POKER FACE

Bond (played by Daniel Craig) is back. But the story of “Casino Royale” actually tells us about Bond before he had his license to kill. After two quick successions in assassination missions, he earned his “Double O” title instantly. The “007” finally got his first mission from his boss, “M” (played by Judi Dench). Directed by Martin Campbell, “Casino Royale” perfectly uncovered how James became “Bond” and how an agent became a legend.

There’re certain elements that always made Bond movie worth watching, the storyline, the girls, the enemies, the cars, and the gadgets. All that elements combined usually made a great action movie. But this time, there’re two more elements that makes this movie even more exciting; the high stakes poker games and stock options.

“Do you believe in God, Mr. Le Chiffre?” One of the bad guys asked. “No, I believe in the reasonable rate of return”. A man who happened to be a banker with a sinister face replied. There was a transaction which took place in the middle of the jungle in the beginning of the movie.

The MI: 6 set Bond on his first mission to disclose the names of terrorists. But first, he had to face a ruthless banker named Le Chiffre, who controlled the funds of the terrorists. Bond’s main targets were actually the terrorist behind Le Chiffre. But he couldn’t get to them without passing Le Chiffre.

Most bankers play the stock market by investing their money and use strategies like long, short, call, put, etc, according to the market condition. But the lunatic Le Chiffre had a different strategy to win the market and raise more funds for a group of terrorists who happened to be his clients. Instead of waiting for the market reaction like most of other bankers, Le Chiffre decided to take control of the market himself by planning to destroy an airplane and take down a flight company in the world of Miami.

Why blowing up an airplane? A smart banker knows that fortunes can always be won by applying correct strategies, whether the market goes up or down. But he could get double prize from the stock market plus the insurance for blowing up his own shares. Little did he knew that Bond was very close behind him. Bond managed to stop all Le Chiffre’s men from blowing up the plane, thus ruined his plan to reap his rewards. Instead of gaining profits, Le Chiffre lost a lot of money and faced a consequence of loosing his head for loosing his clients’ money.

Not having any other choices, Le Chiffre decided to apply another talent of his, gambling. In order to raise the money for his investors, Le Chiffre decided to bet all his assets on the poker table in Casino Royale, in Montenegro. Not a very smart thing to do, considering Le Chiffre is a banker. A banker never bets because stock market is not a place to gamble... It is a place of investment. But unfortunately, Le Chiffre seemed confident with his poker skills as he’s a man with skills both in stock market plus on the poker table. What a combination!

MI: 6 had the next plan to defeat Le Chiffre, hoping that he will loose all the money and seek protection from them. Only then the information about the terrorist can be extracted as an exchange for his protection. “M” sent Bond as the best poker player in the agency and Vesper Lynd (played by Eva Green) as a British treasury and accountant. Their mission was to take down Le Chiffre and beat him in his poker game. Only if Le Chiffre looses his money, then the whole organization will collapse.

The story gets exciting as Bond and Vesper ventured danger together as the stakes of poker game was no longer about money. It’s interesting to watch how they had to face and deal with their own ego to survive the casino game that could claim their life. Watch as Bond had to give everything he got to win the game, which was almost impossible, even though he had learned before, that a poker is not about playing cards… It’s about how to “read” people.

Bond was so close of making the wrong decision that could endanger his career or maybe his entire life as he and Vesper became so deeply in love. Bond never expected what he had to face even if he won the poker game. How this story ends, you have to see it for yourself. Bond had all the trainings he needed but still had to learn his most important lesson, “Don’t focus too much on your enemies that you forget to watch over your friends”.