Casino Royale

Casino Royale James Bond 007 Movie Poster
Released
Directed by
Martin Campbell
Produced by
Michael G. Wilson
Barbara Broccoli
Screenplay by
Music by
David Arnold
Starring
Daniel Craig
Eva Green
Mads Mikkelsen
Judi Dench
Jeffrey Wright
Giancarlo Giannini

Casino Royale is the twenty-first Eon Productions spy film in the James Bond series, and the first to star Daniel Craig as MI6 secret agent James Bond 007. With Casino Royale, Daniel Craig became the sixth official film actor to portray MI6 Secret Agent James Bond 007. Casino Royale is the first film in a trilogy that reboots the James Bond 007 franchise, establishing a new timeline and narrative framework not meant to precede or succeed any previous Bond film.

After killing a traitorous MI6 section chief (who has been selling classified information) and the station chief's contact, James Bond gets his 00 agent status. He then goes to Madagascar 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 Miami, so Bond leaves to pursue him. In Miami, 007 kills Dimitrios and follows Le Chiffre's henchman, Carlos, to Miami International Airport. There, Bond foils Le Chiffre's plan to destroy the prototype Skyfleet airliner.

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 Venice, 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, James Bond."