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Comments
Title Track: TWINE (None of brosnan era bond theme songs really hit the series' previous heights. But Shirley Manson sings well here - better than Crow did on TND and I like the lyrical appropriation of lines of dialogue from the film that are central to its themes.)
Title Credits: SP (I find TWINE's largely forgettable. SP's gets more palatable with each viewing and TWOTW is aided by the visuals.)
Main Villain: TWINE (Easily the best villains in the Brosnan era and a central strength to the film's appeal. Both performed by good actors, Marceau and Renard. I love the subtly and nuance of many of Carlyle's acting decisions. While Marceau ramps up the megalomania and woman stuck in arrested development because of the trauma she suffered as a youth.)
Main Bond Girl: SP (Swann by a distance over Jones. Even with all my issues with the unconvincing deeper emotional connection between Swann and Bond - both Swann as a character and obviously Sedouyx as an actress are stronger than Jones/Richards. Jones as a character is passable, but casting Richards is a death knell.)
Henchman: SP (Because of TWINE's double villain it means that henchmen are pretty thin - even so they'd have to be good to match Hinx as one of SP's highlights - two scenes in particular, his introduction and that train fight.)
Plot: TWINE (the writers should be given credit with introducing many ideas - first twin lead villains, M-centric plot, Mi6 under attack. The problem is that the premise is there but it isn't refined and focused as it could be. But its third act doesn't fizzle like SP's - which feels like it leads to a nothing.)
Dialogue: SP (Except for some Blofeld stuff the dialogue in SP is pretty good. TWINE's has moments - but it has some real low points too.)
Score: TWINE (Arnold does some good work here - especially the snow scenes. Newman's work is a little too anonymous for my taste.)
Settings: SP (Rome, Alps, Mexico - all used well and captured beautifully.)
Action: SP (The last time I watched TWINE I was underwhelmed by the action scenes. The PTS was good and the scene in the mine when Brosnan flies through the tunnels on chains was well executed but many of the other scenes especially later in the film lacked real style or intensity. SP has less action but does it better. The PTS and especially the Hinx fight are memorable and have an intensity to them. I'm even warming to the plane chase in the alps the more I watch SP.)
Humor: SP (I liked the lighter tone of SP. TWINE has some good stuff with Zukovsky but it has some tone deaf scenes like R's introduction that really hurt the film.)
Cinematography: SP (Hoytema does a standout job)
Benign Bizarre: TWINE (Renard's bullet affected pain threshold, Elektra's ear and patricide, sex chair torture.)
Suspense: SP (I think both these films lack suspense across the film. SP really falls down in the final third particularly the climax and the total lack of creativity in the escape from blofeld's lair. Comparatively TWINE has a better sustained suspense but individual scenes not quite as strong as SP. The scene when Renard and Bond meet is a very good one with strong narrative and character tension. But SP has great suspense for the first half - scenes like PTS, Mr White, Belluci walking through her house, Spectre meeting being particularly strong in this department, Hinx train fight and even the torture scene - especially on first viewing. So on balance I'll give this SP - but only just.)
Minor Characters: SP (Mr White and Q win this one. Even though I like Zukovsky - but weirdly I find this TWINE performance among my least favourite Judi Dench performance as M. She seems very passive and her delivery a little laboured. I enjoy her reinterpretation in the Craig far more than the Brosnan era - although she's great in Goldeneye.)
Glamour: SP (The train scene alone oozes glamour as does Belluci's house.)
Bond Performance: TWINE (I really enjoy DC in SP. I think he has the tone right. Aiming for Connery cool. If only the rest of the film went with him rather than tipping into gritty, personal story - but I'll give this one to Pierce. I prefer Craig to Pierce in every film - but I think this is Pierce's best Bond performance. He's the most engaged and has real chemistry with Marceau - that is sadly lacking with most of his other leading ladies. He also works very well with Coltrane in this movie.)
SP: 12
TWINE: 6
I admire TWINE's ambitions but I also dislike it for not having the courage of its convictions and bailing out. This could have been Brosnan's tragic love story. I honestly think this is one Bond film that could be obviously fixed with rewrites. Eliminate the Jones character and leave the reveal of Elektra as the true villain until the end. With Bond having fallen hard for her and she could have been Brosnan's Tracy/Vesper. I think SP has a good first half but it has a myriad of flaws in the second half and crucially a dissatisfying climax and epilogue.
One of the best in the series. TWINE's is great but feels a bit overlong - I guess the original intention was to have it go into the titles from the Banker's office which would have been much better.
Title Track: TWINE
Sam Smith's effort is easily the worst Bond song since...ever.
Title Credits: SP
Both aren't close to his best work but SP just nudges ahead of TWINE.
Main Villain: TWINE
Electra makes a great villain. Easily tops Waltz' characterisation of Oubahauser/Blofeld.
Main Bond Girl: SP
Enough has been said about Denise Richards on these forums.
Henchman: SP
Hinx has absolutely no characterisation but he's still far more memorable than anyone in TWINE.
Plot: TWINE
SP's plot wasn't helped by the fact it tried to shoehorn in the rest of Craig's era.
Dialogue: SP
The dialogue is much more memorable in SP.
Score: TWINE
Newman's score is a tired rehash of his SF score, which I wasn't too fond of to begin with.
Settings: SP
The Rome and Austria scenes are absolutely gorgeous...blows TWINE out of the water.
Action: TWINE
The PTS and fight scene on the train are great in SP. However, I feel that overall TWINE has more entertaining action, especially with Arnold's score. The Caviar Factory assault is entertaining if over-the-top but Arnold's score elevates it.
Humor: SP
SP has some genuinely humorous moments.
Cinematography: SP
The cinematography is absolutely gorgeous in SP.
Benign Bizarre: SP
The meeting in Rome is one of the most bizarre and creepy sequences in a Bond film in a long time.
Suspense: SP
The torture scene is very chilling but it's undermined by Bond shrugging off the pain instantly. Seeing Monica Bellucci accepting the same fate as Greene only for Bond to step in at the last second and save her was also a great scene.
Minor Characters: SP
Mr. White alone wins this category for SP. His only scene is chilling, memorable and one of the highlights of the film.
Glamor: TWINE
Bond Performance: SP
Brosnan tries a little too hard in TWINE.
TWINE: 6
SP: 12
Title Track: SP
Title Credits: SP
Main Villain: TWINE
Main Bond Girl: SP
Henchman: SP
Plot: TWINE
Dialogue: SP
Score: SP
Settings: SP
Action: TWINE
Humor: TWINE
Cinematography: SP
Suspense: SP
Minor Characters: SP
Glamor: SP
Bond Performance: TWINE
This is a tough one to judge. I rank them both similarly. Fair decent entries.
SP is a weak movie with good production. TWINE is a good movie with weak production.
SP was probably more entertaining but TWINE was more creative and interesting.
I'll give it to TWINE for now.
PTS: SP
Title Track: TWINE (this one's not even close)
Title Credits: TWINE
Main Villain: TWINE
Main Bond Girl: SP
Henchman: SP
Plot: TWINE
Dialogue: SP
Score: TWINE
Settings: SP
Action: TWINE
Humor: TWINE
Cinematography: TWINE
Suspense: SP
Minor Characters: SP
Glamor: TWINE
Bond Performance: SP
TWINE - 9
SP -8
TWINE narrowly wins, but, honestly, it's a hollow victory. Both films are terrible.
PTS: TWINE (no contest)
Title Track: TWINE (no contest)
Title Credits: TWINE (no contest)
Main Villain: TWINE (no contest)
Main Bond Girl: TWINE (yes, I dig Christmas as a character, genuinely and truly, though Swann is no slouch either)
Henchman: TWINE (Hinx was a good fighter but fairly forgettable, whereas Renard was a well constructed character brought to monstrous life with a dash of pathos by Carlyle)
Plot: TWINE
Dialogue: TWINE (Desmond's beautiful goodbye alone defeats "It was ME, the author of all your pain, James!")
Score: TWINE (some folks have actually opted for SP here...are you freakin' kidding me???)
Settings: TWINE (the use of the Thames and sets like the bunker, the caviar factory, and the submarine far outweigh the barely-there, non-use of Rome and Austria)
Action: TWINE (by a landslide)
Humor: TWINE
Cinematography: TWINE
Benign Bizarre: TWINE
Suspense: TWINE
Minor Characters: TWINE
Glamor: TWINE
Bond Performance: TWINE (I was initially impressed by Craig in SP, but a second viewing cooled that impression, and TWINE is certainly one of Brosnan's best)
TWINE - 18
SP - 0
TWINE wins this round, but only by 18 points. Doesn't quite seem like enough.
You've missed a category
That's why I love TWINE.
Time for Die Another Day
PTS: SP (TWINE's just goes on for too long.)
Title Track: TWINE (Underrated song.)
Title Credits: TWINE
Main Villain: TWINE (I'm counting this as Elektra.)
Main Bond Girl: SP (Ugh, Denise Richards.)
Henchman: SP (Renard is wasted.)
Plot: TWINE
Dialogue: TWINE (Very close, neither are memorable.)
Score: TWINE
Settings: SP
Action: SP
Humor: TWINE (Coltrane has some genuinely funny moments.)
Cinematography: SP
Benign Bizarre: TWINE
Suspense: SP (By a hair.)
Minor Characters: TWINE (I guess?)
Glamour: TWINE
Bond Performance: SP (I honestly flipped a coin for this one.)
TWINE - 10
SP - 8
PTS: SP Craig is Bond, finally
Title Track: TWINE Garbage is great!
Title Credits: SP
Main Villain: SP Renard or Elektra, both awful
Main Bond Girl: SP
Henchman: SP
Plot: SP TWINE has worst plot of all movies
Dialogue: SP
Score: TWINE Arnold is great
Settings: SP
Action: SP
Humor: SP
Cinematography: SP
Benign Bizarre: SP
Suspense: SP TWINE just a bore
Minor Characters: SP
Glamour: SP the 60s feeling is fantastique
Bond Performance: SP Craig in SP is better but both weak overall.
TWINE - 2
SP - 16
TWINE has good music that's it.
PTS: SP
Title Track: SP (it pains me to do it, but it must be done)
Title Credits: DAD
Main Villain: SP
Main Bond Girl: SP
Henchman: SP (Hinx is a bit derivative, but Zao is so generic his character has almost no defining features)
Plot: Tie (I just can't bring myself to give it to either one)
Dialogue: SP (DAD has the most insipid dialogue in the series)
Score: DAD
Settings: SP (many apologies to Ice Palaces: The Movie)
Action: SP (by virtue of being less ridiculous, though the swordfight is great)
Humor: SP
Cinematography: SP (take that, absurd sped-up footage)
Benign Bizarre: DAD (it's certainly got a lot of it)
Suspense: DAD (Bond's imprisonment and release are, in fact, suspenseful)
Minor Characters: SP
Glamour: SP (DAD is too dumb to be properly glamorous)
Bond Performance: DAD (Brosnan does the best he can, and he's excellent dealing with Bond's capture)
SP: 12
DAD: 5
Tie: 1
DAD makes it surprisingly competitive, but the result was never really in doubt. SP nets another win as it moves to the end of the original Bond continuity (or however we want to call it). Let's see your scores!
Title Track: DAD
Title Credits: DAD
Main Villain: SP
Main Bond Girl: SP
Henchman: SP
Plot: SP
Dialogue: SP
Score: SP
Settings: SP
Action: SP
Humor: SP
Cinematography: SP
Benign Bizarre: SP
Suspense: SP
Minor Characters: SP
Glamour: SP
Bond Performance: SP
SP: 16
DAD: 2
Title Track: DAD
Title Credits: TIE
Main Villain: SP
Main Bond Girl: SP
Henchman: SP
Plot: SP
Dialogue: SP
Score: DAD
Settings: TIE
Action: SP
Humor: SP
Cinematography: SP
Benign Bizarre: SP
Suspense: SP
Minor Characters: SP
Glamour: SP
Bond Performance: DAD
SP 12
DAD 3
TIE 3
Title Track: Spectre - I like Writing's on the Wall a little more than Die Another Day. Both are similar because I think the instrumentals are the best part of each song. The overall package is just more suitable for Bond in Spectre.
Title Credits: Die Another Day - I really like the title sequence in Die Another Day as it incorporates the glimpses into Bond's torture during captivity into the fold. It matches the theme song very well too, with the scorpions claws and other elements.
Main Villain: Spectre - I never cared for the whole Colonel Moon / Gustav Graves angle.
Main Bond Girl: Spectre - A genuine character with her own charms. Die Another Day tries to carbon copy Tomorrow Never Dies with less impact from a characterization standpoint.
Henchman: Spectre - Zao is kind of cool and definitely gets his mileage through Die Another Day, but the impact is less noticeable than Hinx in Spectre.
Plot: Spectre - I'll take a generic plot over a ridiculous plot. This has nothing to do with the scheme or weapons, as I voted for Moonraker over Spectre here, but in the execution of the plot. Die Another Day throws things in just to check a box for honoring a prior Bond film.
Dialogue: Spectre - The highs are about the same for both films, but I would say the lows are worse in Die Another Day.
Score: Spectre - Interesting matchup here since both tracks recycle themes from past films. Thomas Newman brings more new sounds into the film than does Arnold here. This is my least favorite Arnold score. I'm a big fan of all his other work.
Settings: Spectre - By location, this one purely goes to Spectre. Die Another Day does a better job of making you feel the sights of where they actually are, though.
Action: Spectre - This is another category with a similar kind of matchup. Both films have really stellar individual action sequences, but some awful ones mixed in between. I'm going with Spectre here because I prefer the hand-to-hand combat slightly more than the sword fight and I find the electric suit and laser sequences to be irredeemable.
Humor: Die Another Day - All of the jokes and quips fit the character. Even during my initial infatuation with Spectre, I thought the humor in it was overstating. Perhaps it just misses for me, but I don't see most of the humor fitting with Craig's Bond. He is perfectly developed into a sarcastic kind of humor that is actually left out more than not compared to past entries.
Cinematography: Spectre - I don't like the way much of Die Another Day is shot. Spectre takes this one handily.
Benign Bizarre: Die Another Day - I really like the car. Apparently, I'm not alone since a team developed an invisible car using practical scientific application of the concept from the film.
Suspense: Die Another Day - I'm going to go with Die Another Day on this one, but it was a confusing plot so some of the suspense is negated.
Minor Characters: Spectre - The supporting characters are good in Die Another Day, but they don't have much to do. The minor characters are much more central to the plot in Spectre. This alone does not confer a positive, but overall they do a good job (only subtraction goes to the MI6 staff over usage in the third act).
Glamor: Spectre - There's some glamor in Die Another Day, but a lot of it is interrupted by unglamorous elements. Spectre has that classic Bond feel injected throughout.
Bond Performance: Die Another Day - This is the title Brosnan tried to add the most to the character. Without the excessive cheese, it would have been much more appreciated. I kind of related Craig's performance in Spectre to the common opinion of Brosnan's other work in that it is casual and pedestrian. The significant difference is that it's my viewpoint that Brosnan's Bond was established to be that character, whereas Craig projected so much more that it makes this feel more hallow in some way.
Spectre: 12
Die Another Day: 6
I'm already looking forward to Casino Royale. Since starting this at Moonraker, it will be the most likely to score an 18-0 out of the films I participated in.
Title Track: DAD
Title Credits: SP
Main Villain: SP
Main Bond Girl: SP
Henchman: SP
Plot: SP
Dialogue: SP
Score: DAD
Settings: SP
Action: DAD
Humor: SP
Cinematography: SP
Benign Bizarre: DAD
Suspense: SP
Minor Characters: DAD
Glamour: DAD
Bond Performance: DAD
DAD 8
SP 10
Title Track: DAD (techno feels truer to Fleming than emo, and less grating on my ears)
Title Credits: DAD
Main Villain: DAD (Toby is at least present and having fun)
Main Bond Girl: SP (were you expecting someone else?)
Henchman: DAD (I've always dug Zao and the concept of his diamond-scarred face)
Plot: DAD (the lesser of two turkeys)
Dialogue: SP (the lesser of two turkeys)
Score: DAD
Settings: DAD
Action: DAD
Humor: SP
Cinematography: DAD (DAD is actually a well framed and colorfully vibrant film)
Benign Bizarre: DAD
Suspense: DAD
Minor Characters: SP
Glamour: DAD
Bond Performance: DAD
DAD 14
SP 4
Title Track: DAD (If SP's was sung by a female I ptobably would have gone with it)
Title Credits: DAD
Main Villain: SP
Main Bond Girl: SP
Henchman: SP
Plot: SP
Dialogue: SP
Score: DAD
Settings: DAD
Action: SP
Humor: DAD
Cinematography: SP
Benign Bizarre: DAD
Suspense: SP
Minor Characters: SP
Glamour: DAD
Bond Performance: DAD
DAD 8
SP 10
Seems close, but I still like SP a good deal more.