Released to wide acclaim in 2006, “Casino Royale” was Daniel Craig’s debut as the legendary British agent James Bond. The plot portrayed Bond’s early years in service and the film was so successful that it grossed an estimated $599 million worldwide and Craig has continued in the role ever since.
Nonetheless, “Casino Royale” was not entirely without its faults. There were a number of illogical sequences or filming errors which did a disservice to an otherwise excellent production. Although it doesn’t take anything away from the film as a whole, the following errors will be of interest to any diehard 007 fan.
• Airport confusion: In the film, Bond thwarts a terrorist attack on Miami Airport. However, the sequence is actually filmed in the Czech Republic and in these scenes you can see numerous Czech Airlines planes. Unfortunately, Czech Airlines don’t fly to Miami at all! You can however find plenty of their planes at Prague Airport!
• Montenegro or Czech Republic? Similar lapses can be seen in the sequences which are supposed to be set in Montenegro, but are actually filmed in the Czech Republic. In one scene, at the back of a restaurant, a public telephone with the Czech Telecom insignia can be seen and when Bond has a drink in the square, there is a sign in Czech for “White Horse.”
• The Poker scene: One of the key scenes in the film takes sees Bond take on the terror financier Le Chiffre in a high-stakes poker game, with the intention of bankrupting his foe. It is not strange for common blackjack mistakes to be made in the name of cinematic expression and the same goes for poker too. However, it isn’t necessarily the technicalities of the poker game which seem flawed in Casino Royale. It is rather that the stakes, which eventually reach a mind-boggling $40million, which is unrealistic. Such a game would be the most expensive in poker history! In addition, although Bond and his enemy play Texas Hold’Em in the movie, the original book has them facing off in a Chemin De Fer game.
• Sand or no sand? Towards the end of the film, Bond is engaged in a characteristic embrace with glamorous girl Vesper on the sand of a secluded beach. While Bond has sand on his back for most of the scene, towards the end of it as the camera moves ever more distant, the sand has miraculously disappeared!
• Tyres in the Miami Airport chase. Here’s another disappointing oversight. During the dramatic chase scene at Miami Airport, the rear tyres of the gas truck are shot at and blown out. However, when Bond heroically skids the vehicle to a halt, the tyres appear inflated. Oh dear!
• A tortuous torture scene: Bond always ends up some kind of trouble and Casino Royale does not disappoint! At one point during the film, he is viciously tortured in a wicker chair. However, at the start of the scene, blood is running down his face in a clear line. The next moment, it has been smudged before once again returning to a clear line of streaming blood. This happens several times during the scene and now that it has been pointed out, you are bound to notice this oversight every time you watch the film!
