The scene signaled this version of 007 would not be the uncomplicated good guy viewers had grown to expect, but instead a pawn and occasional victim.

Jason Bourne was the victim of the shady CIA where Bond was an employee of MI6, and thus Casino Royale’s decision to make Bond the recipient of the scene's torture brought to mind the grim specter of post 9/11 “enhanced interrogation” for 2006 audiences. At the time of Casino Royale’s release, Paul Greengrass’s propulsive, morally ambiguous Bourne sequels had recently upped the ante in terms of the complexity audiences were willing to accept from spy movies.