STUDIO: Sony
RELEASE DATE: October 21, 2008
STARRING: Daniel Craig, Mads Mikkelsen, Eva Green, Jeffrey Wright, and Judi Dench
WRITTEN BY: Paul Haggis, Neal Purvis, & Robert Wade
DIRECTED BY: Martin Campbell
FEATURES:
Bonus View Picture In Picture Visual Commentary With Director & Producer
Crew Commentary
Know Your Double-O: The Ultimate James Bond Trivia Quiz
Blu-ray Live Enabled
Never Before Seen Deleted Scenes
The Road To Casino Royale
Ian Fleming's Incredible Creation
James Bond In The Bahamas
Ian Fleming: The Secret Road To Paradise
Death In Venice
Becoming Bond Documentary
James Bond: For Real Documentary
Bond Girls Are Forever (2006)
The Art Of The Freerun
Catching A Plane: From Storyboard To Screen
Storyboard Sequence: Freerun Chase
Filmmakers Profiles
Music Video: Chris Cornell You Know My Name

What better way to warm up for the movie of the season, Quantum of Solace, than with a high-definition refresher on one of the best movies of 2006, Casino Royale? The best action movie of the last few years and the best Bond movie ever (yes, ever) looks unbelievable with its long-overdue special edition treatment using Sony Blu-Ray technology. I hadn't seen Casino Royale since its theatrical release and I noticed a few things while watching it again in its new Special Edition form.

First, the movie holds up remarkably well. Honestly, I think it's even better on repeat viewing. Free from the shock at the revival of a franchise that this longtime fan thought was completely dead, it's easier to focus on what director Martin Campbell and his team in front of and behind the camera do so right. It's not just Daniel Craig's super-suave performance, the first one of Bond that actually feels like something new since Connery waved bye-bye to 007. It's not just the excellently staged action sequences. It's the caliber of the entire film, from the incredible opening chase that goes vertically instead of horizontally to the tension that Campbell brings to something as potentially mundane as watching someone else play poker. Casino Royale is a beauty and even more so on Blu-Ray with a perfect Special Edition.

The film is presented on the first disc along with a bonus view picture-in-picture visual commentary with director and producer and a full commentary track. Fans will also find a James Bond trivia quiz and can access Sony's BD-Live function. I'm a huge fan of the potential of BD-Live but the actuality of it is still in the early stages. For example, I accessed the BD-Live function on Casino Royale today and went to the "Spotlight" section where I chose to download "Meet the New Bond Girl", a segment with Olga Kurylenko of Quantum of Solace.

I could have watched half an hour of the movie in the time it took to download and it's definitely not my internet connection, which I would say is better than average. But what about when it actually downloaded? Eh. It's the kind of thing I wouldn't spend too much time viewing online, so why am I taking time to download it on Blu-Ray? Yes, 2:14 with Kurylenko is certainly not a painful experience, but it's also far from mind-blowing. The potential of live commentary tracks or new sneak peeks and featurettes is incredible. But downloading previews for other Sony movies or featurettes that I would ignore even if they didn't need to be downloaded? It doesn't seem quite there yet.

What IS there however is the second disc of Casino Royale: Special Edition, a monstrously complete collection of featurettes, never before seen deleted scenes, storyboards, filmmaker profiles, and everything you could possibly ask for regarding Casino Royale. There's nothing left on the cutting room floor or in the back room for future editions. This is as special as Casino Royale is going to get. So, how are the deleted scenes? Pretty damn good. It's not just cutting room floor extensions this time. There are 8 minutes of deleted scenes that every Bond fan should see. It's clear that the black and white opening was once a bit longer and there's some extended footage of Bond in the hospital after he's tortured. Good stuff. And the featurettes are incredibly extensive.

"The Road to Casino Royale" is the basic history of the project in 27 minutes while "Ian Fleming's Incredible Creation" details the history of the character to this point and defines how they wanted to go back to the roots that Fleming originally laid down in about 20 minutes. The gorgeous location shooting in the Caribbean is detailed in the 24 minutes of "James Bond in the Bahamas" and perfectly partnered with "Ian Fleming: The Secret Road to Paradise", a just-as-long look at Fleming's personal history with the islands. The featurettes jump halfway around the world with "Death in Venice", a 23 minute look at the location shooting in one of the most beautiful cities in the world. "Becoming Bond" is 27 minutes with the man himself, Daniel Craig, as he openly talks about his experience on Casino Royale. "James Bond: For Real" focuses on the stunt work in the film, which is easily some of the best of the last ten years. Action fans should see this just to note how complex the stunt choreography in CR truly ended up.

The 2006 documentary TV special, "Bond Girls Are Forever" is included in its entirety (but, also, in standard definition). Spending 46 minutes with Bond girls is never a bad thing - we get to catch up with a lot of the major ones over the history of the franchise - but it is startling to go from the perfection of the HD in this set to SD. The rest of the special featurettes are pretty specialized with looks at the opening freerun, a storyboard for the plane sequence, a storyboard for the freerun sequence, profiles, and the Chris Cornell music video for the theme song (which is, shockingly and disappointingly, in SD).

Quantum of Solace hits theaters on November 14th (like you don't have that date marked on your calendar already). I know. It's too far away. But Sony has given us a perfect way to kill the time between now and then and for years afterward with the best Bond Blu-Ray presentation yet in Casino Royale: Special Edition.