Re: A few words about...™ Casino Royale -- in BD
As to the look of the film, I've read it on the forums that this film was shot with a combination of digital cameras and film (much like MI:3, which actually looks, to me, a bit less digital color-wise. If so, that would explain the look. It was surely digitally color timed, and likely made to looks consistent with itself regardless of the cameras used scene-to-scene. Unless the shot digitally info is BS. Naturally, a duped theatrical print is going to look different than a video transfer struck from an original (likely digital) source. An exhibition print will add it's own "filmwash" to the image, so I can't say what ended up on video isn't closer to the original intent than what I saw in theaters. I would have actually preferred a grittier film look as well (I think a more digital look is fine for some fantasy films and the Star Wars universe, but a gritty reality should perhaps be, well, gritty), but if what I've seen on DVD is the way the director intended...
I can't say the product placement bothered me any more than any other Bond film...or any other film at all for that matter.
I've seen much bigger commercial moments in other movies, like X-Files, any of the Brosnan films showcasing the BMW line (esp. Goldeneye when the car just showed up to look nice). You could say DAD was a big Aston Martin and Jaguar ad, but really if you have great shots of a cool-looking car in action isn't it also for the benefit of the scene?
As far as Bond driving his Ford Fusion (I think), that drew laughs in the theater, and not because of blatant product placement I don't think. Everyone was laughing because it was so un-Bond-like, kind of like that Cuba moment in DAD. At least that's what I thought. Much of the film is about Bond finding his style and adding some finesse. He's pretty much just a one-man wrecking crew in the beginning. Bond's been wearing Omega watches for a while; perhaps it was a bit much to point out that he switched from Rolex, but really I think that dialogue was more a nod to the evolution of the series and telling us this isn't the old Bond we or our parents grew up with. At the very least, the product placement in this Bond film usually served a dual purpose. I like the film more every time I see it, and I can't imagine letting these things get me upset since the quality of the film is really much higher than any other Bond film. It's engrossing from beginning to end, and I'd have to be in a rotten mood or just want to tear the film apart.
Even with the blu-ray player (which makes sense if you were recording a hi-def feed) they had the decency to keep the blu-ray logo just slightly out of focus on the disc. If I hadn't expected it, I might not have even noticed it was Blu-ray. I was looking for it.
And another note about Ford: Have you ever noticed just how many Ford Mustangs have been in the Bond films? Almost every film has one, usually driven by a Bond girl. Does that mean every Bond film deserves such criticism?
I think the one that's going to stick out the most over the years is Halle Berry's Mercury Cougar if only because I don't think the popularity of that car lasted (but probably longer than the re-introduced, super-retro boat called the T-bird).
Honestly, product placement has to go pretty far to bother me. The Cheerios in Superman is really bad when you consider they flipped the box around so it could read from two opposite shots! You shouldn't create a continuity error just to get extra product placement.
That said, it takes me out of the film much more when someone drinks from a can that says "Cola" or uses their "MasterCharge." A fake or generic name just tells you you're in a fake world and destroys any illusion of reality. Should Bond use a computer that says something like "Speedy McPC" on it? Or a "ClearPhone"?
More food for thought: After seeing the X-Files movie, a friend of mine told me he knew instantly the bomb was in the soda machine because it was labeled generically...and no company would want to be associated with a bomb.
![Casino Royale [Blu-ray]](http://cdn.hometheaterforum.com/d/db/50x50px-ZC-dbf7f26c_B000MRA5NS-51TJuw5Iu7L.jpg)
