What if Timothy Dalton did Casino Royale?

As we all know, Casino Royale was adapted in 2006 as Bond's first mission in a reimagined continuity, in keeping with the fact that it was the first ever Bond novel and first ever Bond story. But what-if Timothy Dalton decided to round of his darker grimmer portrayal of Bond with a rendition of 007's first published adventure as his last mission at the end of the Cold War?

This is a strictly imaginary version of 'what might have been' had Casino Royale been made in 1991...

CASINO ROYALE (1991)

In the year 1991, Bond (like Timothy Dalton in real life) is precariously nearing the age limit of 45, at which point he faces mandatory retirement from the Double O Section. Bond finds it hard to imagine a life away from danger, excitement and intrigue though he knows that it will probably be for the best, given that things have already become unusually quite and work has become quite boring with the Cold War drawing to a possible close; he hasn't had a real 'assignment' in over a year! The film actually begins with a PTS in which Bond is relaxing in the Bahamas with a woman, when he is attacked by a former KGB agent looking to settle an old score.

Later, Bond is hurriedly called back to London for a consultation with M. M informs him of a disturbing fact; a particularly violent faction of the KGB, which is still loyal to the dying Communist regime, is active, with the agent who attacked Bond being a part of it. Moscow has confirmed the existence of this network, though it does not wish to involve itself in the matter for fear of embarassment, leaving it in the hands of Western intelligence agencies. M explains how it was discovered that this KGB faction stole millions of dollars worth of party funds, which were invested by bankers in various ventures in order to increase their assets. However, one of the bankers, a Frenchman named Le Chiffre, lost a lot of the money in a failed chain of brothels, and is now under tremendous pressure from the faction to restore the money or face the consequences...To this end, Le Chiffre is intending to play a baccarat game at the French town of Royale-es-Eax (forgive the spelling) in the Casino Royale. It is here that M gives Bond the enticing offer for a last mission before his retirement and the end of the Cold War; beat Le Chiffre in the card game, so that he loses credibility among the KGB faction, who will eliminate him, thereby losing the services of their one effective banker which shall lead to their collapse. Bond willingly accepts the mission and the chance to go into action again, even though M warns him it will be a relatively sedentary operation. However, nevertheless, M decides to assign a woman to work as Bond's assistant in the field, something which Bond accepts with much reluctance.

In France, Bond meets Vesper Lynd, whom he is instantly attracted towards, and starts to forget his initial misgivings about having a woman around. He also meets up with Rene Mathis, an old contact in the Deuxieme Bureau and with his old comrade in arms, Felix Leiter (walking with an artificial leg) who is working as a consultant for the CIA just this once for this particular operation...

Things start to get rough when Bond narrowly survives a couple of assassination attempts before the big game. He also makes a name for himself at the baccarat tables and attracts the attention of Le Chiffre. There will even be an extended sequence where Bond and Mathis capture Le Chiffre's spies in the hotel where Bond is staying. Vesper is perturbed by these cloak and dagger antics she is unused to, being a desk worker, but Bond slowly comforts her. This is the first indication that he is starting to fall in love with her...

Eventually Bond does confront Le Chiffre at the card tables. Initially he loses, but with added financial support from the CIA, courtesy of Leiter, he gets back in the game and beats Le Chiffre. Later he and Vesper are having dinner, celebrating, when Vesper is kidnapped. Bond gives chase, but his car crashes. He is taken hostage and is tortured at Le Chiffre's villa, with Le Chiffre wanting to know the number of the account to which he has sent the winnings. However, Le Chiffre is killed by a member of the KGB (not belonging to the faction), who had been sent by Moscow to eliminate this 'embarassment' to Russia and to the KGB.

Later, Bond recovers from his injuries with Vesper by his side, and the whole ordeal has been traumatic enough for him to quit the service right away. He and Vesper head for vacation at the Riveira, where Bond proposes to Vesper, though she is reluctant about accepting as she is terrified of a guest she has seen at the hotel, a man called Gettler. Gettler is part of a hit-team sent to kill Bond by the KGB faction, simply because they feel eliminating the West's greatest spy will earn them brownie points among the extremist Communist elements in the world. Bond however manages to survive them and neutralise the opposition. When he returns to his hotel however he finds Vesper dead. She has left behind a tape recording for him where she explains she was a double agent working for the faction because they had abducted her lover years before and threatened to kill him unless she helped them. She committed suicide by taking cyanide because she couldn't bear to live with the burden of her betrayal any longer and also because she felt that if the KGB wouldnt kill her anyway, James would on discovering her treachery. She also has left behind details about the KGB faction...

A few months later, MI6 has successfully taken down the KGB faction thanks to information supplied by Vesper. But Bond is still psychologically shattered by her death and realisation of her betrayal. He is sickened by the cloak and dagger world he was a part of and wants no further hand in it...however he also knows that his last chance for happiness is gone. The film ends with Bond burying his Walther PPK in the mud besides Vespers grave and walking away into the sunset...

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