Written By: Neal Purvis, Robert Wade, Paul Haggis
Running Time: 144 minutes
Starring: Daniel Craig, Eva Green, Mads Mikkelsen, Judi Dench
Premise: Recently promoted to 00 status, James Bond takes over his first mission, in which he faces a mysterious private banker to world terrorism and poker player, Le Chiffre. Along with a beautiful Treasury agent and the MI6 man in Montenegro, Bond takes part in a high stakes poker game set up by Le Chiffre.
Why You Should See It: A reboot of the Bond franchise, Casino Royale develops the character of James Bond more than ever before. Starting from the very beginning of his career as 007, Bond's flaws and mistakes make him human which makes the character more relatable to the audeince.
After killing a traitorous MI6 section chief—who has been selling classified information—and the chief's contact, James Bond receives his double-0 status and is designated 007. He then travels to Madagascar in pursuit of Mollaka, a globe-trotting bombmaker-for-hire. After a parkour chase to an embassy, Bond kills Mollaka and escapes by setting off an explosion. Searching through Mollaka's mobile phone, Bond discovers a text message, which he traces to Alex Dimitrios, an associate of the banker and terrorist financier Le Chiffre. Le Chiffre's investments involve short-selling stock in successful companies using his clients' money, and then engineering terrorist attacks to sink their share prices, creating huge profits for himself.
Bond travels to the Bahamas—where Dimitrios has a home—and makes love with his wife, Solange Dimitrios. After answering a phone call, Solange reveals that her husband is flying to Miami, so Bond leaves to pursue him. In Miami, 007 kills Dimitrios and follows Le Chiffre's henchman, Carlos, to Miami International Airport. There, Bond foils Le Chiffre's plan to destroy the prototype Skyfleet airliner by stopping the fuel truck Carlos was planning to crash into the airplane and then killing Carlos.
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 Vesper Lynd, a British Treasury agent whose role is to protect the government's interests, specifically the $10 million buy-in. In Montenegro, Bond meets a local MI6 contact, René Mathis, who manages to have both the Chief of Police and Le Chiffre's lieutenant arrested, placing more pressure on Le Chiffre. In the tournament, Bond loses his initial stake on a misplayed hand, and Vesper refuses to give him $5 million to continue playing. Frustrated by his failure, Bond resolves to assassinate Le Chiffre. Before he can, a fellow player, Felix Leiter, reveals himself as a CIA agent. Leiter offers to stake Bond in exchange for custody of Le Chiffre. Back in the game, Bond rapidly re-establishes his pot. Le Chiffre attempts to have Bond killed by having his girlfriend Valenka poison Bond's drink, but he survives with the help of Vesper. Bond wins the tournament, and the winnings are deposited into a Swiss bank account. Soon afterward, Le Chiffre's henchmen abduct Vesper and use her as bait to capture Bond.
Le Chiffre tortures Bond for the bank account's password, but he is interrupted by Mr. White, who kills Le Chiffre for being untrustworthy. Bond awakens in a hospital on Lake Como and has Mathis, whom Le Chiffre falsely identified as a double agent, arrested. Bond admits to Vesper that he is in love with her, and posts his resignation to M. The couple travel to Venice, where Bond learns that his winnings were never deposited in the Treasury's account. Realizing that Vesper had stolen the winnings, he pursues her and the men to whom she gives the money into a building under renovation. In the ensuing firefight, the inflatable supports holding the building above water 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 MI6 and learns that Vesper had a French-Algerian boyfriend who was kidnapped by the organization behind Le Chiffre and Mr. White to blackmail her into co-operation. Bond is also informed that Vesper agreed to deliver the winnings in exchange for Bond's life. Bond then discovers a text from Vesper with White's name and mobile phone number, which he uses to find White. After wounding and capturing White, he introduces himself: "The name's Bond—James Bond."
James Bond
"The name's Bond... James Bond."
When we are first introduced to James Bond, we see a skilled but reckless field agent who has no trouble killing his target. As a traitor preaches to him that killing even in the line of duty is difficult, Bond cooly puts a bullet in him. His recklessness is put on full display when chasing his target in Madagascar. The chase results in heavily damaged building developments and a compromised Bond. Not only does he attract squads of soldiers to himself, but he also kills his target (the main lead) in an embassy and his actions make global news outlets.
Bond is not a great agent because he lets emotion dictate his actions. After seeing his target Alex Dimitrios mistreat his girlfriend, Bond decides to humiliate Dimitrios by taking his money and car in a poker game, thus drawing attention to himself. Furthermore, 007’s inexperience results in three deaths stretching from the Bahamas to Miami and no leads. After the death of Solange, M questions if he can remain emotionally detached during a mission. Bond is clearly affected, but he manages to shake it off.
Once M assigns Bond to the high stakes poker game at the Casino Royale, he meets Vesper Lynd. He is immediately taken with Vesper due to her quick wit and irresistible charm. Bond and Lynd clash at first due to his ego and her by-the-book attitude. She counters all of his verbal tricks with some of her own. Their relationship improves when Bond consoles her after she sees him kill two of Le Chiffre’s clients.
In the poker game, Bond’s arrogance clouds his mind. He believes that he has Le Chiffre beat after the first hand and continues to play the game that way. His cockiness turns into desperation as he loses a few hands and Le Chiffre annoys him with verbal jabs. Eventually, Bond loses the game. Motivated by rage, 007 takes a radical step toward murdering Le Chiffre before he is stopped by Felix Leiter.
While being tortured by Le Chiffre, Bond exhibits his most valuable attribute as an MI6 agent: loyalty. In the midst of brutal torture, Bond does not reveal anything about his mission and he even mocks Le Chiffre and the debts he owes toward his clients.
Bond feels deceived when he learns that Vesper took the money, but his love for her drives him to save her anyway. Even after her death, he remains ignorant to Vesper’s good intentions until M (whom 007 sees as a maternal figure) sternly tells Bond that Vesper sacrificed her life for his. Finally, he realizes the importance of her actions, but Bond’s reaction is quite dark. He sets himself on the path of revenge instead of catharsis and it starts with the shot to Mr. White’s leg.
Ego, Power, Corruption
James Bond’s ego prevents him from being an excellent field agent. He believes in poetic justice more than the law. Although he gets his double-0 status at the beginning of the film, M reminds him that anyone can kill, but a great agent knows when to take or spare a life. Following Vesper’s sacrifice, Bond is corrupted by vengeance. Le Chiffre, like Bond, becomes drunk with power. Until Bond foils his terrorist attack in Miami, Le Chiffre believes that he is untouchable.