsy, brutal killing of a man which is far from the nameless uniformed henchmen from yesteryear. We see how it affects Bond, changes him into this ruthless killer whose persona you often believe is an armour to shield any shred of humanity he may have left. 
On third viewing of this picture now, aside from the physical resemblance, Craig's Bond reminded me a lot of Steve McQueen'sBULLITT... in that he can be so confident and relaxing but with a face that can project such intensity and raw detachment at the same time. He is focused, absolutely terrifying at times and purely works from his own agenda. Craig too, like McQueen, is the kind of actor who you can tell isn't happy unless he is doing the majority of the stunts where possible and it gives the character here such a believeability. There's a hardly a moment here when you think it's not Daniel Craig in charge of the character, even in the most spectacular of action sequences, including the terrific opening chase scene. It's a wonderful character that he has been fortunate enough to craft and should grow into something special over the course of the following movies, much like Connery's original Bond did four decades ago Craig's physical ability make him the most perfect resemblance of the character Fleming envisioned when he first wrote CASINO ROYALE. Oh apart from that he is blonde. Remember when people were writing him off because of that? There's just some wonderful scenes in this movie. I love the opening chase scene, one of the best set pieces the franchise has seen in years. I love the moment Bond gets the suit and admires himself in the mirror, one of the first moments where you see the Bond character take shape. I love how he gets his Aston Martin (and the horrible way it gets disfigured), I love how he invents a drink.. etc. It's much like BATMAN BEGINS as we slowly piece together the origins of a character that we had never before actually taken the time to consider how he got how he was. In DR. NO, Sean Connery kind of just appeared fully formed. And I love that... but isn't it fascinating in this meta-fiction world of cinema to see them piece the character together bit by bit. The scenes with Craig shares with Eva Green's fabulous Vesper Lynd show a Bond relationship we have been crying out to see for years. The quiet dinner scene in particular might be my favourite exchange between a Bond and his squeeze in history, there's a relaxation and different kind of charm to 007 that we have never ever seen the likes of before. Those scenes are the payoff's when you hire such a quality actor as Craig. Bond's had a lot of girls in his life but when Bond tells Vesper that he loves her, well I God damned believed it. They have a wonderful chemistry. In the original CASINO ROYALE novel, Vesper got to Bond's heart and pulled out his soul more than any other Bond girl ever did and they captured that wonderfully with the movie. 
There will never be a Bond girl to rival Vesper and I dearly hope we see the pain her loss has caused Bond over the next few films. Le Chiffre is a classic best Bond villain, he keeps a poker face through the film but when you see him sweating, it's almost like he still trying to fool his opponents at the poker table, desperately clinging on to the hope his last hand hasn't been dealt. He's a brilliant villain, with the trademark eccentricity of some kind of burst blood vessel in his eye, classic Bond disfigurement right there! He is played by Mads Mikkelsen, a massive leading star in Denmark but whose only previous credit your likely to have seen him in is KING ARTHUR, is quite extraordinary here and he keeps up the tradition of the Bond franchise featuring the very best of European actors who you may not have been aware of previously. I feel the film juttered to a slight hault after his absence. Mathieu Amalric has a lot to live up to with the sequel. There are still nagging negatives that I just can't shift from the movie, Judi Dench, in her FIFTH outing as Bond is growing really tired as M. I still can't understand how you can reboot a franchise and still keep Dench as the head of M:I6. And I hate that she is so furious with Bond all the time. I wouldn't put up with her if I were him. I know they are trying to portray the bastard coach, who actually adores the star player and is mean to push him to see how far he can go... knowing they have a gem on their hands but she is just so annoying on screen. I hate that we see her home, I hate every sentence she has in the film has a "bloody or hell" or both in it. I miss Moneypenny, I miss Q, I miss the gadgets, most of all I missed the score but the end scene gives me hope that it's all coming back. The best thing about CASINO ROYALE is that it was kind of an experiment, they will keep what works and put back in what was missing in future installments. All in all, I love this movie. I loved it much more than I remembered when I watched it over the weekend, this is a fabulous DVD set full of stunning extra's. Which includes... A very good audio commentary with picture-in-picture feature (you can see the guys talking in the bottom right hand corner of the screen... which is a fun little feature actually) from director Martin Campbell and producer Michael G. Wilson which is extremely informative. A cast and crew audio commentary which I haven't listened to yet. Two very cool documentaries... one which looks at the failed attempts to get Fleming's novel back on screen and one which looks at how Fleming created Bond. Some deleted scenes, a look at the link between Bond and the Bahama's and much much more. A stunning release actually and well worth the upgrade if you only have the standard edition.