Casino Royale: The Big Picture

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.

Very good job. I really like the changes made here. Bond's relationship with M and Vesper feels more natural and I particularly loved the hokey poisoning part being removed. This is basically a really good movie with most of the minor little quibbles removed (for me, anyway). It improves upon the original and is now my go-to version.

Minor issues: I think the saturation or blur is slightly too high in scenes. Particularly the black and white opening and on the felt of the poker table it is noticeable. Also, one product of cutting out the poisoning is that it is said before one break "when we return the big blind will be 200,000" and then when they come back it's "the big blind is now 500,000" or something like that. I could be messing up the numbers but they don't match. Minor thing that could probably be fixed by cutting one line or the other, or replacing the amount in the line before the break.

No editing issues, very technically proficient. Well done!