Casino Royale: The Big Picture

Well. As good as the original is, PE manages to tighten it to near perfection. A high quality-edit, throughout. Visually perfect, no hiccups in audio and narratively slimmer. Impressive work, to say the least. Cutting out the poisoning works great and I did not miss it. The same goes for the overlong scenes when Bond rehabilitates. Much of the poor exposition is taken care of, and the trimming of the action scenes helps them, even tough I never had a problem with them in the original.

Highly, highly recommended!

Somehow putting down a proper review for this slipped my mind when I viewed it many months ago. Apologies. This edit deserves all the praise it can get. I was the Academy member who gave the approval on this and I must say, never, not once has there ever been a first time submission that I watched that didn't need a few tweaks to get it okayed for this site. Until this one.

Seemless. That's what this is. If didn't know the film by heart and didn't know upfront that this was an edit, you'd probably never know. Hell, I know the movie by heart and I still kept missing when things were cut. Which is a testament to not only the skill of the editing but also the new breakneck pace that this film has been given.

This could just as easily be called "Casino Royale: Lean and Mean" because that's exactly what it is. And very fitting too, for the Bond here being portrayed. Not a huge deviation from the theatrical, but a very exciting and worthwhile one nonetheless. Recommended.

Overview - Brilliant reboot of the Bond franchise finds James, not only newly promoted to 00 status, but rather inexplicably, newly promoted in general. As if he is a green rookie, lacking experience, viewed skeptically by all in British intelligence.
Problem Eliminator removes all latter suppositions. Bond may have a new license, but chances are he had been a field agent for years, and his promotion well earned.

Video - 1280 X 546p AVC. Solid editing throughout. Once, perhaps twice, I noticed a longish fade to black transition, but never at a point where it interferes with the tempo or mood. The colour correction is nicely handled throughout..

Audio - 352 kbps 2 Channel stereo AAC. No subs. I listened to this using headphones. On a few occasions, the dialogue is difficult (almost exclusively these are exchanges between James and Vesper), possibly from the source, possibly the mixdown from 5.1, possibly shortcomings of my equipment. Generally, most of the sound is excellent. I did not notice the opening song remix until I reread the editor’s comments after viewing.

Narrative - No complaints here. The story is faithful, despite bits excised here and there. The only sequence I dislike remains the recuperative period after Montenegro and before Bond fields the “where’s the money?” call. I have always found that section mawkish and difficult to believe. As if the British government would not jet in immediately to retrieve £100M.. It was in the original film, it is in this edit, and it still causes me to shake my head in disbelief.

Enjoyment - Confession. I went into this rather cold. I had gotten PE’s edit over a year ago, but, owing to technical problems, had been unable to view it. After sorting those, I had forgotten what Problem Eliminator’s original intent was. And instead to refreshening my memory, I just loaded the edit.

A Bond movie I am quite familiar with, I was soon noticing omissions. My reactions ran along lines of, “Oh, he took that out. No loss.” “Good riddance there, that line made Bond look stupid.” “That had been weak, too, as if he couldn’t buy his own clothes.” “Aw, hell, the hospital bit, I hope he cuts this.”

I like this version. Like it a lot, and I wish producers had crafted this excellent 007 film this way.

Bravo. This is a solid FanFix of the film. I thought your choices were terrific and not overdone. I think sometimes editors get so carried away that they substantially alter the story. Not here. This is just a good streamlining of the original. It was "just right."

Video and audio edits seemed perfect. I couldn't detect any problems. Its my new "go to" version of this film. Great job.

This is the only way I watch this movie. A great bond film and this fixes most of the pacing issues the original film had. The video is a bit lacking, it's an older edit but 1080p would be nice. Also, the audio mix is very low. Otherwise, it's my favorite edit of this film. Would really like to see an updated release.