3. Le Chiffre - Casino Royale
Le Chiffre has been a naughty boy; he's been playing fast and loose with his clients' investments, and after Bond screws up one of his deals, goes to the Casino Royale card game in Montenegro to try and win a purse big enough to pay off those he owes. However, Bond ends up foiling him again, taking $100m and stashing it in a Swiss bank account. As Bond leaves the Casino, though, La Chiffre hatches his insanely over-the-top - if extremely entertaining - plan to get the money back, by kidnapping Bond's little ragamuffin, Vesper, and leaving her in the middle of the road. Bond, of course, gives chase, and upon realising that Vesper is lying in the road, swerves to avoid her, promptly crashing his Aston Martin DBS in spectacular style, earning Bond the Guinness World Record for the most barrel rolls in cinematic history (really; you can look it up). Given that Le Chiffre needs Bond to give him the password to the Swiss bank account, this is a pretty bloody extreme and risky way of catching him, if we concede that most people in car accidents like that end up on a morgue slab. Considering this isn't just Le Chiffre's money at stake, but by proxy, his life, you think he'd be a little bit more thoughtful about the investment. Instead, he opts for a plan that is both over-thought and incredibly stupid, relying on way too many apparent guarantees to succeed. Still, he doesn't get the password out of a naked, sore Bond in time, and winds up on the business end of a bullet in the brain.
Shaun Munro
Contributor
Frequently sleep-deprived film addict and video game obsessive who spends more time than is healthy in darkened London screening rooms. Follow his twitter on @ShaunMunroFilm or e-mail him at shaneo632 [at] gmail.com.
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