Casino Royale (2006) - 19 questions

Question: I would like to know why, when they check in the hotel, Vesper is angry when Bond tells her to sign the reservation, because she represents the treasury?

Answer: It's because he's blatantly blowing their cover. They're supposed to be masquerading as a professional gambler and his lover, so when Bond goes up to the counter, gives his real name rather than his cover name and states directly who and what she is, it understandably annoys her.

Question: Help me out if I'm wildly off: The Ugandan gangster attacks LeChiffre in his hotel, who Bond later kills. LeChiffre then continues with the game and panics when Mr. White demands the money. I was under the assumption that LeChiffre only owed money to the gangster and therefore needed to win the game to pay him back. Why does he continue with the game after the gangster is killed?

Answer: Le Chiffre operates as the banker for Mr White's entire organisation. The Ugandan is only one of many individuals and groups for whom Le Chiffre provides financial services; killing him does little to solve the problem of the missing money. Plus there's the question of trust - if Le Chiffre can't keep the money safe, then Mr White's organisation have no use for him and, as we see in the movie, will readily eliminate him. Le Chiffre's desperate to recover the money to prove his trustworthiness and save his own life.

Question: When Vesper is kidnapped by Le Chiffre, Bond suspects Mathis betrayed him, and Le Chiffre even confirms it. But then it is revealed the traitor is actually Vesper. So why would Le Chiffre tell Bond Mathis was his "friend"? Or for that matter, why did Vesper get out of the casino (only to get kidnapped), if Mathis apparently never text messaged her saying he "needed her"?

Answer: Le Chiffre needs Bond to believe that Vesper is innocent, so that he can use her as leverage during the torture scene. If Bond knew that she was actually a traitor, that leverage would be gone, so he tells him that Mathis sold him out instead. Having failed to win the poker tournament, Le Chiffre's only remaining option to get the money back is to take it from Bond, so he sent the text telling Vesper to leave the casino so that he can stage her kidnapping, putting his plan into motion.

Question: In this film Bond almost dies when he is poisoned and discovers that his portable defibrillator has a broken wire. My question is, has this been the only time in the entire bond series that a bond gadget has had a fault and not worked properly, or have there been been other instances?

Answer: This is more or less the first time a Bond gadget has malfunctioned; but it isn't the first time a Bond gadget didn't work. Most notably, the machine guns mounted on a gyrocopter in You Only Live Twice, and a fake nipple (can't believe I just said that!).

Question: In the scene where Bond retrieves his weapon from the concierge and enters the elevator with Vesper, he attaches his earpiece and goes to Le Chiffre's floor. Is he going to shoot Le Chiffre? If so, this doesn't seem to fit with trying to beat Le Chiffre at Poker. If not, what was his mission?

Answer: Bond went upstairs only to spy on him. The gun was for if anything went wrong.

Question: During the poker game when Bond orders his martini, what does Felix Leiter mean when he comments "Bring me one as well, keep the fruit"?

Answer: Sometimes a dry martini is served with an olive, Leiter was simply saying he didn't want anything other than a straight drink.

Question: Near the end of the film, how does Bond deduce Vesper is in danger after she says she is needed by Mathis?

Answer: He suddenly realises that he told Mathis about Le Chiffre's 'tell', and that that must be how Le Chiffre was able to beat him. With the realisation (or assumption - we never find out either way) that Mathis can't be trusted, he comes to the conclusion that Vesper could be in danger and goes after her. Of course, he fails to consider that he also told Vesper herself...

Question: During a break in the card game Bond slips something into Le Chiffre's inhaler - but I don't recall anything coming of it later. What did he slip in and what was the significance of that?

Answer: It's the bug that he subsequently uses to listen in on Le Chiffre.

Question: Is one born with a deranged tear duct or is it acquired? Also, why does Le Chiffre have a clouded and faded iris, is that part of the disorder? Can he even see out of that eye? The scar above and below his eye must also be related, or could someone have inflicted it upon him?

Answer: It is possible to be born with this affliction, but his injury to the same eye suggests he wasn't.

Question: I don't understand why Vesper killed herself in the end. Can someone please clue me in?

Answer: She loved Bond and had betrayed him. She knew he would probably die trying to save her, and that if he didn't he would be tortured by the memory, so she killed herself both out of guilt and to save him.

Question: I feel like the "Ellipsis" text message the suspected bomb-maker Molloka receives and the one that Carlos the terrorist receives at the Body exhibit are the same text. I thought the date at the top of each was the same, first when Molloka receives the text in the beginning of the film (and when James traces this call to Dimitrios in the Bahamas) and again when James is leaving the Body exhibit and calls Carlos on Dimitrios' phone. (I seem to remember the date as June 6 in each instance). Yet this isn't possible since Le Chiffre must have sent them at different times because didn't he hire Carlos after Molloka was killed? Am I just getting my facts confused? Any explanation would be greatly appreciated.

Answer: Yes both text messages have the same time and date. Most new phones have the ability to send the same text message to multiple recipients at the same time. My understanding is that they both could have been hired to blow up the plane, Carlos to act as a security guard (or airport cop) to help Molloka plant a bomb. That's probably why they both were given the "code" to the door so that they could meet up inside. Once Molloka was killed, Carlos must have been informed to blow up the plane by another means or even given the new device.

Question: When the suitcase enters the water and starts to float away, I thought I saw an arm (from about the elbow) and hand outstretched toward the water and suitcase, as if someone was laying down and mostly hidden behind some of the building debris. I noticed during both viewings I attended, but it is fast. I thought maybe it was a crewarm, then later thought it might have belonged to Mr. White. Or maybe just some bad guy trying to grab it without success. Or maybe it wasn't an arm at all.

Answer: It's the bad guy with the black eye patch reaching for it.

Question: What was the *exact* recipe for Bond's cocktail in the casino?

Answer: From the novel: "Three measures of Gordon's, one of vodka, half a measure of Kina Lillet. Shake it very well until it's ice-cold, then add a large thin slice of lemon peel."

Question: According to Wikipedia, a "disused spa", the Kaiserbad, was supposed to be used as the exterior of the Casino Royale. I found a picture: and the "Grandhotel Pupp serving as the "Hotel Splendide" where Bond stays during his time in Montenegro." I only recall seeinng the Pupp, thinking that building was both the casino and the hotel. When the players go to their rooms, I thought they were in the same building, but apparently not.

Answer: Nope, in the movie the hotel and casino were not in the same building.

Question: At Miami airport, the cops shoot the fuel trucks tires. Wouldn't that be dangerous? Would there be a risk of a bullet hitting the fuel tank and blowing it up? And if, so, wouldn't the cop think twice before shooting?

Answer: Unlike how it's often portrayed in movies, it's actually pretty hard for a bullet to ignite a fuel tank. The Mythbusters on the Discovery Channel tried it once and were unable to do it with anything but a tracer round. (That is a round that burns as goes through the air). Of course a stray bullet could make the tanker leak, but apparently that was a risk the police thought was acceptable compared with the dangers of having a rogue tanker driving around.

Question: How does 007 know the code for the security door in Miami Airport?

Answer: He deduces that the word "Ellipsis" is the password based on the text messages that have been sent back and forth on the terrorists' cell phones.

Question: I don't fully understand how Le Chiffre lost all his money when the bomb failed to blow up the prototype aircraft at Miami airport. If the bomb had exploded, the shares in the airliner would have crumbled, but because it didn't, wouldn't think mean that Le Chiffre missed out on the opportunity to make a load of money, but would still be left with the money he had in the first place?

Answer: Le Chiffre was essentially betting that airline stock would fall, so he bought futures contracts assuming the price would fall, when the bomb did not go off, airline stock did not fall, so he lost his money, as the contract he'd bought still had to be fulfilled.

Question: Where is Q?

Answer: He doesn't appear in this film. As the film is set at the very start of Bond's career, it wouldn't make sense - the character that would go on to be Q was introduced in Dr. No, and wasn't created with the title of Q until Goldfinger, by which time Bond was well into his Double-0 career. Also, Casino Royale is a film which doesn't rely heavily on gadgets, unlike a lot of other Bond films, meaning that the character would be a little redundant if he appeared.

Question: My son wants to know what happened to the Aston Martin & money Bond won in the first card game? Would he get to keep it?

Answer: Bond was on vacation at the time and presuming that he didn't use any MI6 funds to enter the poker game, I see no reason why he shouldn't be able to keep his winnings.