The DVD for Casino Royale is finally out on DVD! This movie is fantastic. I loved it. Between work, the kids, and everything else I rarely have a chance to see movies in the theaters and I went to see this one twice. In fact, I liked this movie so much that after seeing it I even rented the original. Some of you may have read my post on the 1967 Casino Royale. Unlike this movie the original film was not good.

The producers of this movie, tried to take Bond back to his roots; to make him more like the character is in Ian Fleming’s novels. In the books he is much more of a tough guy or a thug than the smooth operator he’s become in the films. They even made a point of not having him drink his martinis ’shaken not stirred’ since this was an artifact of the movies not the novels. At the same time they are trying to take Bond back to his roots, they also need to keep him current. The technology of course is easy to update: email, satellites, GPS, etc. Another example is he plays in a high-stakes Texas Hold’em tournament instead of playing Baccarat. Obviously poker’s popularity has skyrocketed in recent years while very few average folks know how to play baccarate. I do, but thats only because I’m a geek and thought it would be cool.

The previous Bond, Pierce Brosnan, among Bond fans was very much a you love him or hate him kind of guy with nothing in between (Matt loved him, I hated him). Brosnan always seemed a little too effete to me. He never really came across as a tough guy. Daniel Craig reminds me much more of the Sean Connery James Bond. I always thought Connery was the best. Daniel Craig is a serious badass: kicking the snot out of people, shooting guys who are unarmed, sooo good. Way more of a thug than a smooth operator. Oh, did I mention the action in this film was fantastic. And unlike MI:2 there was actually a plot (and a good one at that) to tie the action scenes togther.

Despite my love of this film, I did have a couple of issues with it. First of all, The product placements were a little obvious and distracting. The nice ford POS rental car he had when he first arrives at the resort. But that’s minor and what are you going to do? Welcome to 21st century Hollywood. Next, The French chick they had as the latest Bond Girl was OK. She wasn’t super hot. I really think they could have done a little better. Ok, maybe alot better. I will not include any spoilers, but I will say that the end of the movie seemed to take forever. Every time you thought it was over there was another twist. If you every gone hiking you know that feeling when you think you’ve reached the summit only to discover it was a false peak and you can still see the real top miles away. Yeh, same thing. And letme tell you it really sucks in the theater when you finished the 55-gallon drum-sized medium diet coke half way through the movie (ow.).

My biggest beef though, and this is probably just personal, is that poker they played was just pitiful. It doesn’t take a Doyle Brunson to win with a straight flush any idiot can do it. Especially after the big conversation they have about bluffing earlier in the movie, I expected a little more. Didn’t any of the screenplay writers see Rounders?

I don’t want to end on a sour note because this movie was great. I will be stopping by Best Buy on the way home tonight to pick it up. You should go out and buy it too. But no matter how you lay hands on it I would say watch it!