From its stark black-and-white opening to
its bloody cliffhanger ending, Casino Royale
makes a statement: This isn't the James Bond
you remember.
No punny one-liners.
No ridiculous gadgets.
No cartoonish henchmen.
It's just Bond, his girl, his fists, and his
wits against a world-class threat in the form
of underworld banker Le Chiffre, played by
Hannibal star Mads Mikkelsen.
Consider this scene.
In it, Bond's expert poker playing has bankrupted
Le Chiffre, forcing the criminal to take drastic
measures.
He takes Bond hostage, strips him naked, and
ties him to a bottomless chair.
Then the torture begins.
With a knotted rope, Le Chiffre repeatedly
smacks Bond's most vulnerable and valued organ,
trying to get Bond to give up the password
that'll unlock his poker winnings.
What follows isn't just one of Craig's best
scenes as Bond.
It tells you everything you need to know about
this new, modern double-oh-seven, and makes
it almost impossible not to fall in love with
him.
Here's what we mean.
The old James Bond ended up in plenty of dangerous
situations, but it rarely felt like he was
ever in genuine trouble.
For many fans, that was part of his charm.
Whether he's strapped to a table with a laser
heading towards his crotch, tossed in a tank
full of sharks, or locked up in a North Korean
prison, it's not a question of whether or
not he'll survive.
It's a matter of how.
In Casino Royale's torture scene, things are
different.
Bond is trapped, and he doesn't just endure
a few bruises or scratches.
He takes a legitimate beating at Le Chiffre's
hands.
We've never seen double-oh-seven like this
before: stripped down, in pain, and completely
helpless.
He's exposed psychologically, too.
He knows he's in a helpless situation.
He knows there's no help coming, and that,
despite his prowess at the card table, he's
overplayed his hand.
He's worried about his love interest Vesper
Lynd, and realizes that his affection for
her exposed a weak spot that Le Chiffre can
exploit.
Physically, he's a mess.
Mentally, he's a raw nerve.
At one point, he finally loses his cool.
His facade crumbles for a second as all of
his carefully suppressed anger bursts out:
"No matter what you do, I'm not gonna give
you the password, which means your clients
are going to hunt you down and cut you into
little pieces of meat while you're still breathing."
Then, Bond loses.
He doesn't miraculously break free of Le Chiffre's
ropes.
He doesn't dispatch the enemy using fancy
doo-dads or near-supernatural fighting skills.
He only survives because a mysterious third
party interrupts, and because, as we learn
later, Vesper bargained for his life.
The implication is clear: This is a Bond who
can be defeated.
This is a Bond who can be broken.
That changes everything.
Craig's Bond isn't superhuman.
He can die like everyone else.
As a result, every action scene that Craig's
Bond is in has real stakes.
We've seen him fail before.
Who's to say it couldn't happen again?
Author Ian Fleming created double-oh-seven,
but as fans know, the James Bond of the books
is very, very different from the one on the
screen.
Fleming's Bond is a cold, calculating killer
who's fussy about particulars and driven by
a pursuit of pleasure.
When Sean Connery brought Bond to movie theaters,
he added a masculine, sadistic edge.
Later actors, like Roger Moore and Pierce
Brosnan, layered aristocratic charm and a
flippant sense of humor.
For fans of the original books, the end result
is almost unrecognizable.
"Why did you break off the encounter with
my pet python?"
"I discovered he had a crush on me."
Likewise, the older movies tended to borrow
titles from Fleming's novels but little else.
For example, in the book, "Moonraker" is a
missile, not a space shuttle.
The same can't be said for Casino Royale,
however.
While the opening sequences in the Bahamas
and Florida were created for the movie, most
likely to pad out a short and efficient book,
the rest of the film is remarkably faithful
to the source material.
This scene is no exception.
While the corresponding moment in the Casino
Royale novel lacks the movie's modern touches
and takes place in a different setting - it's
at Le Chiffre's villa, not an abandoned boat
- the major beats are the same.
Le Chiffre's monologue about the simplicity
of torture is even directly adapted from Fleming's
prose.
"It's the simplest thing to cause more pain
than a man can possibly endure."
Along with Craig's restrained performance,
that goes a long way toward cementing the
idea that Craig's Bond is also Fleming's Bond
- although admittedly, there's a little bit
of Connery's version mixed in, too.
For casual fans, that was a fresh take on
a character that had started to grow a little
stale.
For diehards, it was something they'd been
waiting to see for 44 years - and when it
finally arrived, it didn't disappoint.
Daniel Craig's Bond doesn't crack many jokes
- in fact, it's hard to find a scene in which
he even has a real, sincere smile - but in
this scene, he does make one.
And it's a doozy:
"I've got a little itch … down there.
Would you mind?"
"To the right!
To the right!"
That's a far cry from Pierce Brosnan's Hollywood
one-liners, or Roger Moore's goofy puns and
dad jokes.
Oh, sure, it's a darkly funny moment.
Craig's delivery is perfect, as is Mads Mikkelsen's
exasperated reaction.
But it's a different use of humor than we've
seen in other James Bond movies.
In the past, Bond seemed like he was performing
for the movie's audience, delivering quips
when no one else was around.
"Backseat driver."
Here, the joke is another form of violence.
Bond's hands are literally tied, but that
doesn't stop him from fighting back.
He just uses sarcasm instead of his Walther
P99.
It works, too.
Bond's taunts get under Le Chiffre's skin,
even though he's the one holding all the cards.
When Bond laughs after making the joke, it's
not because he's amused.
It's the growl of a cornered animal warning
its attacker to back off.
We've already watched Bond show remarkable
resilience during this scene.
Now, we're seeing that he's so stubborn that
he'll still make jokes even when his life's
on the line.
That's not funny.
It's scary - and an excellent hint as to just
how dangerous and committed Daniel Craig's
version of James Bond really is.
Thanks for watching.
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