Casino Royale, James Bond's 21st Movie

As I’ve said before in the initial post, I will be writing also about movies, and the latest movie that I think needed to be reviewed is this new Bond movie, I actually go to the cinema twice to see this movie, never happened before in history, well without further ado, this is my review...

The name’s Bond, James Bond…
This sentence is usually said by Agent 007 in the first (or maybe early) scenes of the previous James Bond Movies, but in his new movie, he said it in the very last scene.

Why? I will say that coz this new bond movie was intently made as the first in the Bond series extravaganza, in fact Casino Royale was the first book written by Ian Fleming in the series.

Well I wouldn’t go as far as comparing the book with the movie, as I was only watched the movie and actually haven’t read any of Fleming’s work.

Part 1: pre launch
The first impression when I heard a new Bond movie is in production is “will it be good?” since Sony (well the studio) said that they will dispose off Pierce Brosnan, which some has said that he is the most appropriate Bond after the Sean Connery era.

Who will be the next Bond? It turns out to be Daniel Craig, the world was eager to find out who he is, and you know what? He’s got blond hair, no Bond before Craig has that characteristic before, and also about his look, he is said to be “less dandy” compared to his predecessors, but only when the movie launched then judgments can be made.

Part 2: post launch
I didn’t go directly to the cinema to see the new Bond in action; Casino Royale was launched in Indonesia at November 15th, Thursday if I may remember, I went to the cinema for Casino Royale at November 17th or is it 18th? Whatever, it’s not that material… the impression was, great!

I love the movie, the new Bond rocks! Despite his blond hair and the less dandy look, it all comes into places when Bond comes into action; the definition from critics for Casino Royale was James Bond meet Jason Bourne (of Bourne series), so expect for action, more than before, what? The last Bond by Brosnan was quite filled with action u said? Nope, not that cheap action, this is pure adrenaline rush action, highly recommended!

Part 3: The Story [spoiler alert]
To put it simple the storyline was this, an organization is acting as a bank to terrorist, as for this bank will guarantee that withdrawal of their money can be done in all location in the world. The sum of the money was 100 million dollars (if I’m not mistaken).

By Le Chiffre, the money was laundered by putting them in secondary market and the story goes, Bond stopped Le Chiffre’s act to manipulate stock market, and he lost the terrorist market.

In order to gain 100 million dollars back into his pocket and eventually saves his neck, Le Chiffre join a gambling arena in the Casino Royale in Montenegro, which plays for 10 million each player and 5 million for buy in, with the maximum player of 10 persons, if, if that is, Le Chiffre won it all, he will gain 150 million dollars and will settle his problem with his client.

Bond, as the best card player in MI6, it is his job to stop Le Chiffre’s act by defeating him. In short, he won, and claimed 150 million from the game in Casino Royale. End? No…Next it was Vesper Lynd (2nd Bond Girl in Casino Royale), she was the accountant who is taking care of Bond’s money in the game (10 million is a lot!), Bond is in love with this girl, and is giving nothing but all for her, she was captured and taken hostage by Le Chiffre’s organization and the organization then managed to capture Bond as well, by using Lynd as bait.

When Lynd and Bond got free from captivity, the couple went on vacation, even makes Bond to think about leaving MI6. Venice was the next place this story taken, in Venice, when Lynd go and left Bond alone in Hotel Room, Bond got called in from M, whether the winning money will go to the Treasury Secretary account, Bond was stunned as he knows that Lynd is lying to him about it (the money was recently transferred to some account that Lynd knows, that turn out to be not the Treasury Secretary account).

Another action scene was taken, which resulted in Lynd’s death. This ended Bond’s love story in Casino Royale, but while the trace gone cold for the case, it turns out that Lynd has managed to send message to Bond about the organization that threatened to kill her boyfriend if she doesn’t gave them the money Bond has won in Casino Royale. As I mentioned earlier in this post, Bond managed to trace the big boss and say, “The name’s Bond, James Bond…”

Part 4: Interesting facts
Shaken not stirred: this is the first time Bond “invented” the famous shaken not stirred martini, as might as well the irony part when Bond doesn’t give a damn about how he wanted his martini is done

Aston Martin: the car that is used by Bond, Aston Martin DBS, was not a mass production car, but after this movie, Aston Martin is considering to put it in a mass production.

Q and Moneypenny: no Q and Moneypenny in this movie, as for these characters are quite a signature characters in the series.

Sony: All of the gadgets that is used by Bond and every character involved in Casino Royale is using Sony, from Sony Ericsson M600, Sony Ericsson K800i cell phones , Sony DSC-T10 to Sony VAIO notebooks.

Part 5: Judgment
This is by far the most fun Bond movie I’ve ever seen in years, the story, Daniel Craig, the director was a perfect match for a come back in a long awaited series which will have a huge comparison to their predecessors.

I give this movie a rating of five stars (*****), a perfect rate, for those who haven’t seen this movie then you must see it, if you’re not a Bond fans then this is a good start to become one.

[pictures and datas are taken from many sources]