Casino Royale

Casino Royale was pegged as' the first film in the Bond reboot franchise' which is a cunning marketing tool used to distance the new films from the old despite the Bond character existing in a 'floating timeline'. It is an attempt at a faithful adaption of the first Bond novel, of the same name, and aims to bring the series back to it's roots by displaying a younger and more realistic Bond.  Martin Campbell , who proved his ability to establish a new grittier bond when he directed 'Goldeneye' eleven years earlier, and Daniel Craig stars as the new Bond. The casting choice was controversial because Craig breaks away from the traditional dark haired and suave persona attributed to Bond. Instead he gives off a Matt Damon esque vibe with a muscled physique to further notch up the realism.

The first two scenes. Which comprise the opening, title sequence and plot set up. Are what I will be looking at. These total nine minutes and thirty nine seconds, which is fairly conventional for the openings of thrillers in terms of what it tries to get done in the ten minute window.

The opening scene is comprised of two elements. The first is Bond's assassination of an English official. The second is a fight, inter-cut into the assassination scene. These two elements neatly set up Bond's character and the new, realistic tone for the film. Both are also shot in black and white hinting at the events acting as a prologue for the events of the film.

The assassination element of the scene is set up with the usual establishing shot and anchoring text telling us where we are. From that point onwards long takes are used juxtaposing the tense slow paced action against the inter-cut fight scene. Only Diagetic sounds a present within this scene and at the start very little noise is present at all.

The entire exchange between Bond and the official takes place in a darkly lit office. The darkness keeps the audience from being able to see everything that is going on, adding to the tension because of what could be unseen. The darkness also adds symbolically to the shot representing the darkness of the deeds performed in the office. The final touch of the lighting is the decision to put Bond's target in more light than Bond, possibly highlighting how exposed he is compared to Bond.

There are two more visual flares in this half of the scene. The first is the use of a great deal of props in the room to intensify the claustrophobia created by the darkness. The second is the momentary flash of a picture of the chief's family as Bond shoots him; this final affect adds an interesting bit of commentary on Bond's actions, casting them in greater, shades of grey, realism.

Two more aspects of the production are communicated via this half of the scene. The first is the return of the Bond wit in the form of 'I know where you keep your gun' in response to the chief saying 'shame, we barely got to know one another'. And a callous remark of 'yeas... considerably' after he kills the man. However, while these both pay homage to the traditional Bond dialogue there is an emphasis on toning it down to be less flamboyant and cliché. This is most evident in the remark Bond makes as it is less witty and more callous.

The fight inter-cut into the tense scene sets the tone for the films action. The first thing we notice is that the location is grimy, it's a bathroom and a dirty one at that. The action is shot with a shaky camera but not cut so quickly that the audience is given whiplash, unable to see what is going on. The reactions by the actors are attempts at realism with concentration on their face. The fight choreography is simple and messy, such as when Bond nearly gets killed when the bad guy picks up his gun. And the death brutal. This half of the scene basically communicates to us that the action is going to be gritty and real, in keeping with the trend sent by the Bourne movies.

We then cut to the 'Gun barrel' sequence, another returning motif, and the opening titles.

The design of the whole scene is reminiscent of the cover of Casino Royale the book, this was an intentional design on behalf of the film crew. It's major visual theme is that of the suits of playing cards in a deck of cards, referencing the primary plot event in the film. It is also noticeably lacking in naked/ semi naked women, a staple for Bond openings. This is maybe due to not wanting to push the women as object angle of the stories any more and due to the presence of the strong female lead.

The opening titles also feature a song by Chris cornell. The lyrics are well woven into the film. For instance the song references the cost of being able to kill others and repetition of 'knowing my name' which is of course referencing how we all know Bond.

Once this opening is over we cut straight to a scene of a gurilla military camp complete with mud, tents and ak47's. The anchoring text tells us we are in Uganda. The purpose of this scene is to set up the major plot and primary bad guy, along with the mastermind bad guy 'mister white'.

There are a few interesting touches in this scene. First off is the close up on le chieefs inhaler, a later plot point. The second is the bit of foreshadowing show in the dialogue between mister White and the freedom fighter FF:'How can I trust a man I have never met with my money?' W:'My organisation only supplies the introduction'. Mr White's lack of endorsement quietly highlights future events, it also introduces the 'Organisation'.

The final point is the stand off moment where the camera cuts to close up's of each of the character's faces while playing high pitched strings to up the tension.

The promotional materials highlighted below further showcase the new gritty aspect they are trying to run with in this Bond film.

In conclusion the opening of Casino royale has several examples of doing what it sets out to do, which is to re-invent the character for the 21^st century as a more realistic and gritty character in the real world.