Casino Royale Part II

 continued from Part I

The sequence during the break is most interesting if the viewer just focuses on Vesper.  She grows concerned in the elevator when Bond pulls out the gun.  This turns into full scale panic as Bond starts battling with the Ugandan rebels.  The stairwell fight is vicious and like Vesper we just want out.  As Bond eventually strangles the chief villain, Obanno, Vesper eventually finds the courage to help Bond disarm him.

Campbell allows the aftermath to play out realistically. Bond, with a lot of blood, mostly his own, on his white shirt, tells Vesper to get Mathis to help with the bodies (giving her something to do).  When he fixes himself a strong drink and looks at himself in the mirror with a sense of loathing. Craig is terrific in this wordless scene. Bond may get his man, but every violent act is taking more of his humanity.  Little scenes like this make the film longer but enrich it greatly.

When Bond finds Vesper sitting on the shower floor it seems she entered to try to wash the blood off.  Vesper is shaken and overwhelmed by earlier fight (but probably the whole dilemma she finds herself in). Bond goes into the shower to comfort her, also fully dressed. Vesper references Lady MacBeth when she says she feels the blood is on her hands.  Vesper in appears to be dying to tell Bond everything and the effort not to on top of the night’s events is also part of what has put her in this state. Bond, unused to this type of intimacy carefully puts his arm around her and turns the water warmer when he sees how much she is shaking. The camera slowly pulls away and David Arnold’s Vesper theme plays showing the deeper connection the two have made but ends in a minor key, hinting this is a love story but a tragic one.

The next scene clearly shows that Bond did not take her to bed as he finishes getting dressed the next morning and then looks in on her, somewhat concerned, in her own room.

The following night Vesper seems now more conflicted about whether she wants Bond to win.   After Bond loses and Vesper refuses to give him the money to let him back in again there are a couple of reasons.  First, Vesper is right that in his current state Bond would probably lose but more importantly she needs to keep him out of the game.  When Bond, unable to deal with losing, decides to go after Le Chiffre, Craig focuses all his anger toward Le Chiffre, willing to likely sacrifice himself to kill him which is against the mission.  American CIA agent Felix Leiter, played by Jeffrey Wright, who has been at the table the whole time, reveals himself and agrees to stake Bond much as he did in the book.

Wright plays Felix differently than the character in the books. Ian Fleming’s Felix is a cheerful Texan and Wright is northeastern and slick but just as likable. The scene with he and Bond on the stairs makes for an interesting contrast. Bond appears muscular and gung-ho whereas Felix is much smaller in stature and is the inferior card player but is working the game to his advantage by making the alliance with Bond and dictating the rules. In most cases the American would be portrayed as the grunt and the Brit as the more understated type but this film reverses it.

When Bond is poisoned the film makes use of its only gadget; a defibrillator with  medicine sticks in Bond’s Aston Martin, that seems to exist exactly for this type of situation. The scene is  suspenseful as Bond realized he has been poisoned, swallows a lot of salt to force himself to vomit and then stumbles out to the car where the staff in England assist him over the phone. The key moment is when Vesper saves Bond making the choice to support Bond-she most likely had not wanted him killed but just wanted him to lose the game. Bond has a great line as he reenters the casino to Le Chiffre’s shock.

The scene where Bond wins the game astutely involves all the players. The suspense builds as several players, especially Ade (who was hilarious as Tyrone in Snatch) believe they have winning hand Bond’s hand narrowly beats Le Chiffre’s who starts to weep blood as he leaves the table.

The scene at the dinner table with Vesper contrasts their earlier meal on the train. They trade warmer quips but Vesper, who is receiving instructions on her phone, probably from Quantum or Le Chiffre, is ultimately distracted. As Bond deduces that Vesper's necklace, which she has been wearing throughout the film must have been given to her by a lover she turns the tables on him and challenges him to stop killing, mostly to take control of the conversation.

Vesper’s kidnapping is played the same as the novel as Bond sees her being pushed into a car and gives chase in the Aston Martin (Bentley in the book). When his car is disabled (in a different manner than in the book) and Bond is taken in a dank room on a ship with Le Chiffre. Craig looks terrified, both for the unknown horror awaiting him, and for what Vesper must have to go through.

There are a couple of changes from the book in the torture scene.  When Le Chiffre tortures Bond by hitting his genitals he uses a knotted rope instead of a carpet beater.  In the book Le Chiffre is much older than Bond and treats him like a child. Bond holds out since he feels it improves his chances of keeping Le Chiffre in one spot long enough for him to be captured.  In the film both men are about the same age and Bond is trying to keep some control over the situation and Le Chiffre is the one desperate for Bond to break to be able to repay the African rebels. The only thing Bond has over Le Chiffre is this knowledge and he plays his hand as far as he can. His cold rescue by Mr. White echoes the scene with the SMERSH agent in the novel.

As Bond recovers Campbell maintains some suspense based on the unknown loyalties of Mathis.  When the two secret service men taser Mathis and drag him off with Mathis’ shoes damaging the grass it seems like a cruel way to treat an older man but this film makes clear that espionage is a tough business.

The following scene is touching and takes its time as it is an important turn in the story. Vesper, who seems to have decided to forget about her Albanian boyfriend since Bond underwent such a horrible ordeal to save her, finally looks at Bond with love. The appearance of the Swiss banker, Mendel, brings an additional layer as Vesper betrays Bond by moving the money to a different account while at the same time discovering that Bond that had used her name as the password.  Bond of course does not understand why she is suddenly shaken but he tells Vesper that he is giving himself to her. During this moment Bond’s eyes are a little moist and his voice cracks just slightly.  Although he is emotional, he is controlling it which is a phenomenal acting choice by Craig indicating his complete command of the character.  When Vesper puts her hand on his cheek, she gives him the strength to finish his statement.  Bond and Vesper kiss, for the first time not as a ruse but openly in love. In a rarity for a Bond film the kiss feels earned.

During the Venice sequence Bond and Vesper are all over each other and constantly kissing like new lovers often are. Daniel Craig plays Bond with just the right note. He still is Bond and does not become overly emotive, but he is just happier, having found a peace he thought was beyond him. As they arrive in Venice Vesper spots the Quantum henchman Gettler, whose glasses (one lens is dark and the other is clear) are right out of Fleming’s novel. Unlike in the novel, where the sight of Gettler made Vesper openly neurotic, she keeps her concern to herself and Bond does not notice.

When Vesper leaves Bond to go pay Quantum the big kiss she gives Bond is a form of goodbye. When Bond receives the call from M his reaction to discovering Vesper has stolen the money is expertly played. Campbell tightens the shot on his face as the music rises and Bond does not tell M it has been stolen yet but keeps his composure on the phone while the viewer can see him both getting angry and slipping right back into the assassin that he was trying to shed. Craig beautifully underplays the moment while still communicating his rush of thoughts to the viewer.  The staccato score as Bond heads down the stairs both mimics the movement of probably Bond's heart and the race to catch up with Vesper. 

Campbell (and David Arnold with the music) effectively creates the feel of urgently rushing through a crowd as Bond races through the packed St. Mark’s Square in Venice and fix his own carelessness as he surely blames himself for dropping his guard.  When Bond finds Vesper wearing a red dress right out of Don’t Look Now and he starts to follow her instead of confronting her directly. At one point, Vesper turns around as she senses someone is following her. The reveal of Bond is a twist on a standard thriller scene. I expected to be shown that Bond was hiding as she turns but then he brings his gun into the frame and shows he is willing to kill her.

As Vesper meets with Gettler and then he spots Bond (who coldly kills another of the henchman-in a scene that only he or Dalton or Connery could have pulled off) the beat is played perfectly. Gettler grabs Vesper and threatens to kill her but Bond reveals to the audience that he is ready to do so himself.  As the gunfight in the sinking house begins the scene does not focus much on Vesper, who is in an old- fashioned elevator, as it is an action scene, but she is the heart of it. Two things about Vesper in this scene stick out at me. First, she seems worried about Bond which reveal there is more to her theft of the money than meets the eye. Second, she does not seem scared for herself, certainly not compared to the stairwell scene. I think this indicates, along with her kiss goodbye to Bond earlier, that she may be ready to die so Quantum cannot use her anymore.

Bond’s battle is quite brutal (he is letting his rage loose on the bad guys instead of Vesper), he even gets wounded in the shoulder with the nail gun but it does end with a perfect flourish as he uses the nail gun to shoot Gettler in the dark lens. 

When Bond gets to the elevator, he never confronts Vesper, he just gives her a wounded angry look. After Vesper locks herself in the elevator which falls into the water. Bond, who moments ago was apparently ready to shoot her himself, suddenly becomes desperate to save her. He dives into the water after the elevator and frantically tries to break the lock pull her out. She looks at him calmly and then approaches him and kisses his hand, trying to wash the blood away and relieve him of the guilt of being unable to save her. Showing the hold Vesper still has over him, Bond stops struggling with the lock when she takes his hand. When she opens her mouth and allows the water into her lungs and Bond has to endure the nightmarish site of watching the women he loves who had betrayed him drown to death right in front of him.  In the last seconds of her drowning Vesper’s survival instinct kicks in and she reaches out to him.

The death scene is a nice change from the book in which Bond just found her body and a note.  It is far more powerful for Bond to watch her die after learning of her betrayal while dealing with his conflicting emotions.

When Bond is unable to revive Vesper Craig’s reaction is a mix of frustration and helplessness. Then he starts to break down and weep over her body but at this point the camera, which had been on his face, cuts to an angle from the point of view of Mr. White who has retrieved the money which was lost in the fight. This a reminder of the resilience of this organization (Bond just killed several men yet this man once again appears and has the money) and it keeps the audience from having to see Bond cry directly.  Throughout these scenes David Arnold plays a somber version of Vesper’s theme which he also used in the next film.

M explains that Vesper had a boyfriend that had been kidnapped and that Vesper has been forced to help Quantum. It is not clear how M possesses this information but the book the note reveals that Vesper had been blackmailed to reveal information but eventually was willing to give up her old lover due to her love for Bond.

Bond is cold in this scene, trying to hide all his emotion. He is trying to consider Vesper as the enemy which is easier to process rather than the more complex truth. When M asks him how he feels he changes the subject.  Bond says "The bitch is dead" which is the closing line from the novel.  M sees right through him and points out that Vesper must have made a deal to save his life in return for the money with Mr. White the night he was tortured.  When Bond finds a message from Vesper on her phone giving him information on how to track down Mr. White it shows that Vesper's true allegiance is with Bond since she is speaking to him from beyond the grave.

The final scene has an elegant setting in Lake Como and Bond captures Mr. White and recovers the money in a triumphant moment, dressed very sharply and introduces himself with the classic line as the Bond theme starts.  Bond may have paid a huge emotional and physical price but he did get the job done.

It also is an open ending. One could argue that since Bond captured Mr. White the story is complete. However, the producers wisely decided to continue this story thread and spent the next film addressing Bond’s emotional recovery and his continuing battle with Quantum. *****