There were plenty of smaller hands. They played dozens of games. It ended as it did because the hands were so good that everyone went all-in. It's not far-fetched if you've got good straight potential on the table.
The reason why that is a horrible poker scene is not so much the statistical improbability of that hand but how bad everyone played it.
Asian guy has the nut flush on the river - he slowplays his hand and then goes all in without considering that someone might have boated up and hit a full house. Why else would there be 3 other players in that hand if they didn't have at least two pair?
Black guy shoves a non-nut full house, the aces should scare him somewhat but it's really hard to check-fold 8's full.
Le Chiffre is only beaten by two hands - the straight flush and A8, not a bad play. He smartly checked on the turn because he had to figure his top two wasn't good on that board. His mistake however is not betting on the flop with top pair. That board is so wet and with three other players in the pot, you want to eliminate anyone with a flush or straight draw with a big bet on the flop.
James Bond's action on the turn makes sense since he had the immortal nuts but I have no idea how 5-7 suited stayed in a 3 way pot all the way to the river. That hand is an instafold preflop, should have been folded on the flop when facing a standard C-bet and he just lucked out on the turn with an 8.
Other awful poker scenes in TV/movies:
Justin Timberlake vs Pete Campbell in "In Time" - Can't find the clip on YouTube. A quick primer on the movie is that "time" in the movie is both a currency and a function of lifespan so everytime you buy something, you decrease your life span by X amount of time. In the movie, Justin Timberlake gets involved in a high stakes poker game and decides to put his entire life on the life. Campbell raises preflop with Queens, Timberlake calls with 8-4 off suit - because he's stupid. Flop comes 5 6 x. Campbell bets, Timberlake calls. Turn comes a queen giving Campbell top set and Campbell bets 80% of the pot, and Timberlake calls - leaving him not that much time behind, on a gutshot straight draw. River comes a 7. Campbell goes all in, Timberlake slow rolls him and pretends he has a tough decision and finally turns over 8-4 off suit like a donkey.
Luck. Short lived HBO series that was cancelled because Horses kept dying. Poker scene in this one is ridiculous. Guy gets dealt kings, raises preflop, gets called by a guy with AQ. Flop comes AQx. Guy with kings checks, other guy bets action goes back to our star and he calls. Turn comes a blank, our hero goes all in with kings on a board Ace high board. Then he acts shocked when the other guy turns calls and turns over AQ. River comes a king and our hero acts like he's a poker genius.
Errr...yeah, I take poker pretty seriously.
