Casino Royale Opening Analysis

The opening starts with the camera looking down the barrel of a gun at James Bond (Daniel Craig). James Bond then fires at the camera. He is dressed in a suit but covered in dirt and the suit is ragged and messed up. This has common conventions of film noir as he is well dressed in a suit. The fact that his suit is covered in filth suggests that he has recently been involved in an encounter with an enemy. This is another convention of a film noir, as they tend to have a lot of gun-based action.

The framing of this shot is exquisite as it is clearly a long shot of James Bond (007) capturing his full costume and pose. His pose shows that even though he was caught off guard he is still ready to fight and pull the trigger first. The music, which comes after the gunshot, juxtaposes the film noir genre, as it is a signature theme for James Bond rather than music that is normally used in a film noir.

The opening then switches to animation with the different card houses circling ar ound – Club, Spade, Heart, and Diamond. In the middle of the circling card houses is the name of the film, ‘Casino Royale’.

This has common conventions as it alludes to what the film is about without revealing too much. It also connotes gambling and addiction, which are common themes in film noirs and helps to establish genre from the very start of the film just through the title screen. This screen also helps to establish the setting of the film, in a casino, which is a very common setting for a film noir.

After this shot the title scene changes to Bond standing on a blue tube filled with the symbol for club. The shot zooms out to reveal a Jack face card and that is a considerable

size larger than Bond.

Both Bond and the Jack are facing and aiming a gun in the same direction. This suggests that Bond is the anti-hero and an underdog as the Jack is still under the kings rule and is not perfect enough to be the king as he will come from a different backstory to the king and not be related to royalty. This is effective as it is suggesting that Bond is the Jack as he works for someone else and he has a troubled backstory just like any other anti-hero in a film noir. The music, that was chosen as the theme for this movie, goes against common noir conventions but is very effective at setting the mood and atmosphere for the movie as it uses the lyrics ‘By the merciless eyes I've deceived?’ This line in the song does follow conventions of the noir genre, as noir films tend to have deceitful characters that get in the way of the hero. It is also effective for this film, as people tend to lie and be very deceitful during poker games, like the one in this film.

The title sequence then becomes primarily animated with several different animated guns firing at each other with bullets, which are the symbol for heart and the smoke is the symbol for club.

This is effective as it tells the audience that the casino game isn’t just a simple gambling addiction or game to play but is in fact a life or death situation and a game tha t people are willing to kill other people over. This idea foreshadows a scene later on in the film when the main antagonist poisons James Bond to try and kill him so that he cannot compete in the poker match, again emphasising the idea that this poker game is a lifer or death situation.

After this shot, the bullet Bond fired near the start of the title sequence finds its way to one of his enemies and as it hits them they explode into the heart symbol for the card house.

This express gambling addiction as it suggests that gambling is a way of life for some people by giving it the idea of being basically someone’s life as the explode into the card symbols, hinting that they are made up of them, metaphorically speaking, almost as if gambling makes up their life. The bullets are the symbol for the spades house. This suggests that the gambling doesn’t just make up their life but also destroys it.

The shot that follows this previous one is a knife fight between Bond and a different opponent, which looks identical to the previous but with a knife.

This is effective as it tells the audience that this movie is going to consist of a lot of action and the main protagonist getting himself into risky situations frequently. This is very common for a noir film and therefore causes more hype for the film noir fandom. The shadows of the characters are very sharp and made completely of straight lines with no curves. This suggests that the film with be very quick and straight to the point whilst there’ll still be very subtle mystery as it is a shadow that consists of these. The two men are fighting on a pattern, which is very commonly found on a poker or roulette table, again bringing back the idea of gambling being a large factor in play during this film.

Further through the title sequence a tube breaks apart and the symbol for the cards house heart, pours out of the broken end of the tube.

This links to a part in the song where the singer sings ‘cold blood runs through my veins.’ The red, almost blood coloured, hearts flowing out of the tube, or symbolic vein also expresses this. This again emphasises gambling and addiction as the main theme in the movie and suggests that gambling runs through the characters veins and that gambling is in their blood.

The next shot introduces a new character to the audience.

This shot introduces a beautiful woman is revealed on the queens face on the queen face card. This singles her quickly down to two possible characters, either the femme fatal or the chanteuse. The fact that her face is only revealed when a target crosses her face, almost as if she is in the line of sight of a gun, proves that she must be the femme fatal as she is trying to look innocent in a manipulative way. She is a lot larger than Bond, which suggests that Bond has no power over her mischievous ways although he is trying to resist. I know that he is trying to resist as he is trying his best not to look at her face.

Later during the opening sequence the card for the seven of hearts floats into view and a gun creates two bullet holes next to the seven so that it spells out ‘007’.

This is effective for the audience as it suggests that Bond is a target in this film as well as him having his own targets. It fits the genre of film noir as 007, James Bond, is shot into a playing card for the seven of hearts. This suggests that not only the antagonists in the film are addicted but also alludes to the fact the film’s protagonist is also addict to gambling.

The opening sequence ends on a very effective shot.

It has Bond walking towards the camera with a direct mode of address whilst he is swithching

between the black silouhette, seen earlier in the opening, and live action shots of Daniel Craig.

Whilst this is happening £10 notes are flying around behind him which again alludes that the main protagoinist of the film is also addicted to gambling and is an anti -hero.

By Mathew Bray