Bond Revisited

Casino Royale (2006)
Bond 21

Casino Royale introduces James Bond (Daniel Craig) before he holds his license to kill. But Bond is no less dangerous, and with two professional assassinations in quick succession, he is elevated to '00' status. Bond's first 007 mission takes him to Uganda where he is to spy on a terrorist, Mollaka. Not everything goes to plan and Bond decides to investigate, independently of MI6, in order to track down the rest of the terrorist cell. Following a lead to the Bahamas, he encounters Dimitrios and his girlfriend, Solange. He learns that Dimitrios is involved with Le Chiffre, banker to the world's terrorist organizations. Secret Service intelligence reveals that Le Chiffre is planning to raise money in a high-stakes poker game in Montenegro at Le Casino Royale. MI6 assigns 007 to play against him, knowing that if Le Chiffre loses, it will destroy his organization. M places Bond under the watchful eye of the beguiling Vesper Lynd (Eva Green). At first skeptical of what value Vesper can provide, Bond's interest in her deepens as they brave danger together and even torture at the hands of Le Chiffre. In Montenegro, Bond allies himself with Mathis MI6's local field agent, and Felix Leiter who is representing the interests of the CIA. The marathon game proceeds with dirty tricks and violence, raising the stakes beyond blood money and reaching a terrifying climax. Hilarity ensues.

Trivia: The license plate number of James Bond's silver birch 1964 Aston Martin DB5 is 56526. The car from Goldfinger and Thunderball, has the wheel on the right side and in this movie is on the left side. Although the password that James Bond enters on the alpha-numeric keypad at the Casino Royale was supposed to be VESPER (837737), the password Bond enters is 836547. This film replaces the high-stakes casino game of Baccarat / Chemin de Fer from the novel "Casino Royale" with the modern high-stakes card game of Texas Hold 'Em. Interestingly, in this game, a hand with a pair of eights is called an "Octopussy", the name of both a James Bond short story and movie. A hand with a pair of eights is actually seen in the movie. The three-piece suit worn by James Bond at the end of the film is a navy version of the gray suit worn by Sean Connery in Goldfinger.

A promotional leaflet used to promote the film in Japan headlined the "Seven rules to receive 00 status". The Mi6 Fansite had them translated as: "1) You don't fear death, and won't give into torture 2) You have Olympic level shooting skills 3) Even if you double-cross your own parents, you will never double-cross the organization 4) You have knowledge that would surprise even a scholar, and a sense of humour that would make even a bad girl grin 5) You have the sociability of a lamb, but remain a lone wolf 6) You have the highest level of experience with alcohol, gambling, cars and food 7) You can fall in love but you can never love." This was the first James Bond film approved by Chinese censors. All other films in the series were available in China only as illegal bootlegs.

"Casino Royale" was the first James Bond novel written by Ian Fleming and is the last of the original Fleming novels to be filmed by EON Productions. The shooting of this film now means EON Productions have filmed the entire canon of Fleming James Bond novels, although some just in title (that is: movies titled like Ian Fleming novels whose plots have little or nothing to do with Fleming's novels, for example The Spy Who Loved Me (1977)). The barrel roll stunt in the Aston Martin DBS broke the world record for the most barrel rolls assisted by a cannon. Originally, the racing specifications of the DBS meant that a standard ramp would not be sufficient to get the car to roll, so the special effects team were called in to install a air-powered cannon behind the drivers seat. This allowed the car to complete seven full rolls. The longest running time for a James Bond movie. The film's 144 minute and 7 seconds running time now surpasses On Her Majesty's Secret Service's 140 minute run time. That movie held the record for 37 years. This is the first film in the 44 years of the James Bond series where it rains.

The Characters:

• James Bond - Daniel Craig restarts the franchise by going back to Bond's first mission.
• Le Chiffre - Mads Mikkelsen. A shady and evil banker to the world's terrorists. He is a mathematical genius and chess expert, skills he uses when playing poker. Believed to be Albanian. His left eye is scarred and weeps blood.
• Alex Dimitrios - Simon Abkarian. Dimitrios is a former government contractor who has worked in Iraq, Afghanistan, Chechnya, Rwanda, Nicaragua, and El Salvador. He has also worked as an arms dealer for various death squads and paramilitary groups around the world. He has some low-level association with the organization that the mysterious terrorist Mr. White represents. This gives him a business connection with terrorist financier Le Chiffre, who uses him to do the dirty work in many of his stock shorting schemes. He is married to Solange. In the film he's tasked with hiring someone to blow up a new superjumbo airliner that is to be unveiled at Miami International Airport.
• Solange Dimitrios - Caterina Murino. Bond first meets Solange Dimitrios when she is accompanying her husband - the villainous Alex Dimitrios. She is first seen in a light green bikini on the beach, while riding a horse. Always one to keep his life as simple as possible, Bond offers Solange a ride back to his rented villa for a drink after he wins Dimitrios' Aston Martin DB5 at the poker table. She accepts and the two end up kissing, while on the floor when she receives a phone call from her husband, which serves to inform Bond that he would be taking the last flight to Miami. Bond decides to follow him but doesn't tell Solange, instead ordering some champagne and caviar up to their room before he leaves as a parting gift.
• Vesper Lynd - Eva Green. Vesper is a treasury agent assigned to make sure that Bond adequately manages the funds provided by MI6. However, she is secretly working for the anonymous organization that Mr. White, one of the film's villains, represents. She is extorted into this role by a threat to her French-Algerian boyfriend's life. The necklace she wears depicts an "Algerian love knot," and, presumably, was a gift from her boyfriend. As in the novel, she becomes Bond's lover, but chooses a tragic end, trapping herself in an elevator as it plunges into a flooded building. Bond opens the elevator and takes her out of the water. Bond tries to revive her, but she is dead. The film does not indicate the fate of her boyfriend. Bond still holds the disdain he feels for her betrayal in the novel, uttering the same quote "The bitch is dead (now)", but M reprimands him and reveals Vesper's reasons for her manipulation by the villains; Vesper's last act was to leave Bond the name of the mastermind of the plot (Mr. White) and his phone number.

The Theme Song:

The music was composed by David Arnold and is Arnold's fourth soundtrack for the film series. Frequent collaborator Nicholas Dodd orchestrated and conducted the score. The title song You Know My Name is performed by Chris Cornell, though it is not present on the soundtrack but released as a separate single. The soundtrack plays on themes built from the title song. Consistent with the reboot of the James Bond storyline, only at the end, when Bond resumes his usual role, is the classic James Bond theme used.

The Vehicles & Gadgets:

• Aston Martin DBS — Bond drives the new Aston Martin DBS in Casino Royale. Daniel Craig personally visited the Aston Martin headquarters in Gaydon, Warwickshire on January 13, 2006 to view and test drive the car. The vehicle is fitted with hidden compartments, containing a medical kit complete with an automated external defibrillator, a service pistol and a suppressor.
• Aston Martin DB5 — Bond's famed Aston Martin DB5 which he wins in a poker game from Dimitrios, first featured in Goldfinger and later Thunderball, Goldeneye, and Tomorrow Never Dies.
• Microchip implant transmitter — Injected into Bond's arm before he leaves for Montenegro. The implant is a tracking device. [Source]

The Pretitle Sequence:

James Bond is sent on a mission in Prague to kill an MI6 section chief, Dryden, who has sold British secrets. Bond must make two kills to qualify for Double-0 status, granting him a licence to kill: first, Dryden's associate, Fisher, and then the section chief himself. The killing of the associate in the men's room leads to the opening credits. Unlike in other Bond films, the opening (including the MGM Lion title) is filmed in black and white, and the gunbarrel sequence is modified to form part of the opening titles.

Daniel Craig seems to be a good fit for the restart of the franchise. The action sequences were great, especially the first chase through the construction area to the embassy. This movie also shows how big the emergence of Texas Hold 'Em poker is. They jettison the Bond staple of Baccarat for poker. I think they did this for the simple reason that a common run of the mill movie goer probably can't tell you how you play Baccarat, but the vast majority can tell you how to play poker, and seeing as how big a plot point this was, as opposed to the standard Bond Baccarat game that lasted at the most two or three hands, they needed poker so they didn't have to explain what was going on. The movie itself does seem to drag on a little and seems to suffer from a slight case of Lord of the Rings syndrome (just when you thought is was safe to get up and head for the restroom...)

Up Next: Revisited Recap, I list my top Bond moments, villains, girls, etc.