It was the Batman Begins of Bond, the reboot of the series that fans, and indeed most movie goers, were hoping would be a success. It was also a Blu-ray release that Sony had to get right. Blu-ray and HD-DVD were locking horns in the format war and Blu-ray was suffering from a distinct lack of quality titles. Buy would this be the essential first Blu-ray Disk purchase?
We all know that the film was a massive success and rightly so. It took the Bond franchise, updated it and made it good again. This presented Sony with a massive opportunity to make Casino Royale the Blu-ray movie that would set the format rolling. And it did. Sony made the film the quality product it had always promised to be and one that would finally give audio visual showrooms, and Blu-ray players across the globe something to show off.
Picture
The picture quality was always going to be amongst the best of the Blu-ray titles on offer. This shouldn’t really have been a surprise, but at the time of the discs release, some of the other titles available were seriously lacking. So whilst there were a few doubts, they were soon settled as the picture is pin-sharp and with amazing levels of detail. However you do wonder if they have tried a bit too hard as sometimes it all looks a bit unrealistic. Whilst it is a great picture, some of the faces didn’t look quite as natural as they should have done. As a disc to show off high definition video sharpness, it is a must. As a disc to highlight the formats subtleties, its not quite there.
Sound
If the picture quality is a showcase for HD detail, the sound most definitely is. The action scenes are full on, full range sound, which will give your system a serious work out. It is the range of sound that is so impressive, the lack of compression that is required for the sound track really shows. In a similar way to the smaller details being visible on screen, so they are to your ears as well with even the quitest background sounds being heard.
Why you should buy Casino Royale on Blu-ray
The film is one of the best Bond films ever, and as far as picture goes it is a great show off piece. But its the sound that makes it an essential purchase for us, and we can’t help but be impressed by good old fashioned noise! Even if you only buy it for one reason, buy it for the Venice building collapse – it’s right up there with the very best sounding scenes available today on DVD or Blu-ray.