casino royale differences between book and movie

The two primary henchmen lurk around Le Chiffre himself, and one threatens Bond with a pistol hidden inside a walking cane he carries to the big game. Two goons accidentally get blown up trying to take 007 out with a bomb in the streets. The couple in the room above his is actually on Le Chiffre’s payroll and they listen to what Bond is up to in shifts. Le Chiffre has thugs who have identified 007 as a secret agent and attempt to stop him from getting into Le Chiffre’s big game.

Desperate to replace the funds before SMERSH comes after him, Le Chiffre has arrived at a casino in Royale-les-Eaux to hit the baccarat tables, then take those winnings into a high stakes baccarat game he is arranging. He played fast and loose with money SMERSH entrusted him with and lost it. In the novel, Le Chiffre is specifically working for the deadly Russian criminal organization SMERSH (an abbreviated form of the Russian words for “death to spies”). I have a full book review here, so I’ll just hit the big differences now. Let’s examine them and see which is better. The amount of similarities between Casino Royale and its film adaptation are striking–especially considering that the film version was made 53 years after the book was published. Her betrayal and ultimate death leave James Bond reeling as he had been willing to give up his life as a spy for her.Ī lot of Bond movies diverge from the books so much that all they really take from the source novel is the title, maybe some character names, and a touch of inspiration from the plot. She was blackmailed into working against MI6 when her lover was captured. 007 is assisted in this mission by Rene Mathis, Felix Leiter, and the devastatingly beautiful Vesper Lynd, who manages to get underneath 007’s armor and worm her way into his heart. The stakes only get higher after the dust settles on their high-stakes game as Bond is drawn into a showdown with Le Chiffre and a betrayal from one of his allies comes to light. Turns out, Vesper was acting as a double agent the whole time. If Bond can bankrupt Le Chiffre at the casino, it could force Le Chiffre to help them out as an informant in exchange for protection.

In both versions 007 is sent to bankrupt Le Chiffre, a criminal money man who is on the brink of disaster after losing his client’s money. Unlike many adaptations of Fleming’s novels, the plot is remarkably consistent with what you find on the page. In both cases, it serves as a sort of introduction to the suave British agent with the cold eyes. Casino Royale was the first book in Ian Fleming’s James Bond series, but it was the 21st movie in the film series.

Casino royale differences between book and movie