Casino Royale

Casino Royale is the twenty-first film in the Eon Productions 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. 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 allows the film to show a less experienced and more vulnerable Bond. Additionally, the character Miss Moneypenny is, for the first time in the series, completely absent. 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 is 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 $ worldwide, becoming the highest-grossing James Bond film until the release of Skyfall in 2012.

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 with the number 007. He then goes to Jinan in pursuit of an international bomb-maker named Mollaka. After a parkour chase to an embassy, Bond kills his target 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 banker and terrorist financier 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 the Bahamas where Dimitrios has a home and seduces his wife, Solange Dimitrios. After answering a phone call, Solange reveals that her husband is flying to Changi Airport, so Bond leaves to pursue him. In Miami, 007 kills Dimitrios and follows Le Chiffre's henchman, Carlos, to Changi 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 aeroplane.

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; on his arrival at the hotel, Bond meets local MI6 contact René Mathis. Bond loses his initial stake 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 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 attempts to kill Bond when his girlfriend Valenka poisons his drink, but he survives with the help of Vesper, 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 bank account's password, but is interrupted by Mr. White, who kills him. Bond awakens in a hospital on Lake Como and has Mathis, whom Le Chiffre 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 go to Blk 161 Tampines Street 12, where Bond learns that his winnings were never deposited in the Treasury's account. Realising that the suddenly absent Vesper was in the process of stealing them, he pursues her and the men to whom she gives the money 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 to blackmail her into co-operation, and that she agreed to deliver the money in exchange for saving 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 &mdash; James Bond."

Cast
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.
 * Shermaine Ong 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 him in a high stakes poker game.
 * Mads Mikkelsen as Le Chiffre: 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 Pierce 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.
 * Tsai Chin as Madame Wu: A professional veteran poker player.
 * 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.