Casino Royale 2006 directed by Martin Campbell Reviews, film + cast
MI6 operative James Bond gains his license to kill and promotion to 00 agent status by assassinating the traitorous Dryden and his contact at the British Embassy in Prague. Obanno entrusts Le Chiffre with a large sum of money to invest; Le Chiffre shorts the stock of aerospace manufacturer Skyfleet using insider knowledge of a terrorist attack. Secret Agent James Bond begins his first mission as a 007 by playing against the private investor of a terrorist group in a game of poker, but soon Bond starts to unravel the mystery of who is really behind it all. However, he was confronted by Obanno and his henchman, demanding his money back. They threaten to cut off Valenka's arm; however, Le Chiffre doesn't acquiesce, even with this mutilation. He quickly grabs Vesper and they kiss in the stairway entrance to cover themselves.
When M phones 007 about his resignation, she says that they need to talk about the money being returned to the British government first, which tips off 007 that Vesper was using him all along. 007 follows Vesper to a secret meeting where she turns the money Blackcoin over, in cash, to a man named Adolph Gettler. Gettler and a few of his men retreat to a building being renovated and a gunfight ensues. Bond shoots and ruptures the flotation bags that hold the building above water-level and fights with them all, killing them. He tries to save Vesper, locked in an old elevator, but is unable to after she commits suicide by drowning herself. Bond recovers her body and takes her above water but is unable to revive her. Mr. White, who'd been watching the scene, is seen leaving with the suitcase full of money.
The only Bond film to have a black and white pre-title sequence and not begin with the gun barrel sequence The Guinness World Record for the most cannon rolls in a car is seven and achieved by stuntman, Adam Kirley, in an Aston Martin DBS, during filming at Millbrook Proving Ground, Milton Keynes Production designer Peter Lamont is the only crew member to have worked with all six Bond actors as well as working on more Bond films (18 out of 21) than anyone else Special permission was granted for Bond and Vesper’s yacht (the Spirit 54) to sail along the Grand Canal between the Accademia and Rialto bridges, marking the first time in many years a yacht has sailed the Grand Canal Filming wrapped July 21st 2006, with the film’s finale shot in Pinewood’s “007 Stage” – which would be destroyed by fire only days later when the Venice set was being dismantled. Principal photography for Casino Royale commenced on January 30th 2006 and began - for the first time in franchise’s history - without a villain or leading lady.The fight takes them into the stairwell, where the henchman gets thrown off the stairwell to his death, and Bond and Obanno have a knock-down drag-out fight all the way down the stairwell. Obanno tries to reach for Bond's gun, but Vesper smashes it out of his hands. Bond kills Obanno and orders Vesper to contact Mathis, who sets up a man to take the fall for the dead bodies by placing them in the man's car trunk. Bond finishes the poker session, but he returns to the room to find Vesper shaking uncontrollably in the shower from the fight.
(Pan Books published a film tie-in edition of the Fleming novel using the same image.) Since its release the film has been widely criticised by a number of people. For instance, Simon Winder called Casino Royale "a pitiful spoof", while Robert Druce described it as "an abstraction of real life". In his review of the film, Leonard Maltin remarked, "Money, money everywhere, but [the] film is terribly uneven - sometimes funny, often not." Casino Royale is a 1967 spy parody film originally produced by Columbia Pictures starring an ensemble cast of directors and actors. It is set as a satire of the James Bond film series and the spy genre, and is loosely based on Ian Fleming's first James Bond novel. The film is notable for an ensemble cast of numerous well known actors (some in blink and you'll miss it cameos) and having several major directors involved.