James Bond - Casino Royale

Rating: PG
Running time: 144 minutes

Some info:
1) Wiki
2) IMDB

Hmm, I find that this is one of the more interesting Bond movies. The style and presentation of this movie gives me a different feel from the other Bond movies I’ve watched previously. Perhaps it’s partly due to the fact that the timeframe set is when Bond just got his double-O status, which makes him a little like a “newbie”, being new to the “rank”. This probably added a new element to the character, Bond.

Like many, the first impression I had about Daniel Craig after it was official that he would be the next Bond was that he didn’t look like he was up to the task of undertaking the role of Bond. However as it turns out, his acting in the movie is pretty good, at least better than what I had expected. Yeah I knew of reviews back last year commending on his performance, but I couldn’t agree until I saw the real thing. Wonder if he’ll last longer than the 3 films currently “allocated” to him (including this one).

Another thing that’s slightly different from many Bond movies would be the gadgets section. Normally, Bond will be introduced to an array of gadgets and tools that would definitely come into use (mostly once) during his course of mission. But this time, there isn’t really a “dedicated section” to these stuff. Though I must say that I kinda like all the high-tech gadgets Bond have in the other movies, so I found this movie a little lacking. And without these gadgets, there’s probably some relation to why there seems to be less exciting action scenes during the crux of the mission. In fact, I found the opening portion more action-packed, with all the climbing/running/chasing and stuff at the construction area etc. Even the airport scenes seemed to be more exciting. Heh.

The story is pretty simple, though the lack of decent understanding (more than just rules ok…) of Texas hold ‘em poker will be quite a pain. It’s kind hard to appreciate the beauty of it all, at least for me. And of course, the Poker tournament is one of the most important events in the show (hey, Casino leh. no gambling how can?). I’m quite sure those who understand the game rather well might find it more enjoyable.

Of course, the Bond girl is also another highlight of the Bond series that cannot be overlooked, but I shan’t go into that. It’s the usual kind of stuff, but slightly different as the twist comes towards the end of the show. Didn’t quite like the way things ended, but oh well I guess it’s suitable to have some sort of “meaningful ending” to Bond’s early days as a double-O agent, and perhaps to show certain things about his nature in his subsequent missions (portrayed in other Bond movies).

The plot of the show has been summarised by the Wiki article, so go take a look at it if you’re interested and haven’t watched the movie yet. Now, for some of the errors I’ve spotted in no particular order. First up, when Bond is asked to key in a password for his account, the last 2 digits he pressed were 4 and 7. At that point in time, I thought he put it as Ellipsis (those who watch it will understand what I mean), since he had that kind of smirk on his face while looking at Le Chiffre. It turns out his password is VESPER. Come on, the production team should have known better, since vesper does have a meaning in the story, which logically mean that it’s already part of the script. Quite disappointed with this mistake.

Secondly, during the first break for the Poker game, Bond got into a fight and injured himself. He sustained wounds on his head and yet when returning to the game after the break, his head looks perfectly clean, free of wounds. Must have some kind of healing ability like half of wolverine’s huh, or his treatment can do amazing things.

The next mistake would be Bond being unable to perform CPR correctly. Being an agent of a Secret Service, CPR ought to be a skill that’s well-mastered by people of his calibre. But apparently, he can’t even lay the victim in a correct person, nor can he do compressions in a correct manner. I guess he needs to go for more life-saving skills course. Or maybe his license to kill sees no need for saving lives? (Note to self: it’s quite a common mistake in many movies)

I had a feeling that there are some continuity errors but I couldn’t be sure until I saw the list of mistakes so just head over to this MovieMistakes article. Those folks are damn good at spotting mistakes. Lol. But of course, those are contributed by a decent part of the community to help gather more information and hence post more mistakes found. It’s quite interesting/amazing to note some of the mistakes spotted by some users.

Of course, being a Bond film, you can easily spot many brands being featured during the movie. Unfortunately, I’m not good with my car knowledge, so I can’t really appreciate all the nice cars shown. But those cars look good nonetheless.

My take: 6.5/10. It’s not too bad a show to watch overall. Though it’s somewhat different from the usual Bond fare and yet still presents itself pretty well, there are certain elements that I enjoy that are left out in this latest installment of the Bond series.

p.s. i’m sorry for another long movie review coming from me.