My favourite James Bond movie!

Rating: 10/10 (29 August 2012)

This film takes everything a good spy thriller needs, and puts it all in, Shaken, but not Stirred. It's smooth, it's cool, it's unbelievably subtle, there's no Overly Complicated Killing Scenes, no long winded sex scenes, no ten a penny girls and most importantly, it has a story that stands up on it's own!
The film begins in Cold War Czechoslovakia, where Bond is sent to kill a British Agent who has been selling secrets to the Soviets. This is before Bond has been issued a 00X rank and has to have at least two kills under his belt before he can be given such a prestigious but dangerous rank. In previous flashbacks, Bond is seen killing the agent's contact in a bathroom, his first kill. Bond then achieves his rank by nonchalantly dispatching the agent. What follows is what has to be the best opening to a movie I have ever seen in my entire life. A fast paced thrill ride of flying cards, henchmen being killed by clubs, Kings, Queens, Jacks and Aces, and not a single one of those monotonous dancing girls in sight! (This is where I knew this film was going to be a good-en!)
We then move to Uganda, where a Freedom Fighter is setting up an account with a financier names Le Chiffre, who works through an organisation known as SOLICE to fund terrorist groups throughout the globe. Le Chiffre is a subtle but calculative character, sly in motive, but sinister in appearance, and one of my favourite Bond villains. We then move to Madagascar, where Bond and a fellow agent are tracking a bomb-maker. After his assistant is spotted, Bond proceeds the chase the Bombmaker through a Construction Site and into the Namibian Embassy. Violating all international codes, Bond enters the building and takes the man hostage before dispatching him and escaping. In his backpack, Bond finds a set of explosives and a text message on his phone with the word 'Elipsis' written. Meanwhile, News spreads across the World about Bond's rash invasion of the Embassy, and M and Bond have a heart to heart conversation about how she is ready to feed him to the press if he doesn't stop his rash behaviour. But this is not before Bond has tracked the origin of the text to a location in the Bahamas.
Continuing his mission, Bond arrives at a Seaside hotel and after creating a rather humorous distraction, scans the security tapes to find that the person who made the text was a Greek man named Alex Dimitrios, a known Arms Dealer and hirer of mercenaries. Bond introduces himself to Dimitrios in a game of Poker, in which Bond emasculates him by taking a large portion of his money and of course, his Aston Martin DB5. After seducing his girlfriend, Bond is able to learn that Dimitrios is flying to Miami. Bond follows him to an art museum where he sees Dimitrios place a baggage tab on a Poker chip. After a subtle attempt to murder Bond, the Secret Agent gets the upper hand and quietly kills Dimitrios. Upon returning to the Poker chip, he finds it missing and after using Dimitrios' mobile phone to track the agent, Bond follows him back to the airport. Disguised as an Airport Security Officer, the agent sets off the alarm and steals a fuel truck in order to crash it into a Skyfleet Prototype Jetliner. This will send Market's Tumbling and since Le Chiffre has bet against the markets, it will make him a rich man and allow him to fund his terrorist groups. Bond is hot on his tail as the pair have a long fight in the cab of the tanker truck. The agent sets a bomb underneath the cab and jumps out. Bond is able to stop the truck with inches to spare and is arrested by Police. The smug looking agent sets off the bomb but realises that Bond has attached it to his belt, blowing him up.
Because the stock markets didn't fall as he wanted them to, Le Chiffre searches for a new way to get his money back by setting up an all steaks game at the Casino Royale in Montenegro. Bond joins the game, and on the way meets with his new assistant Vesper Lynd, an agent for the Treasury, who is there to make sure the money goes where necessary. Can Bond beat Le Chiffre in the game and save the much needed millions? Is there a relationship brewing between the reluctant Vesper and Bond? Only the movie has the answer...
As mentioned, this film is just, fantastic! It really is. I loved every minute of it and could watch it over and over again. No cocky one liners, no half baked schemes, just some good honest British Spy Action! Give this Director a knighthood!