Review: 007: Casino Royale (2006)

SPOILER ALERT!

 



 



 

Casino Royale is the twenty-first film in the James Bond film series and the first to star Daniel Craig as fictional MI6 agent James Bond. Directed by Martin Campbell and written by Neal Purvis, Robert Wade and Paul Haggis, the film marks the third screen adaptation of Ian Fleming's 1953 novel of the same name, which was previously produced as a 1954 television episode and a 1967 satirical film. Casino Royale is set at the beginning of Bond's career as Agent 007, just as he is earning his licence to kill. After preventing a terrorist attack at Miami International Airport, Bond falls for Vesper Lynd, the treasury employee assigned to provide the money he needs to bankrupt terrorist financier Le Chiffre by beating him in a high-stakes poker game. The story arc continues in the following Bond film, Quantum of Solace (2008).
Casino Royale reboots the series, establishing a new timeline and narrative framework not meant to precede or succeed any previous Bond film, which allowed the film to show a less experienced and more vulnerable Bond and for the first time in the series the character of Miss Moneypenny does not appear. Casting the film involved a widespread search for a new actor to portray James Bond, and significant controversy surrounded Craig when he was selected to succeed Pierce Brosnan in October 2005. Location filming took place in the Czech Republic, The Bahamas, Italy and the United Kingdom with interior sets built at Pinewood Studios. Although part of the storyline was set in Montenegro, no filming took place there. Casino Royale was produced by Eon Productions for Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer and Columbia Pictures, making it the first Eon-produced Bond film to be co-produced by the latter studio.
Casino Royale premiered at the Odeon Leicester Square on 14 November 2006. It received largely positive critical response, with reviewers highlighting Craig's performance and the reinvention of the character of Bond. It earned over $594 million worldwide, making it the highest-grossing James Bond film to date.

Plot

After killing a traitorous MI6 section chief—who has been selling classified information—and the station chief's contact, James Bond gets his double-0 status. He then goes to Madagascar in pursuit of an international bomb-maker named Mollaka. After a parkour chase to an embassy, Bond kills his target and blows up a part of the building in order to escape. Searching through Mollaka's mobile phone, Bond discovers a text message which he traces to Alex Dimitrios, an associate of banker and terrorist financer Le Chiffre. Le Chiffre's investments involve short-selling stock in successful companies and then engineering terrorist attacks to sink their share prices.
Bond travels to Dimitrios's house in the Bahamas and seduces his wife, Solange Dimitrios. While answering a phone call, Solange reveals that her husband is flying to Miami; Bond leaves to pursue him. In Miami, 007 kills Dimitrios during a fight and then follows Le Chiffre's henchman, Carlos, to Miami International Airport. There, Bond foils Le Chiffre's plan to destroy the prototype Skyfleet airliner.
Left with a huge loss and under pressure to recoup his terrorist clients' money, Le Chiffre sets up a high-stakes Texas hold 'em tournament at the Casino Royale in Montenegro. Hoping that a defeat would force Le Chiffre to aid the British government in exchange for protection from his creditors, MI6 enters Bond into the tournament. On the train to Montenegro, Bond meets an ally, Vesper Lynd, a Treasury agent who is looking after the $10 million buy-in. Bond loses his initial stake and Vesper refuses to give him $5 million to continue playing. Distraught over his failure, Bond resolves to assassinate Le Chiffre. Before he can, a fellow player reveals himself as CIA agent Felix Leiter, who offers to stake Bond in exchange for custody of Le Chiffre. Back in the game, Bond begins to amass chips. Le Chiffre and his associates attempt to kill Bond by poisoning his drink, but he survives with the help of Vesper and wins the tournament, and the winnings are deposited into a Swiss bank account. Soon afterward, Le Chiffre abducts Vesper and uses her as bait to capture Bond.
Le Chiffre tortures Bond for the access code to the game's winnings, but is interrupted by Mr. White, who kills Le Chiffre and his associates. Bond awakens in a hospital on Lake Como and has Mathis, whom Le Chiffre identified as a double agent, arrested. Bond admits his love for Vesper, and posts his resignation to M. The couple then go to Venice. There Bond learns that his poker winnings were never deposited in the Treasury's account. Realising that Vesper has stolen them, he pursues her and members of the organisation for which she is working into a building under renovation, which is being kept from sinking only by inflatable supports. A gunfight ensues and the supports are punctured. Bond kills the men and tries to rescue Vesper, but she locks herself in an iron-frame lift and allows herself to drown as the building sinks. Mr. White, watching from a nearby balcony, walks away with the money.
Bond rejoins the service and learns that Vesper had a French-Algerian boyfriend who was kidnapped by the organisation behind Le Chiffre and Mr. White in order to blackmail her into co-operation, and that she agreed to deliver the money in exchange for saving Bond's life. Bond then discovers White's name and cell phone number which he uses to find him.

Cast

• Daniel Craig as James Bond: A British SIS officer who, after being assigned 00-status, is sent on a mission to arrest a bomb-maker in Madagascar, where he stumbles upon Le Chiffre's terrorist cell and is then sent to defeat him in a high-stakes poker game at Casino Royale.
• Eva Green as Vesper Lynd: An agent for HM Treasury assigned to supervise Bond and finance his poker table exploits.
• Mads Mikkelsen as Le Chiffre: The main antagonist. A banker who services many of the world's terrorists. He is a mathematical genius and expert chess player and uses these skills when playing poker.
• Judi Dench as M: The head of MI6. Although she feels she has promoted Bond too soon and chides him for his rash actions, she acts as an important maternal figure in his life. Dench was the only cast member carried through from the Brosnan films.
• Jeffrey Wright as Felix Leiter: A CIA operative participating in the poker tournament while assisting Bond. This is the first Eon-produced Bond film in which Leiter is played by a black actor. (The only other black actor to portray Leiter was Bernie Casey in Never Say Never Again, which was not produced by Eon.)
• Giancarlo Giannini as René Mathis: Bond's contact in Montenegro.
• Simon Abkarian as Alex Dimitrios: Another contractor in the international terrorist underworld and associate of Le Chiffre, based in the Bahamas.
• Caterina Murino as Solange Dimitrios: Dimitrios' wife, whom Bond seduces. She is killed by Le Chiffre for unintentionally revealing one of his plans to Bond.
• Ivana Miličević as Valenka: Le Chiffre's girlfriend.
• Isaac de Bankolé as Steven Obanno: A leader of the Lord's Resistance Army, introduced to Le Chiffre by Mr. White to account his finances.
• Jesper Christensen as Mr. White: A liaison for an unnamed criminal organisation.
• Sébastien Foucan as Mollaka: A bomb-maker pursued by Bond through a construction site in Madagascar.
• Tobias Menzies as Villiers: M's young secretary at MI6 Headquarters.
• Ludger Pistor as Mendel: A Swiss banker responsible for all monetary transactions during and after the poker tournament.
• Claudio Santamaria as Carlos: A terrorist employed by Le Chiffre to blow up an aircraft.
• Richard Sammel as Gettler: An assassin who works for an unnamed criminal organisation and contacts Vesper in Venice.
• Clemens Schick as Kratt: Le Chiffre's bodyguard, who often accompanies his boss wherever he travels
• Joseph Millson as Carter: An MI6 agent who accompanies Bond in Madagascar.
• Ben Cooke as Williams: An MI6 agent who debriefs Bond in London.
• Darwin Shawh as Fisher: Dryden's underground contact. M sends Bond to kill him, his first official target. Bond tracks him down, nearly drowns him, and then shoots him dead.
• Diane Hartford as Card Player.

Casino Royale includes a cameo by British entrepreneur Richard Branson (seen being frisked at Miami airport). The cameo was cut out of the in-flight versions shown on British Airways' in-flight entertainment systems, as was a shot of the Virgin Atlantic aircraft Branson supplied.

Source: en.wikipedia.org