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| "The name is Bond. James Bond" |
James Bond. The world's most famous, fictional spy and Her Majesty's most trusted agent. With a career spawning from different mediums including Ian Fleming's original novels to 24 films based on those novels, you have heard of the name: Bond, James Bond. However, I have always wondered why the character was so famous in the first place. Was it because of his charisma and charm or is there something special about him? In this analysis, I want to examine 007 for who he truly is and what profound effect he has in the story throughout the blockbuster hit Casino Royale.
Casino Royale ~ Bond reborn
Casino Royale is one of those few films that stand out from its predecessors which often portray 007 at his best. Throughout these movies, 007 was often portrayed as the shining archetype of how an action hero should be. For example, 007 is the handsome and charming hero who saves the day, has all the fancy gadgets and gets the girl. This is the most basic formula for any action movie to follow which is entertaining to watch, yet predictable. In fact, the 007 movies in the past never truly developed Bond as a character or try to do something different with the action-hero formula. None have done so except for Casino Royale.
Casino Royale is one of those few action movies that take the character of James Bond seriously and make it into a more realistic and grounded film compared to its peers. With that said, I have to respect the creative team and cast behind this film especially Daniel Craig for giving us a gritty and darker take on the character of 007. The film essentially strips away the protagonist from his corny one-liners, his fancy gadgets and instead gives us a man who will do anything to complete his mission. In this analysis, let's examine Casino Royale through the villain, character arcs and message of the film.
The Villain
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| Le Chiffre |
Casino Royale marks the first time where a Bond film does not have a stereotypical megalomaniac villain with unlimited resources who wants to take over the world. Le Chiffre is one of those villains to shatter everyone's expectations on how a Bond villain should be. Show them at their very worst where they become sympathetic and relatable, make them feel grounded and realistic, give them a compelling motivation that drives them to get what they want. Most importantly, make them compete for the same goal as their protagonists are competing for. This is what drives the conflict between our main characters: James Bond and Le Chiffre. Both men are struggling to complete their missions which is to bankrupt the other so that their organization will gain their trust and loyalty to them. Bond has been tasked to find and bankrupt Le Chiffre so that MI6 can gain information from Le Chiffre regarding his secret organization. Le Chiffre, on the other hand, is trying to recoup the losses he made by gambling at the Casino Royale so that his organization will not hunt him down and kill him. Hence, this is what makes the poker scenes so intense because we, the audience can feel the conflict between the characters through their eyes, their desperation to win no matter the cost.
Le Chiffre is a compelling villain in the James Bond series because he is one of the most interesting villains ever created on-screen. We understand why he has to help his organization and we can feel his desperation, largely due to Mads Mikkelsen's impressive performance and the writing for the character. We need more villains like him because despite his grotesque features such as his left eye weeps blood, its his presence that changes our protagonist throughout the film.
Character Arc
James Bond has a character arc in Casino Royale unlike the previous adaptations where he is already operating as a 007 agent and has his license to kill. The film had to establish early on that this adaptation of Ian Fleming's novel Casino Royale will be entirely different than its predecessors. Right off the bat, the film establishes who Bond is and the world he lives in the opening scenes, Bond has been tasked with killing Dryden Vos, a rogue MI6 agent and his contact. From here, we know that Bond is a cold, reckless and a force to be reckoned with. This is a Bond who just managed to obtained his license to kill but still has a lot to learn from throughout the film.
Another example of how we get to learn more about James Bond is the chase sequence in Madagascar where he and his partner Carter are trying to track down and take a bomb-maker into custody. However, due to Carter's inexperience, the bomb-maker realizes that he is being followed and tries to escape. The bomb-maker, Mollaka is a master in free-running and parkour whereas Bond struggles to keep up with Mollaka. In this sequence, we learn that Bond is resourceful as he uses the environment to his advantage to keep up with Mollaka. However, he is also reckless as his choices does collateral damage to the construction site at the same time. Bond is also a force of nature in the scene where Mollaka jumps through a wall whereas Bond goes through the wall. That tells us that we should watch out for this guy as he could catch you off-guard before you even know it. Mollaka reaches enemy territory where he believes he can be safe from Bond, the stakes are much higher now as we finally learn one more aspect of Bond's character, his ego. Instead of relying on stealth, this Bond chooses to march straight into the front door and grab Mollaka by force. In this sequence, Bond is being chased and he has to battle his way out of the embassy with Mollaka. We finally learn that Bond is willing to sacrifice his mission in order to win. He does this by blowing up the embassy and killing Mollaka. This is the flaw that he will continue to struggle with throughout the film.
Casino Royale is a great film in portraying a younger, reckless and inexperienced Bond who struggles with his inner conflict and the fallout of his choices, he is also surrounded by a number of great supporting characters such as Vesper Lynd and M who challenge Bond in an interesting way that has a profound effect on him. By the end of the film, he gathers all the lessons learned from them and becomes the 007 we know and love. This is what makes the ending less cheesy and earned. He introduces himself to Mr. White "The Name is Bond, James Bond" signifying an exciting film that is to come next.
Messages to learn from Casino Royale
Casino Royale is one of those special films in the series not to overuse CGI and does more practical effects and stunts to make the film feel less campy and more realistic. The grounded take on action spy films such as this film can be seen in other movie franchises like in the Mission: Impossible, Bourne and John Wick films. It also changed the way everyone views 007 from here on, nobody cares if you have gadgets larger-than-life at your disposal, you don't need an over-the-top action sequences and megalomaniac to make your film look better and there are times where the world-ending stakes can feel boring. If you wanna make the best film, take your time in developing your characters and story, use less CGI in your movie if possible, make the stakes feel personal to your characters in that particular story you are trying to tell. However, changing a long-time, well-known character entirely can be a big risk because there are hardcore fans of the character who can never accept that change. This creative risk can be seen in Man of Steel and Star Wars: The Last Jedi which misunderstood the meaning of change.
James Bond in Casino Royale is not a great character just because he is suave or being a woman-loving man towards the ladies, its because of the character growth he has as the film progresses into his inner conflicts and his beliefs. The film essentially breaks down Bond for who he is in the first half of the film only to build him up in the second half. Hence, this is without a doubt one of the greatest action spy films I have ever seen.
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| Who is your favourite 007? Comment below |
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