Casino Royale (2006)

Casino Royale (2006) is the twenty-first film of the James Bond series produced by Eon Productions. It is based on Ian Fleming’s novel of the same title and directed by Martin Campbell, with a screenplay written by Neil Purvis, Robert Wade, and Paul Haggis. The movie features Daniel Craig as Bond in his debut performance. In an effort to shake off the lightheartedness of previous films such as Die Another Day (2002), Eon chose to start afresh with this reboot. This allowed for a deeper exploration of a younger and more vulnerable version of MI6 agent James Bond. We see him earn his 00 agent status by completing his first assassination mission – targeting traitorous Dryden and his contact at the British Embassy in Prague. Meanwhile, in Uganda, Mr. White introduces Le Chiffre – an Albanian private banker who works with terrorists – to high-ranking Lord’s Resistance Army member Steven Obanno. Entrusting Le Chiffre with $100 million to invest, Obanno has no idea of the banker’s plans to use insider information about an upcoming terrorist attack on Skyfleet aircrafts to manipulate the stock market.

In Madagascar, Bond destroys an embassy while apprehending and eliminating a bomb-maker named Mollaka. MI6 chief M reprimands Bond for triggering an international incident and disregarding her instructions to capture Mollaka alive. Information on Mollaka’s phone leads Bond to the Bahamas and a corrupt Greek official, Alex Dimitrios, who had employed Mollaka under Le Chiffre’s orders to detonate Skyfleet’s prototype airliner. After winning Dimitrios’s classic Aston Martin in a game of poker and seducing his wife, Solange, Bond tracks down Dimitrios in Miami. Bond defends against an assault by Dimitrios and eliminates him. At the airport, Bond pursues the new bomber hired by Dimitrios and prevents the destruction of the Skyfleet airliner. With the safety of Skyfleet’s stocks ensured, Le Chiffre loses Obanno’s money. Suspecting that someone betrayed their terrorist plot, Le Chiffre tortures Solange until she dies.