Casino Royale Review

Casino Royale


Release Date: 7th December 2006 - Australia


Production Companies
Columbia Pictures (copyright holder)
Eon Productions (presents)
Casino Royale Productions
Stillking Films
Studio Babelsberg

Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM)

Danjaq (copyright holder)

United Artists (copyright holder)

Distribution
Sony Pictures Australia


Genre: Action

Rating: M

Runtime: 144 minutes


Budget: $150,000,000

Box Office Gross: $616,505,162 (Worldwide)


Plot Summary
Having earned his 00 status and licence to kill, James Bond goes to Madagascar on his first mission, where he is to spy on a terrorist, Mollaka. But not everything goes as planned, and Bond decides to investigate, independently of MI6, to look for the rest of the terrorist cell. He finds a lead to the Bahamas, where the British spy comes across Dimitrios and his girlfriend, Solange. 007 discovers that

Dimitrios is involved with Le

Chiffre, a private banker who

funds the world's terrorist

organisations.

He learns from the Secret

Service intelligence that

Le Chiffre is setting up a

high-stakes poker game to

recover a large sum of

money he owed his clients,

which he lost in a failed

plot that the British secret

agent took down. MI6

assigns Bond to play

against him, knowing

that their newest "00"

operative will have the

advantage to defeat Le

Chiffre and end his

organisation.


Cast
Daniel Craig - James Bond

Eva Green - Vesper Lynd
Judi Dench - M
Mads Mikkelsen - Le Chiffre
Jeffrey Wright - Felix Leiter
Giancarlo Giannini - Rene Mathis
Simon Abkarian - Alex
Dimitrios
Caterina Marino - Solange
Dimitrios
Jesper Christensen - Mr. White
Isaach De Bankole - Steven
Obanno
Ivana Milicevic - Valenka
Tobias Menzies - Villiers
Claudio Santamaria - Carlos
Sebastien Foucan - Mollaka
Malcolm Sinclair - Dryden
Richard Sammel - Adolph Gettler
Ludger Pistor - Mendel
Joseph Millson - Carter
Darwin Shaw - Fisher
Clemens Schick - Kratt
Emmanuel Avena - Leo

Tom Chadbon - Stockbroker
Ade - Infante
Urbano Barberini - Tomelli
Tsai Chin - Madame Wu
Charlie Levi Leroy - Gallardo
Lazar Ristovski - Kaminofsky
Tom So - Fukutu
Veruschka von Lehndorff - Gräfin von

Wallenstein

Andreas Daniel - Daniel

Carlos Leal - Tournament Director

Christina Cole - Ocean Club Receptionist
Jurgen Tarrach - Schultz

Michael G. Wilson - Chief of Police (Cameo)

Phil Meheux - Treasury Bureaucrat (Cameo)

Richard Branson - Man at Airport Security

(Cameo) (Uncredited)

Martin Campbell - Airport Worker (Cameo)

(Uncredited)

Crew
Director - Martin Campbell
Based on Novel "Casino Royale" - Ian Fleming
Screenplay - Neal Purvis, Robert Wade
and Paul Haggis
Executive Producers - Callum McDougall
and Anthony Waye
Producers - Michael G. Wilson
and Barbara Broccoli
Co-Producer - Charlie Woebcken

Casting Directors - Janet Hirshenson,

Jane Jenkins and Debbie McWilliams

Animal Coordinators - Gary Gero and

Paul 'Sled' Reynolds

Animal Trainers - Tamara Brock,

Jules Sylvester and Julie Tottman
Production Designer - Peter Lamont
Supervising Art Director - Simon Lamont
Art Directors - Peter Francis, James Hambidge,
Michael Lamont, Steven Lawrence and
Dominic Masters

Stand-by Art Director - Neal Callow
Set Decorators - Lee Sandales and

Simon Wakefield

Property Master - Ty Teiger
Costume Designer - Lindy Hemming

Costume Supervisor - Dan Grace

Supervising Armorer - Richard Hooper

Makeup Supervisor - Paul Engelen
Director of Photography - Phil Meheux

Underwater Photographer - Mike Valentine

Production Managers - Sabrina Allaria

and Chris Brock

First Assistant Director - Bruce Moriarty

First Assistant Director: Second Unit -

Terry Madden
Second Unit Director/Director of Photography:
Second Unit - Alexander Witt
Stunt Coordinator - Gary Powell

Aerial Coordinator/Helicopter Pilot -

Marc Wolff

Aircraft Coordinator: Picture Aircraft -

Mike Woodley

Helicopter Pilot - David Paris
Special & Miniature Effects Supervisor -
Chris Corbould
Special Effects Buyer/Coordinator -

Lynne Corbould
Visual Effects Supervisor - Huseyin Caner
Visual & Miniature Effects Supervisor -

Steven Begg
Visual Effects Supervisor: MPC - Angela Barson

Visual Effects Consultant: Peerless -

Kent Houston

Director of Photography: Visual Effects,

Venice - Peter Field
Film Editor - Stuart Baird

Assistant Editors - Mark Burton,

Jo Dixon and Gregg Wilson
Title Designer - Daniel Kleinman

Sound Designer - Martin Cantwell

Supervising Sound Editor - Eddy Joseph

Sound Effects Editors - Jimmy Boyle,

James Harrison, Oliver Tarney and Jack Whittaker

Sound Mixer - Chris Munro

Re-Recording Mixer - Mark Taylor

Foley Artists - Peter Burgis,

Paul Hanks and Ian Waggott
Composer: James Bond Theme - Monty Norman
Music - David Arnold
Writer/Performer: Song "You Know

My Name" - Chris Cornell

Score Engineer/Mixer - Geoff Foster

Review
Not quite the reboot that I was expecting, CASINO ROYALE is a great James Bond movie, and it took four years after the last Bond film, Die Another Day, to make this adaptation of the character's first story by Ian Fleming. The film takes Bond back to where he should be in his roots and eschews the tropes of the series' previous films. It ditches the silliness of the high-tech gadgetry and visuals that are said to have plagued Die Another Day, although it lacks the character of Q, who is integral to the Bond franchise. It has a superb plot and character focus that are important to the film. Best of all, it showcases some intense action and suspense. Actor Daniel Craig was incredible in his performance as the title character, which is much more aggressive, rough and gritty than the previous interpretations from actors like Sean or Pierce.

While the movie manages to re-invent the Bond franchise, CASINO ROYALE is enjoyable and even brutal in some ways, with style and panache. I can't wait for the new Bond film Skyfall to come out, and yes, it does have Q. I recommend this movie to Bond fans.

Star rating: (4/5) Good Movie

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