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The soundtrack to the 2006 film Casino Royale was composed by David Arnold and is Arnold's fourth soundtrack for the popular James Bond movie series. Frequent collaborator Nicholas Dodd orchestrated and conducted the score. Casino Royale Casino Royale (2006) Le Chiffre, a banker to the world's terrorists, is scheduled to participate in a high-stakes poker game in Montenegro, where he intends to use his winnings to establish his financial grip on the terrorist market.

Soundtrack Information

Sony Classical (88697-02369-2)

Release Date:November 14, 2006

Conducted by Nicholas Dodd

Formats: CD, Digital

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Track Listing

Related Albums

• You Know My NameInterscope Records

  Released: November 21, 2006

  Formats: CD, Digital

• Released: November 12, 2012

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• Released: November 6, 2012

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• Best of Bond... James Bond: 50 Years - 50 TracksCapitol Records

  Released: October 9, 2012

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• Best of Bond... James Bond: 50th Anniversary CollectionCapitol Records

  Released: October 9, 2012

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• The Best of James BondSeyffert Music

  Released: June 1, 2012

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• The Best of BondRoyal Philharmonic Orchestra (RPO SP 017)

  Released: October 27, 2008

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Review: Casino Royale

With Casino Royale, the James Bond franchise gets a 'reboot', ala Batman Begins, and a new actor (Daniel Craig) has come in to replace Pierce Brosnan after four outings as 007. In this film, we see how Bond achieves his 'license to kill' status, and how he became the 'James Bond' that we've come to know. The plot of Casino Royale sticks pretty closely to the original Ian Fleming novel, with Bond going up against Le Chiffre (Mads Mikkelsen), banker to the world's terrorists, in a game of high-stakes poker at the Casino Royale. Apparently Le Chiffre made a few bad bets, and Bond hopes to beat him to force him into a position whereby he will have to comply with MI6 - or be killed by his terrorist backers for losing their money. Treasure official Versper Lynd (Eva Green) is assigned to work with Bond to make sure he doesn't lose at the casino, and she provides the love interest in the film. Casino Royale shows us where Bond came from, and over the course of the film, he is hurt - both physically, and emotionally.

Due to this character arc, as well as the fact that Bond hasn't yet 'earned his stripes', it's no surprising that for his fourth outing as Bond composer, David Arnold doesn't make much use of the James Bond theme until the end of the film. In its stead, we get subtle hints and nods at the theme, while being exposed to plenty of thematic material based on a song that Arnold co-wrote with Chris Cornell, 'You Know My Name'. Arnold also penned two love themes, which have a pleasing John Barry-esque orchestration.

The album starts out with 'African Rundown', an action cue with plenty of staccato brass and fast string work to remind us that it's certainly a James Bond score. The addition of ethnic percussion and plucked instruments help add a dash of flavor as well, befitting of the post-title chase sequence in Madagascar. Splashes of melodic phrases from 'You Know My Name' show up here, as well as through much of the album. A love theme for the first Bond girl, Solange (Caterina Murino) is heard in 'Solange' and 'Trip Aces', the latter of which gives us a taste of the Bond theme as well. The other love theme is heard in 'Vesper', and then subsequently in 'City of Lovers' and 'Death of Vesper', a tender melody performed primarily on strings and pianos.

There are a few times that the James Bond theme starts to peek through, but turns out to be a rendition of 'You Know My Name', allowing it to serve as an ancestor to what will be come the well known Monty Norman theme. 'Aston Montenegro' and 'Dinner Jackets' both work towards that effect, but also in 'Dirty Martini', 'Bond Wins it All' and 'Fall of a House in Venice', among others.

The longest action track on the disc, 'Miami International', showcases Arnold's action writing, without heavy use of electronic elements, a feature that divided fans in the past two Bond scores. It uses bursts of 'You Know My Name' throughout, as do the other action tracks, 'Stairwell Fight' and 'The End of an Aston Martin'. There are also a number of low key tension cues, usually heard when Bond is exploring, or playing poker at the casino ('Unauthorised Access', 'CCTV', 'The Tell', 'The Bad Die Young').

By the end of the film, Bond has gone through a lot, leaving him emotionally and physically scarred. He's had a bit of character-building in the process, and appropriately enough, he's now earned a full version of the James Bond theme. 'The Name's Bond... James Bond' is just that - a swaggering, full of bravado rendition of Monty Norman's classic melody, with all the trimmings. It's a great way to end the album.

Due to legal issues of some kind, the 'You Know My Name' is absent from the Sony Classical soundtrack, but will be released as a single on Interscope Records, making this the first even James Bond soundtrack to lack the main title song. Additionally, Sony Classical is releasing 13-extra minutes of score as an iTunes exclusive, thus allowing collectors and fans to have all the cues that Arnold recorded for the film. While many of these cues are short and repeat some material from the regular release, they do include the pre-title sequence, as well as a few dramatic and tense action moments. (We've amended our track listing above with the bonus tracks.) But if anything, the regular soundtrack release could have been a bit shorter; the album doesn't play through as solid a listen as I would have liked, but collectors and fans will be happy to have every scrap of music available.

David Arnold's score to Casino Royale doesn't break any new musical ground, but it does allow a fresh restart on the Bond franchise to successfully take hold and grow. He has cleverly given us an ancestral melody to the James Bond theme, and his music supports the film rather well without becoming over the top or weighty. With the film's 150-minute running time, and only 85-minutes of score, there are some great swaths of screen time that are quiet - allowing the actors and the story to play out. It's a shame the song isn't on the soundtrack, since it would have gone perfectly right at the end of the disc, but picking up both the score and song single should satisfy most fans.

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Movie Information

Credits

• directorMartin Campbell

Movie Purchasing Links

• Amazon On-Demand Blu-ray DVD

Soundrack Albums

• You Know My NameInterscope Records

  Released: November 21, 2006

  Formats: CD, Digital

• Casino RoyaleSony Classical (88697-02369-2)

  Released: November 14, 2006

  Formats: CD, Digital (88 min)

Compilation Soundtracks

Casino Royale 2006 Music Hits

• Released: November 12, 2012

  Format: Digital (84 min)

• Released: November 6, 2012

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• Best of Bond... James Bond: 50th Anniversary CollectionCapitol Records

  Released: October 9, 2012

  Formats: CD, Digital (77 min)

• Best of Bond... James Bond: 50 Years - 50 TracksCapitol Records

  Released: October 9, 2012

  Formats: CD, Digital (155 min)

• The Best of James BondSeyffert Music

  Released: June 1, 2012

  Format: Digital (75 min)

• The Best of BondRoyal Philharmonic Orchestra (RPO SP 017)

  Released: October 27, 2008

  Format: CD (53 min)

Review: Casino Royale (3-disc Collector's Edition DVD)

Music From Casino Royale

After Die Another Day, the producers of the highly successful James Bond franchise decided to convert the last remaining Ian Fleming novel yet to truly be brought to the big screen, which also happened to be the very first James Bond adventure - Casino Royale. The decision to go back to the beginning also required getting a new actor to play the British secret agent. With the controversial choice of Daniel Craig (dubbed by some 'James Blonde'), much intrigue was swirling around Casino Royale, which was to be directed by GoldenEye director Martin Campbell, based on a screenplay by Neal Purvis, Robert Wade, and Oscar-winner Paul Haggis.

Casino Royale follows Bond on his first real mission as a 00-status agent (with a license to kill). Bond follows a lead that brings him to Le Chiffre (Mads Mikkelsen), a banker servicing many of the world's terrorists. After Bond thwarts a plan by Le Chiffre to short airline stock, Le Chiffre suddenly owes his clients a lot of money - or his life is forfeit. Sensing an opportunity, M (Judi Dench - the only holdover from the previous Bond films) sends Bond to compete against Le Chiffre in the high-stakes poker tournament at the Casino Royale in Montenegro. Joining Bond is Treasury agent Vesper Lynd (Eva Green), who is assigned to keep an eye on the money: Bond has to win the tournament to force Le Chiffre into surrendering to the British authorities.

Casino Royale was a smash hit, proving skeptics wrong about Craig, and successfully rebooting the franchise for a new generation of fans. Released on DVD back in 2007, the original 2-disc release was surprisingly light on extras, and rumors of a more substantial 'special edition' were floating around. Finally, just in time for the sequel Quantum of Solace, the new 3-disc DVD 'Collector's Edition' of Casino Royale was released, and it is certainly the release that fans have been eagerly awaiting.

With the first disc containing the feature film, the visual quality is actually improved a bit from the original 2007 DVD release. The transfer is identical, but there seems to be less compression artifacts. It's certainly an excellent image, with the opening grainy black-and-white sequence looking very film-like, and the remainder of the film maintaining a natural quality and color balance throughout, with strong contrast and black levels. The audio is presented in English and French Dolby Digital 5.1, and like the original DVD, packs quite a whollop. An immersive sound field plunks the viewer right in the middle of the action, dialogue is crisp and clear, and David Arnold's punchy and emotional score shines nicely.

Conspicuously missing from the original DVD release was a commentary track. Making up for that omission, we're given a rather informative track by director Martin Campbell and producer Michael G. Wilson. They discuss the evolution of the project, and the challenges faced with rebooting the Bond franchise. It's a great conversation that the two have, as they reminisce about the ups and downs they experienced making the movie. Even better, a second track features a crew commentary - with edited comments from seventeen(!) individuals who worked on the film, from the screenwriters, to composer David Arnold, to the stunt coordinator, and more. It's a fascinating track, and you learn an immense amount of material, compacted down into the film's running time. Well worth a listen.

On the second disc, we're given the same extras that were on the original 2007 2-disc DVD release. Slightly fluffy, they still give a taste of deeper things to come. 'Becoming Bond' (26-minutes) is a condensed making-of featurette that looks at the film from the novel through the adaptation, casting, and filming. 'James Bond: For Real' (23-minutes) focuses more on a few of the action sequences, and how the filmmakers decided to take Bond back to basics, with less fantasy and more realism. 'Bond Girls are Forever' (49-minutes) was a 2006 television special hosted by Bond girl Maryam d'Abo (The Living Daylights), and takes a look at a significant chunk of the female cast from throughout the Bond series, and their experiences with their respective films. 'You Know My Name' is the music video featuring singer Chris Cornell as he sings the film's main title.

The third disc brings us all the new featurettes - finally! First up are four 'Deleted Scenes' (8-minutes), which expand out some moments from the film, including Bond's hospital recovery towards the end, an expanded prologue, a bit more dialogue and banter between Bond and Vesper. Short but sweet, and all presented in 16x9 anamorphic video. 'The Road to Casino Royale' (26-minutes) is a great look at the long journey that Casino Royale had, from the original novel to the modern film version. Featuring interviews with a huge array of people including producers, screenwriters, friends of Ian Fleming, historians and more, the various attempts are explored (including the Peter Sellers spoof), and all of the legal battles are discussed candidly and informatively. The logical follow-through, 'Ian Fleming's Incredible Creation' (21-minutes) takes a more in-depth look at the novelist himself, his background and how Bond was created. An exploration of the origins of the modern spy community is also looked at, and it's a truly fascinating piece.

Casino Royale 2006 Music Youtube

'James Bond in the Bahamas' (24-minutes) looks at the pivotal role that this small Caribbean country has played through the history of James Bond, from acting as Fleming's home, through to serving as a location shoot for the various Bond films. The companion piece to this featurette is 'Ian Fleming: The Secret Road to Paradise' (24-minutes), which looks more at Ian Fleming's associates and how they directly (or indirectly) influenced his work on the Bond novels. 'Death in Venice' (23-minutes) brings us back to the filmmaking of Casino Royale with an in-depth look at the challenges faced with bringing the Venice climax of the film to life. From location shoots, to miniatures, to stage shoots, and even underwater tanks, every aspect is explored. 'The Art of the Freerun' (14-minutes) looks at the fascinatingly fluid 'urban sport' created by Sebastien Foucan (who also appears in the film). A lot of behind-the-scenes material from the Madagascar sequence is included here, and it's great stuff to see. 'Catching a Plane: From Storyboard to Screen' (14-minutes) takes us through the Miami Airport sequence with storyboard comparisons, behind the scenes footage, and more. We're also given a chance to look at a 'Storyboard Sequence' which lets us watch the Freerun chase through storyboards (11-minutes), or with a storyboard comparison (10-minutes).

Casino Royale Movie 2006

Finally, we have 'Filmmaker Profiles'. Not to be mistaken for some EPK-styled text screens, we instead are given solid featurettes on each major filmmaking crew member, with additional behind-the-scenes footage and interviews. Running 53-minutes long, we look at director Martin Campbell (11-minutes), special effects supervisor Chris Corbould (8-minutes), cinematographer Phil Meheux (8-minutes), stunt coordinator Gary Powell (8.5-minutes), 2nd unit director Alexander Witt (7-minutes) and composer David Arnold (10-minutes). Obviously the last segment is most interesting to SoundtrackNet readers, and we get some great comments from Arnold about the evolution of the themes in the film, as well as behind-the-scenes footage from the scoring sessions and song recording sessions with Chris Cornell. What is still missing? The theatrical trailers and any marketing. Oh well.

Casino Royale successfully rebooted the Bond franchise. It's a high-octane film, with plenty of action and emotion. It shows us how Bond became the Bond that we all know, and makes him human - flaws and all. It took a while, but we're finally given the extras that we really wanted the first time around, and if you haven't picked it up yet, Casino Royale is worth snagging. Even better, it will come with MovieCash towards Quantum of Solace, so you essentially get another movie for free.

Trailer Music Used From

• Theatrical Trailer
• 'Original Trailer Music' - Pfeifer Broz. Music
• 'Unstoppable' Makara(2010) - E.S. Posthumus

Casino Royale 2006 Soundtrack

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