Everyone has a past. Every legend has a beginning.|Nov. 14, 2006|UK|144 Min.|PG-13
Genre: Action;Adventure;Thriller
Description: James Bond, an MI6 operative, earns his 00 agent status by successfully assassinating two targets: a traitorous section chief named Dryden at the British Embassy in Prague and his associate, Fisher. In Uganda, a mysterious figure known as Mr. White introduces Steven Obanno, a high-ranking member of the Lord’s Resistance Army, to Le Chiffre, an Albanian banker who finances terrorist activities. Obanno entrusts Le Chiffre with a significant sum of money for investment. Le Chiffre uses insider knowledge to bet against the success of an aerospace company, Sky fleet, by purchasing put options, anticipating a terrorist attack that would cause the company’s downfall.
In Madagascar, Bond tracks and kills a bomb-maker named Mollaka, leading to an international incident that angers MI6 chief M, who had ordered Mollaka to be captured alive. Bond’s investigation leads him to Alex Dimitrios, a corrupt Greek official in the Bahamas. After winning Dimitrios’s Aston Martin DB5 in a poker game and seducing his wife Solange, Bond follows Dimitrios to Miami and eliminates him. Bond then prevents the destruction of Sky fleet’s prototype airliner.
To recover his clients’ lost funds, Le Chiffre organizes a high-stakes Texas hold ’em tournament at the Casino Royale in Montenegro. MI6 enters Bond into the tournament, hoping that Le Chiffre’s potential defeat will force him to seek asylum with the British government in exchange for valuable information. Bond is paired with Vesper Lynd, a British Treasury agent tasked with safeguarding the $10 million buy-in. During their journey, Bond and Vesper engage in a psychological assessment of each other. In Montenegro, they meet their contact, René Mathis.
Bond initially gains an advantage in the tournament by identifying Le Chiffre’s “tell.” However, Obanno ambushes Le Chiffre but allows him to continue playing to recover the lost money. When Obanno’s bodyguard discovers Bond and Vesper, Bond kills both the bodyguard and Obanno. After comforting Vesper, Bond loses his stake when Le Chiffre is tipped off about his own tell. Vesper refuses to cover the $5 million rebuy, but Felix Leiter, a CIA agent, offers to fund Bond in exchange for taking Le Chiffre into American custody.
Cast director: Martin Campbell
Cast actor: Daniel Craig, Eva Green, Mads Mikkelsen, Judi Dench, Jeffrey Wright, Giancarlo Giannini, Caterina Murino, Simon Abkarian, Isaach De Bankolé, Jesper Christensen
Original name: Casino Royale