Only a few more weeks until QUANTUM OF SOLACE hits so you know what that means... Sony are shoving Bond merchandise down our throats! Being the brainwashed, double-dipping slave-to-the-corporations consumer that I am, I of course indulged on my love for Bond with a couple purchases this week. Since I haven't been to the cinema of late I might as well offer up my reviews on two new Bond-related items to hit the market.
Today I'll be reviewing the new CASINO ROYALE Collector's Edition Blu-Ray DVD and later on I will offer up my thoughts on the QUANTUM OF SOLACE Official Motion Picture Soundtrack.
CASINO ROYALE Collector's Edition [Blu-Ray]
Sony are pretty well known for their double-dipping tactics with home video releases, and with the barebones first release of CASINO ROYALE on DVD in March 2007, a future beefed-up release was almost a certainty. Promised deleted scenes, docs, commentaries, and enhanced interactional features all here in a gorgeous collection that sets this version of CASINO ROYALE from the rest of the Bond DVD catalog.
Upon taking this baby out of the box I found that the powerful cover art is hard to take your eyes off of. It seems Sony have listened to the fans and used the CASINO ROYALE teaser poster to grace the cover. I've always been infatuated with this image as well as the majority of the Bond community - it captures the essence of Craig's Bond and the tone of the film so well - so it appears as if Sony have been studying their marketing skills as such a release is going to make its money with the niches (re-released DVDs - especially the "Collector's" or "Ultimate" versions - don't really market themselves to the average person as much as they do to the respective fanbases). Even the menus are slick with a flying card motif with images from the film plastered upon them.
The quality of the transfer itself is nearly flawless but that was never really a problem as the original 2007 release was borderline perfect. Video quality is virtually identical with maybe a few minor few minor upgrades in color here and there. The sound mix is a little different in instances but still pretty darn crankin' on a surround sound system. I'm still not sure why neither of the CASINO ROYALE releases have featured DTS, opting instead for 5.1 (TrueHD nonetheless) but I'm no audiophile so I couldn't tell you why Sony have favored one over the other.
Special Features are where this release goes miles above and beyond the first release with seven hours of added material, a vast improvement over the scant 90 minutes on the original. These are geared toward hardened Bond fans with fascinating documentaries on intricate issues regarding the rights to CASINO ROYALE, Ian Fleming, and the production of the film. Eon have even unlocked the vault and allowed four deleted scenes to appear. The features from the first release have carried over, and all are in 1080p HD minus the "Bond Girls Are Forever" doc and the Chris Cornell music video. If you pick up the Blu-Ray version you can compete with fellow viewers across the globe in an interactive Bond trivia game called "Know Your Double-o" supported by Blu-Ray Live. And let's not forget commentaries, since the first release was without, with a picture-in-picture commentary from director Martin Campbell and producer Michael G. Wilson and a crew commentary featuring several prominent crew members from the film.
The Collector's Edition release of CASINO ROYALE is now the benchmark for all Bond DVD releases. Not only is the transfer of the film masterful but the elegant presentation of the package is spot-on for Bond. Hey, it will even make the fans happy with a sufficient amount of special features to make the double-dip worth it.
The Ultimate Edition releases of 2006 are now being upconverted to Blu-Ray and hitting the market just in time for QUANTUM OF SOLACE so we'll see how well those look in the full glory of high definition. Hopefully those will stand out as much as this one, and they better since Blu-Ray ain't exactly cheap.
I'm listening to the QUANTUM soundtrack as we speak so look for the review of that in the near future. Tallyho!
Fantastic review. As I said, this is a release I'll have to buy at some point along with the other films. I'm sure EON will unleash 'Wave 2' in March to join QUANTUM OF SOLACE as well.
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