Introduction:
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. This not only frees the Bond franchise from
more than forty years of continuity to maintain, but allows the film to
show a less experienced and more vulnerable Bond. The film is set at
the beginning of James Bond’s career as Agent 007, having earned his
license to kill. After preventing a terrorist attack at the 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.
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 buys shorts on successful companies and then
engineers terrorist attacks to sink their stock values.