Casino Royale (2006 film)

Casino Royale (2006) is the 21st film in the James Bond series and the first to star Daniel Craig as MI6 agent James Bond. Based on the 1953 novel of the same name by Ian Fleming, it was adapted by screenwriters Neal Purvis, Robert Wade, and Paul Haggis and directed by Martin Campbell. It is the third screen adaptation of the Casino Royale novel, which was previously produced as a 1954 television episode and a 1967 satirical film. However, the 2006 film is the only EON Productions adaptation of Fleming's novel. It is a reboot of the Bond franchise, establishing a new timeline and narrative framework not meant to precede any previous film.^[2] This not only frees the Bond franchise from more than forty years of continuity, but allows the film to show a less experienced and more vulnerable Bond.^[3] The film is set at the beginning of James Bond's career as Agent 007, having earned his licence to kill. After preventing a terrorist attack at Miami Airport, Bond falls for Vesper Lynd, the treasury agent assigned to provide the money he needs to foil a high-stakes poker tournament organized by Le Chiffre.

Plot

In the opening sequence, James Bond is on a mission that, if successful, will qualify him for double-0 status. He goes to Prague and kills an MI6 section chief, Dryden, who has leaked classified information, and his ally, Fisher. Elsewhere, Mr. White serves as a middleman introducing a banker, Le Chiffre, to a guerrilla group seeking a safe haven for its funds. Le Chiffre assures them that there is "no risk in the portfolio", but his investments actually involve considerable risk: he short sells successful companies and then engineers terrorist attacks to sink their stock values.

In his first mission as Agent 007, Bond goes to Madagascar in pursuit of an international bomb-maker named Mollaka. After a free running chase to the Nambutu embassy, Bond kills his target and blows up a part of the building in order to escape. He obtains Mollaka's mobile phone and discovers that it has received calls from Alex Dimitrios, an associate of Le Chiffre in the Bahamas. Bond travels there and seduces Dimitrios' wife, Solange. While answering a phone call, Solange reveals that her husband is flying to Miami. Bond leaves to pursue him. In Miami, 007 kills Dimitrios and then follows Le Chiffre's henchman, Carlos, to the Miami Airport. There, Bond foils Le Chiffre's plan to destroy the prototype Skyfleet airliner and thus leaves the banker with a major loss, since he had shorted the company's shares.

Now under pressure to recoup his 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. He meets up with Mathis, his ally in Montenegro, and Vesper Lynd, a treasury agent, who is assigned to look after his handling of the $10 million buy-in. After the tournament is underway for some time, Bond loses his initial stake. Vesper says that it would be a waste of money to continue to stake Bond and refuses to give him the funds to buy back in.

Distraught over his failure, Bond resolves to assassinate Le Chiffre. Moments before he can, CIA officer Felix Leiter, who is also playing in the tournament, intervenes and offers to stake Bond in exchange for custody of Le Chiffre. Back in the game, Bond recoups his losses. Le Chiffre and his associates attempt to kill Bond by poisoning him, but he survives and wins the tournament. Soon afterward, Le Chiffre abducts Vesper and uses her to lure Bond into a near-fatal car chase, which results in his capture as well. Le Chiffre tortures Bond for the access code to the game's winnings. When it becomes clear that Bond will not give in, Le Chiffre advances to castrate him, but Mr. White enters and kills Le Chiffre and his associates for their failure. Bond and Vesper are left alive.

Bond awakens in a hospital on Lake Como and orders Mathis, whom Le Chiffre identified as a double agent working for him, arrested. Bond admits his love for Vesper and vows to quit the service before it strips him of his humanity. Accordingly, he posts his resignation to M and goes on a romantic holiday in Venice with Vesper. However, Bond soon learns that his poker winnings were never deposited into the Treasury's account. Realizing that Vesper has stolen them, he pursues her and members of the organization she is working for into a building under renovation. After killing the enemy guards outside the building, Bond finds Vesper imprisoned in an elevator. Apologizing to him tearfully, she locks the inside door and the elevator plunges underwater. Bond dives in and attempts to rescue her, but she drowns before he can reach her. Mr. White, watching from a balcony, walks away with the money.

Bond, feeling betrayed, learns from M that Vesper had a French-Algerian boyfriend who was kidnapped and held for ransom by the organization behind Le Chiffre and Mr White. Bond learns that she agreed to deliver the ransom money (his winnings) only if they would consent to leave Bond alive as well as her boyfriend. He discovers White's name and number in Vesper's mobile phone. White, arriving at a palatial estate near Lake Como, receives a phone call. A voice on the line says, "Mr. White? We need to talk." Upon asking "Who is this?", Mr. White is shot in the leg. As he crawls painfully towards the villa, Bond appears, gun in hand, and responds, "The name's Bond, James Bond.