James Bond

“The name is Bond. James Bond.”

- A signature line from the world’s most well-known spy.

While many may have watched the action of James Bond on the movie screen, few would have read the book. Is the James Bond in the hit series by Sir Ian Fleming the same as that portrayed in the movie? Has the movie done justice to one of the most charismatic and sexiest fictitious spy? You guess is as good as mine until we pick up the book.

The one that I have picked up is Thunderball. This has been adapted for a 1965 movie - the fourth James Bond movie, starring Sean Connery as the famous spy.

The antagonist is a group made of famous scientists and military experts known as SPECTRE – mainly from the East European countries. The loot? A plane carrying two atomic bombs. The location? Cayman Islands in Bahamas. As usual, James Bond uses his wit, his charm, his guts to investigate and to recover the bombs. With many lives and money at stake and a short turn around time of 48 hours, it is a test against courage and strength. Fortunately, he has once again not let his fans down by putting up a strong victory against the enemies and prevent yet another world’s catastrophe.

The book is equally captivating with vivid descriptions of the people, the setting and the plot. Yet, human imagination is boundless where the excitement of each scene can be played in one’s mind. This is unlike in movies where the scenes are already depicted by the movie director and deliver straight into your face without any room for your imagination.

There are also some differences between the books and the movies. In the books, M is a male and not a female (Judi Dench). In the books, James Bond is supposed to be tall and dark (unlike the current Daniel Craig who is not exactly dark – I believe Pierce Brosnan is a closer depiction of James Bond). In the books, James Bond, having gone through numerous assignments, has many scars all over his body from his past injuries while the skin of the James Bond in the movie seems to be flawless – if the top-bare body of Daniel Craig walking out of the waters on the beach is anything to go by.

Validate these for yourself. Pick up one of the books yourself. *Grin*