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Forget the ass-kicking – this Bond is back with an amazing amount of bonus features and delectable extras.

He’s Craig, Daniel Craig. He’s the new Bond, and though he’s as smooth talking as Pierce Brosnan and looks as hot in a tux as Sean Connery, he’s got something the others don’t have – a cast iron set of balls. He’s a thug with a gun, a well oiled machine set for destruction. In Casino Roayle, the Bond story is rebooted with excellence, shying away from the over-the-top antics of the last few films and getting back to the gritty feel of Ian Fleming’s novels (sans smoking and the almost carnivorous need for sex). Though M calls him a ‘blunt instument’, this Bond is more than meets the eye, and thankfully we have the Collector’s Edition of Casino Royale to give us all the insight into Daniel Craig’s Bond and the new Bond universe.

The Collector’s Edition is three discs and utterly lovely to behold. In a beautiful picture slipcase (sturdy, too – no worries about banging this case around) with a glossy booklet of pictures and info about the history and the new world of Bond, the first disc is the film with new commentary from the director, as well as the crew. Disc two brings us the special features from the original Bond release; “Becoming Bond” takes us through the process that brought Daniel Craig into the franchise and how the franchise evolved to the point where a new Bond was needed. “James Bond: for Real” goes into the grittier feel of the future of the bond franchise, and the amazing stunts that went into the film. The featurette focuses a lot on the incredible opening sequence where Bond chases a bomber through an abandoned hotel and bouncing acrobatically off of construction equipment. It’s called freerunning, or parkour, and the guy Craig is chasing is the co-founder of free running, Sebastian Foucan. This scene is quite possibly the most impressive action sequence in the film. There’s a lot of free running footage in this featurette, and watching it is great fun.

“Bond Girls Are Forever (2006)” shows us the great beauties of Bond past and present. Maryam d’Abo hosts this set of three smaller featurettes about the impact of being a Bond girl and what being a Bond girl means to those who hold the coveted title. Packed with interviews from the ladies themselves (and a lot of stock footage of the gals in swimsuits), it’s a fairly entertaining feature. Lastly on the second disc is the Chris Cornell music video, “You Know My Name”

Yeah, yeah, you might think. I have all this stuff already. Well, that’s where disc three comes in, and hold onto your pants, boys and girls. It is stuffed to the bursting point with new features that collectively can beat the crap out of your old Casino Royale DVD. First up is some never-before-seen deleted scenes – four, to be exact. From Bond’s emergency medical care after the torture scene to a cricket match killing, the extra scenes are well worth the watch, and fill in helpful little bits of information. “The Road to Casino Roayle” tells us exactly what it took to make the film, with the a little bit of history about the evolution of Bond in television and film. From a live action television show to a disastrous 1967 flick, Casino Royale came a long way before it would be ready to be the film that brought rough and tumble action back to the franchise. “Ian Fleming’s Incredible Creation” talks about the book version of Bond, who is described by the interviewees as “Brutal”, “Incorruptible”, “A bit of a bastard, but boy is he a debonair”. It delves into how Bond is a re-imagined version of Fleming himself.

Want some more? We’re not even off the first menu screen yet. “James Bond in the Bahamas” talks about what the location means to the Bond franchise, and why the location was chosen for Casino Royale. “Ian Fleming: The Secret Road to Paradise” is a bit of a continuation (or a reversal?) of the last featurette, about Paradise Island in the Bahamas and the effect that Fleming and Bond had on the Bahamas. “Death in Venice”, however, takes us back to Europe and to the palazzo where Vesper spent her last moments.

“The Art of the Freerun” takes us back to the stellar opening sequence and Bond’s adversary, Sebastian Foucan. Described as “Like a panther”, the filmmakers and stunt coordinators talk about how impressed they were with Foucan and his ability to act amongst the insane stunts he pulled off based on his own skill and not the imagination of a stunt man. He goes into the roots of freerunning, his influence from Asian martial arts and his childhood games. “Catching a Plane: Storyboard to Screen” shows the planning put into the airport sequence, and if you want more storyboarding, then there’s the freerun chase to look at. The last extra on the disc is profiles of six of the behind the scenes giants who made this incomparable film come together.

That is a lot of extras. Coupled with the fact that all these beautiful extras are attached to what is easily the best Bond film to date (here’s hoping Quantum of Solace can give it a run for it’s money), this is a spectacular set, not to be missed.

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