WHAT IF?

Smoke_13

I was watching CR the other night and more specifically I noted the scene at the Casino after Vesper refused to put up the money to buy Bond back in to the card game.

Bond is of course very agitated, he sees LeChiffre having a high old time, and decides to put an end to LeChiffre's existence right then and there. His knife wielding pursuit is interrupted by Felix.

I got to thinking, "What if Felix wasn't there." Would Bond have come to his senses on his own? Was Bond still too thick headed to not have learned his lesson with the mistake he made by killing the bomb maker earlier in the film? What if Bond killed LeChiffre right there? Is Bond's career done? By stopping Bond did Felix save his career? How would Vesper have to get the money? What about Mr. White, when would he finally show up to try and get the money? That one single arm clutching action by Felix sure stopped a lot chaotic activity from occurring.

I know we're only dealing in What if? But I'm curious as to how some of the Bond fans on this site feel things would have happened if Felix wasn't there to grab Bond's arm at that specific instance.

Mikep99

Well your assumption is correct--Bond would not exist, more than likely. Think about it, if Felix was not there, the rest of the movie,story, plot would not have occurred.

Solaris

would we ever have found out about Vesper being a double agent? doubt it.

Kyle007

Very fine points. However, a variable that should be introduced is Bond's interaction with Mathis. Assuming Bond had killed LeChiffre with the knife, would Mathis have sold out Bond to Mr. White, which in turn would have resulted in the showdown anyway?

Smoke_13

I certainly don't think Bond would cease to exist if he killed LeChiffre that night. That said, killing LeChiffre when the government wanted to drill him for information would certainly be another huge black eye for Bond's young career. Couple that with the fact that Bond would still be on the hook for losing $10,000,000 of his governments money and I'm not so sure his earlier deed of saving an airplane from blowing up would be enough to keep Bond in his employers good graces.

Mr. White's new relationship with Bond if Bond kills LeChiffre is interesting to ponder. Killing LeChiffre gaurantees that White is again out of the money. Would White hunt down Bond? If he cost my organization that many millions I sure think so. However, Mr. White did tell LeChiffre that "The money isn't as important to his organization as knowing who to trust." Maybe White would hunt down the new guy who won at the table, the new winner would also have Vesper chasing after him too no doubt.

7289

Bond's fustration, and desire to kill LeChiffire are a result of his not having learned to "take his ego out of the equation".

Killing LeChiffre would have served no purpose as his organization would still have control of the money, and a dead LeChiffre (trustworthy or not) is without value. At best Bond would have saved Mr. White a bullet.

I am not convinced that Mathis was a traitor. I think LeChiffre was "playing Bond" and distracting him from Vesper's betrayal. I think it's Vesper all along sabotaging Bond, by relating the "tell" and refusing to cut loose the additional 5 Millions.

LeChiffre dead by Bond's hand, a 0 outcome for everyone. All I can say is, "Thank God for the Yanks!!!"

Smoke_13

So do you think by killing LeChiffre Bond would lose his job? And how would White's people still have control of the money?

I do agree with your thoughts on Mathis, however I dont think LeChiffre was playing Bond. Mathis was so good at what he was doing that LeChiffre really thought "Bond's friend Mathis was actually his friend Mathis."

Solaris

And as I'm sure I've mentioned before I believe that Le Chiffre didn't know Vesper was a double at all.
but I won't ge into that debate again.

I think Bond killing Le Chiffre wouldn't have mattered that much to Mr White, especially when he was going to kill him anyway. the biggest bullet in the foot would be for Bond, who would most likely have his License to Kill taken off him.

Thunderbird 2

I must admit while everything else fell into place after I saw the film for the second time, I was uncertain on Mathis. I think he may well be innocent, and I hope the character is in the next film, if for no other reason than clarification.

Felix stopping 007 from knifing LeChiffre in part seeds the friendship we have seen between the characters in the other films, in spite of the fact they have differing loyalties. An effective touch, and subtly done.

What I want to know is - what would have happened to Bond had M taken his resignation as written? (White must have known what was going on, cosidering he barged in on Bond's torture.) It was interesting she brushed past it after Vesper died. It harked back to what she said to Bond earlier on when she said "I knew you were you!"

7289

Smoke_13 wrote:

So do you think by killing LeChiffre Bond would lose his job? And how would White's people still have control of the money?

It is only speculation, but had Bond put a knife in LeChiffre I suspect "M" would have him polishing cars in the staff garage. Or more likely she would "feed" Bond to the politicans

LeChiffre dead, I am sure his surrogates would follow Mr. White's wishes and return the misappropriated funds to the proper accounts - which was LeChiffre's goal after all. White was merely eliminating LeChiffre for speculating with client money.

Smoke_13

Thunderbird 2 wrote:

I must admit while everything else fell into place after I saw the film for the second time, I was uncertain on Mathis. I think he may well be innocent, and I hope the character is in the next film, if for no other reason than clarification.

I too think Mathis is innocent. In the novels by Fleming, Mathis actually saves Bond's life by giving him artificial respiration at the end of FRWL.