James Bond: Casino Royale - Deluxe Edition (3 Discs)

Right, unless you've lived on Mars for the past two years you will already know what an excellent film we have here, so there should be no need to go through the plot details, instead onto a review of the DVD itself.
I have to say this really is the DVD version we should have had two years ago. Presented in a cracking thick cardboard slipcase, and opening out with into a tryptich digipak, disc one on the left, two and three on the right and in the middle a glossy booklet in a slip pocket. Each outside surface features a cracking picture, Bond, Vesper and Bond & Vesper, all beautifully reproduced in a lovely matt finish. Excellent packaging.
First off, the menus. Thankfully they have been re-done as the original release had possibly the worst menus ever seen (almost! - well, certainly to grace Bond DVDs), these now feature a deck of cards tumbling toward the viewer, with the Casino Royale logo on back, (following the style of Daniel Klienman's most excellent titles, probably the best of the whole series) I think it is a shame they didn't follow the format of the Ultimate Edition DVDs but a welcome update anyway.
Disc One, is as previous issue - except for two commentaries - the first features director Martin Campbell and co-producer Michael Wilson, the second by the crew.
Disc Two is a straight lift from the previous release, featuring, Becoming Bond, James Bond for Real, Bond Girls Forever and Chris Cornelle's video for 'You Know My Name' - a theme tune that is definitely a grower.
Disc Three - this is where it gets interesting! A shed-load of features and featurettes, dealing with Casino Royale, from book to small screen, to big screen spoof and onto the excellent film we have here.
There are featurettes on Ian Fleming and his incredible creation, Paradise Island which has a long history with both Fleming and James Bond, there are explorations into the filmmaking process, showcasing the Venice finale, the Freerun chase and the Miami airport thrill ride! Profiles and storyboards. All-in-all an exhaustive collection covering just about everything you would want to know about the 21st James Bond film.
If you don't own Casino Royale, buy this version, if you do own Casino Royale, drop it into your local charity shop and buy this version.
And once you gone through the excellent extras, slip in Disc One and reacquaint yourself with this excellent and, dare I say, classic piece of Bond that this film is. The series was due for a re-boot after the dire Die Another Day and what better way to do it - back to the beginning!

From a packaging perspective this 'Deluxe Edition' is definitely one very classy product with a toughened slightly rubber feel slip case containing a fold out three panel sleeve all tastefully illustrated with evocative iconic images from the 2006 movie. There's a high gloss 24-page booklet packed with marvellous quality photos and informative text covering various aspects of "Casino Royale" nestling in between the disc mount panels which makes for interesting reading. As to the discs themselves you are effectively looked at the same contents found on the initial two-disc release (albeit with a second brand new audio commentary on offer plus both of these are available as subtitles so you can enjoy the movie) plus an epic gluttonous third disc which should offer the definitive background to this film and the creative history leading up to it. Now if we do the maths the total contents would lead the bog standard first disc only offering the 2 hr 18 ½ min film (admittedly I thought it was quite a stark departure from the high tech excitement of "Die Another Day" but Daniel Craig certainly makes for an excellent James Bond and there are plenty of worthy deft enjoyable touches within this film for my continued appreciation of what has been achieved with this cinematic outing) with no extras on it. The second disc with identical items as before still combines to give an overall 1 hr 43 mins of features. However the best is definitely the new third disc which weighs in with an incredibly impressive three hours and twenty nine minutes. Essentially these new items on offer here I feel can be broken down into three groups. The first presents us with actual film related items including four deleted scenes (totalling 7 ½ mins), approx 22 mins for 'Death In Venice' (an amazing, fascinating feature on how the climactic final sequence was realised), approx 13 mins for 'The Art of the Freerun' (insightful appreciatively worthy item on Sebastien Foucan), approx 13 mins for 'Catching a Plane: From storyboard to screen' and almost 10 mins for 'storyboard sequence : Freerun chase'. Secondly there are six "Casino Royale" filmmaker profiles which collectively total almost 51 mins. Then the third group are four items that take a more 'franchise backstory' approach in their content. At about 25 ½ mins 'The Road To Casino Royale' is a worthy intriguingly insightful item that even touches on the 1967 fairly comedic version (a first I think for the official retail title release franchise!) with clips from the film and mention of its unruly disaster premiere. James Bond's creator is the topic of both 'Ian Fleming's Incredible Creation' (approx 20 mins) and 'Ian Fleming: The secret road to paradise' (approx 23 ½ mins) whilst the film franchises affinity with one particular location is the subject of 'James Bond in the Bahamas' (approx 23 mins) with many pleasing references, clips and recollections from classic films taking us from 1965's "Thunderball" through to 2006's "Casino Royale". I'm sure that if like me you'd got the original two-disc release, or maybe you got hold of the single disc release you'd not be keen to dip into your pocket for another version however my suggestion would be sell your former titles of "Casino Royale" and nab a copy of this 'Deluxe Edition'. It really is well worth trading up for this 'hopefully definitive version' which both in durable, highly attractive packaging and exhaustively comprehensive content should be the most complete edition of this film you are ever likely to see on DVD. Highly recommended!

At £12, you get a lot of Bond. For starters, the packaging on this reissue is sumptuous to say the very least. Matt finishes throughout, glossy booklet, pristine presentation of the film itself. All in all it's well worth getting rid of the two disc and investing in this - you get all the bonus features from the original release as well as a host of others.
A steal!

I'm assuming if you're reading this then you have a like for the film and have probably seen it before, so I won't talk about the film as such in this review. If you haven't seen the film before I suggest you look at either purchasing or renting the single disc version, rather than buying this great collector's edition only to realise you don't particularly like the movie.

I already own the single disc version of Casino Royale and I really like the film. After a few viewings I decided that I wanted a more complete version of the film and there is no better out there than this new 3 disc deluxe edition. There's 3 discs packed full of content here and it will take you several hours just to get through the special features on discs 2 and 3, let alone watch the film itself.

Disc 1 is the feature film with commentaries from the director and producer and the crew. The film is still brilliant 2 years on and I can see myself watching it again and again over the next few years.

Disc 2 includes 2 short documentaries on the selection of Craig as Bond and the stunts within the film. There is also a longer documentary on Bond girls that includes interviews with a number of Bond girls, both past and present. The disc is rounded off with the music video for Casino Royale, Chris Cornell's "You Know My Name".

Disc 3 is a feature packed disc with all new content. There are several documentaries on how Casino Royale came to be, a few interesting deleted scenes that were cut from the movie for various reasons, a couple of documentaries on Ian Fleming and his involvement with the Bond franchise, a documentary on Bond's connection with the Bahamas, a few documentaires on how a couple of key scenes in the film were realised, including a look at the storyboards and finally the disc is completed with a bunch of filmaker profiles.

So aside from the main film, you're getting quite a lot of additional features on the other 2 discs and considering the single disc version is up at £4.99, another £4 will get you the other 2 discs and a very nice presentation case.

The case itself has a rubbery feel to it and is pretty sturdy. It is nicely decorated with images of the key characters and locations in the movie and it also includes a 24 page full colour booklet that describes various aspects of the film, its production, characters and locations.

If you love Casino Royale then you simply must own this definitive edition of the film. At £8.99 this is an absolute steal, especially considering I have seen it for as much as £20 at other retailers. If you love Bond and the fantastic reboot of this great franchise then get this deluxe edition. Seriously, you will not regret it.

with a vengance. Thank you very much Jason Bourne!
Finally a Bond Movie without all the silliness.