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Comments
For me the first hour is classic Bond, especially the scenes in Hamburg. After the halo jump it turns to a generic action film bore. The production values on the stealth ship are poor.....it all looks like its filmed in a studio.
PTS: 'A TERRORIST ARMS BAZAAR NEAR THE RUSSIAN BORDER' is godawful captioning and entirely unnecessary. Things improve rapidly, though, with an excellent action sequence on the ground and in the air, plus tension between MI6 and everyone else back at home. Bond's great strength is improvisation, and when it works out for him it really does work.
The credits get points for relating to the film, with an onslaught of media and technology. The closeup of a CRT TV screen shows its age charmingly. Sheryl Crow's theme is a little weak; k.d. lang takes a much better crack at it over the end credits.
This is a proper Bond plot; it should feel completely ridiculous, but it somehow stays on the right side of believable. All those pressing concerns of the '90s, like mad cow disease, have an air of nostalgia now. For me, the peak of the film is the section in Hamburg, which is a great mix of gritty-spy and fantasy-spy action.
Both Bond girls deliver an excellent performance. Teri Hatcher's Paris has depth, maturity and an air of quiet desperation, and she plays well against Brosnan. I like Michelle Yeoh as Wai Lin a great deal; she looks like she's having as much fun as Brosnan (well, almost - nobody could have quite as much fun as that), and the motorcycle chase is a great favourite of mine. Getting captured and held at gunpoint twice within ten minutes is pretty poor, though.
Villains: The delightfully nuts Elliot Carver is obviously the villain right from the start, and sometimes we need that rather than elaborate guessing games. As someone whose job involves both writing copy and dealing with idiots, I actually have a sneaking sympathy for him. At least until he mocks Wai Lin's martial arts skills, how very dare he. Dr Kaufman, with his '...ja?' verbal tic, is far too funny to be scary, but protégé Stamper makes up for it.
Supporting cast: Ah, lovely Geoffrey Palmer! Or, as my mum recently described him, 'that actor you like, who was in that sitcom with that actress you like' (I have got pretty good at this game over the years). I love seeing him reunited with Judi Dench, and their 'sometimes I wonder if you have the balls for this job' exchange is probably my favourite piece of dialogue in any Bond film.
Meanwhile, back at MI6: Or indeed out of it. M and Moneypenny have a brisk, fun scene in a car, and lucky old Q gets another trip abroad. His Avis jacket might make him look as if he's working at Butlins, but at least he gets a decent scene.
The remote control BMW chase is a favourite stunt of mine; it's really original, and breathes new life into a set piece we see an awful lot of in Bond. I've already mentioned the motorcycling and Bond's theft of a fighter jet (I do love the bit where he steers it with his knees).
I don’t normally pay much attention to the score when I watch films; I reckon if I don’t notice it, it’s doing its job. But I happened to pick up the TND soundtrack in a charity shop a week or two ago, so it was near the forefront of my brain. It works very nicely, particularly in the Hamburg scenes.
Misc
"Good morning, my golden retrievers!" - remember Gus from Drop the Dead Donkey and his "Morning, newshounds"?
Even you, Bond, will not get from Oxford to London in an hour, let alone 30 minutes. (A journey I made often in 1997, but usually by coach, ugh.)
Outdated technology: I suppose I can't really laugh at the mobile phone, since at this point I would not own any sort of mobile for another five years. Carver's wireless keyboard is way ahead of its time.
Whose German accent is most cringeworthy: Kaufman’s, Bond’s, or his car’s?
And finally: I can’t believe they passed up the opportunity to have Bond send Carver to his death with “We’ll always have Paris."
I did, once, meet a man who'd bought one, and who tried to impress me by telling me it had been in a Bond film. Full marks for Bond knowledge, zero marks for taste in bikes, dude.
One final thought. When the bike chase concludes and Bond and Wai Lin are taking a shower, Wai Lin uses her ear ring to remove the handcuffs.
Was she enjoying the awkward bike ride so much that she decided to ignore this handy little tool earlier?
Breezy fun. Not without its problems but I like to think the good stuff outweighs the bad.
Right*^^^^^^^^ love Brosnan in it though
The bike was jostling her around too much to pick the lock. She needed a few moments' stability to accomplish this delicate task.
Employ away. Semicolons are forever; adverbs are a girl's best friend.
**********
I used to have a similar attitude as yours to the scores. Then I signed on here, after 6 months or so my opinion had changed substantially.
**********
They were saving that sort of bad humor for TWINE and "Christmas only comes once a year."
I've always thought of Tomorrow Never Dies as the movie that always seems to fly through; a fast paced movie that I'll always enjoy watching, without it really threatening to make the top ten of my ranking. A lowly 20th the last time I ranked the movies, i feel it might creep up a place or 2 this time.
New Ranking
OHMSS
TSWLM
GF
FRWL
OP
GE
LTK
DN
TLD
LALD
AVTAK
FYEO
MR
TND
TB
YOLT
TMWTGG
DAF
Previous Ranking
1. The Spy Who Loved Me
2. On Her Majesty’s Secret Service
3. Casino Royale
4. From Russia With Love
5. Skyfall
6. Goldfinger
7. Octopussy
8. Spectre
9. Dr No
10. The Living Daylights
11. Goldeneye
12. Live And Let Die
13. Licence To Kill
14. A View To A Kill
15. For Your Eyes Only
16. Moonraker
17. Thunderball
18. Quantum Of Solace
19. Diamonds Are Forever
20. Tomorrow Never Dies
21. You Only Live Twice
22. The Man With The Golden Gun
23. Die Another Day
24. The World Is Not Enough
So, on to the cast. Pierce Brosnan makes his second appearance as 007 and, from the off, you can see how much more confident he is this time around. He settled in nicely in GE and was superb; this time he comes across more confident and is good again. My only issue this time around is that he has to spout out way too many one-lines (however, it will get worse) and innuendos. They suited the Moore era, but not Brosnan's. But, he's good throughout, decent in the fight scenes, looks great, prefer the slightly shorter hair, looks dapper in his naval uniform, which was good to see, all good.
Michelle Yeoh is great as Wai Lin. An oriental beauty with brilliant martial art skills. She is great in any fight scenes she's in and steals the show during the scrap in her base. Decent chemistry alongside Brosnan but not to the extent of Scorupco before her. However, still better than what's to come.
Jonathan Pryce as Elliot Carver is bonkers. He plays the character like Rupert Murdoch high as a kite. He's a true bond villain, a shoutout to the days of the, megalomaniac, Goldfinger. You believe that the man is crazy, wanting world domination, power and Pryce puts all this across in a great manner. I hate Carver's goofy karate skit of Wai Lin.
Gotz Otto as Stamper I am not a big fan of. Big, blond powerhouse along the lines of Grant and Necros, but not as memorable as any of them.
Teri Hatcher as Paris Carver - oh I wish we had seen more of her. I'm a fan of Hatcher from her Lois And Clark days and I think she plays the part of the kept but, ultimately, doomed wife / former Bond squeeze, very well. I was very happy to see her cast in this movie being a fan. Plus, she is a stunner.
Jack Wade - I want that shirt as well, haha. I like Joe Don Baker as Wade and, again, he's good, light fun here. He's Leiter-lite but he adds some nice fun to the movie.
Vincent Schiavelli - short scene but one of the more memorable for me. Very tense and Brozzer and Schiavelli both shine. Bonds escape was obvious, but his assassination of Kauffman is excellent.
Judi Dench / Geoffrey Palmer - Superb chemistry but no need for the balls comment from M. M should not be involved in an innuendo games during any Bond movie. It does get worse with her "pump her for information" line.
The Q scene was fine but I do prefer those in the lab. However, Llewelly was as wonderful as always. The scene with Wai Lin, in her "office", Bond messing with her gadgets (no pun intended) felt more like a Q lab scene in this movie.
Ricky Jay is suitably sleazy as Gupta and doesn't get the recognition he deserves.
Now, on to the classic Bond elements. First up, the gun barrel was certainly improvement on the GE one. Brosnan has the same, cool, walk and turn to shoot but, this time, we get a more traditional version of the Bond theme. The music elevates the gun barrel.
Some good locations on show here, however, as I have seen mentioned before, it's difficult due to stand in locations. However, they all look good, Kowloon Bay especially.
The new mobile phone is the main gadget of choice here, along with Bond's new BMW. The phone certainly has it's use, from opening a lock to fingerprint scanner to remote control for the car. How dated does that phone look now though? However, with the rumored return of the Nokia 3310, maybe not.
Some good action scenes during the movie, all coming thick and fast. The remote control car chase - it's good to a point, certainly a car chase with a difference and set in the car park. However, Natalya was correct in GE that it's "boys with toys" as Bond shows too much enjoyment of using the remote. And no concern of danger to the public? no, just a smile as it crashes in to the shop.
The pts - i do like it. It's a fully, action packed start to a fast paced Bond movie. However, despite my enjoyment of it, it does come across as something we have seen before, but in the classic 80's action movies of, say, Arnie, Sly etc. A one man army taking all down. Bond here = Commando. To be fair though, I'm a big fan of those movies so it isn't something I worry about too much.
The fight during Carver's presentation is the best of the movie. Again, it's a fight that takes place in a confined area and that is where the fights within Bond movies excel, whether it's an interrogation room, train carriage etc.
Throw in the motorcycle chase, the finale, the scene in Wai Lin's base and there is plenty of action for anyone to enjoy.
The plot is, certainly, credible enough and indicative of the 90's. The scheme of the villain - media mogul wants to start a war, world domination, power etc. - anyone else thinking Rupert Murdoch???
Production notes - the movie is directed well by Roger Spottiswoode and he puts forward a decent fast paced action movie, that has plenty of the classic Bond elements, along with some nice homages to past adventures.
Another solid opening title sequence, certainly moved well away from those of the 80's. It's not up to the standard of GE but it certainly fits the movie very well.
The script - most of it is probably fine but the use of sexual innuendos and one-liners is starting to get worse here. However, as much as the one-liners in the Brosnan movies can be weak, I have to say that his "They'll print anything these days" is a triumph.
The film is shot very well and there are some great shots along the way.
The music is good, I think Arnold does a good job throughout. The Sheryl Crow track is a little dull, for me, but seems to fit the title sequence ok.
Everyone looks good throughout, Brosnan in particular always looks great, especially when we see him in his naval uniform. Pryce looks every inch the Bond villain in his gear. Good job.
The main sets of note are Carver's stealth ship and his HQ in Hamburg. Both are ok but nothing spectacular when we have seen the splendor that has been brought to the movies by Sir Ken Adam. Average fair, here.
Few other production things -
Couple of pieces of work in the movie that I'm not keen on:
When Bond uses the remote control car for the first time, in the presence of Q, he brings it to a stop right in front of them both. However, no matter what, it is too plainly obvious that the car is nowhere near them. A poor piece of work
Another piece of work I'm not keen on is during the banner escape, as the banner tears whiole they drop, when it shows up on screen it looks very much like stop motion effects. Surely in 1997 this could have looked a lot better. It is a great idea for their escape.
Final notes -
Similar feel to FRWL with the battle for the encoder; similar to the wanting of the Lektor.
Bond searching the office for the encoder - it's a scene similar to the one we see in Gumbold's office in OHMSS (Even the dirty mags). It doesn't match up to that of OHMSS but it's a scene I like. Bond sat down looking around before clocking the picture/safe is a little thing that I think is well done.
Why the hell does Brosnan keep biting his conquests on the shoulder (well, Bergstron and Paris anyway)?
No need for Bond to kiss Paris when she is dead. Something that becomes all too familiar...............along with the underwater damsel in distress.
Didn't Bond have a first in Oriental languages? Therefore, shouldn't he have had no problem in using Wai Lin's keyboard?
Anyway, that's all, I'll try and watch TWINE tomorrow and get all caught up. Cheers.
Thank you kindly. Haha, of course, the hair sniffing, how could I forget that?
First of all, I want to just say it: this is a weak, generic title. The film would have been more memorable if marketed with the original title of “License Revoked.”
As much as I’ve appreciated the films that took bit & pieces of unused Fleming and woven them into new Bond storylines (as in FYEO and TLD) you would think I’d have liked this movie more than is currently the case. In past viewings I’ve greatly enjoyed it. This time around, I liked it -- but not as much as I wanted to.
Dalton still gives a great performance as James Bond. He doesn’t do one-liners well…but he is quite capable of showing a lighter side, such as with the wide grin on his face when he takes over Krest’s seaplane full of money and flies away with dollar bills whipping wildly around in the plane.
Robert Davi and Benicio Del Toro are just awesome as Sanchez and Dario. Two of the most realistically scary villains ever seen in a any Bond film since, well, ever. If anything, their realism --and the overall real-world quality of this film-- may be the film’s biggest stumbling block when all is said and done. I’ll come back to this point later…
Talisa Soto is one of the most beautiful women ever to appear in a Bond film…and sadly, her performance as an actress is spotty to say the least. I can believe her as an abused woman who is unwilling to openly turn against her abuser -- but nobody can believe her when she claims “I love James SO MUCH!” Carey Lowell fits easily if unremarkably into the second tier of Bond ladies. She’s not especially gorgeous (but certainly not unattractive) -- and her character isn’t particularly memorable nor entirely annoying. I’ll take her over Stacey (“Jaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaames!”) Sutton any day, but she doesn’t hold a candle to Honey Rider or Pussy Galore. I’d put her about at the level of Dr. Holly Goodhead -- which isn’t saying much. Part of her annoyance factor is her insistence on being Bond’s equal. “Why can’t YOU be MY executive secretary?” Oh, come on -- you’re just being silly here. Granted, Bond does spend too much time trying to send his allies out of the battle in this film -- but after what happened to Felix and Della, his concern is entirely understandable. Which brings us to…
Desmond Llewellyn, who has a much larger part than usual here, and he rises to the occasion brilliantly. Long gone is the complaining curmudgeon who finds going out into the field himself “highly irregular” -- in this film, Q is one of the story’s many high points (and yes, despite my various misgivings LTK does indeed them.) Robert Brown also has his best outing ever as M, with his insistence that “This isn’t a country club, 007!” Carolyn Bliss, unfortunately, never impressed me (or anyone else, evidently) as Miss Monneypenny in her few short outings as the overworked and under-appreciated character. Sorry, Miss Bliss.
Milton Krest is appropriately creepy and we’re happy to see him go even if his means of disposal does make some of us a bit squeamish. Everett McGill as Killifer…I’m sorry, but this actor gets to bear the brunt of one of the film’s worst failings to my eyes: too often, this film becomes an episode of a TV series blown up for the big screen. Some have faulted it as resembling an episode of Miami Vice on steroids. Well, I didn’t watch Miami Vice back in the day so I can’t speak to that issue. Nor did I watch the various series that Ms.Lowell or Mr. Davi both appeared on back in the day, so they get off scott free in my eyes. But Everett McGill? Every time Killifer appears on the screen, a little part of my brain screams, “Big Ed! What are you doing so far from Twin Peaks?” -- and it just takes me out of the bubble of acceptance that a storyline like the Bond series requires.
And then we have Wayne Newton as Professor Joe Butcher. Bless his heart. I don’t believe this character for a minute, not a single facet of him I don’t believe that any big league drug operation needs to use a cover like his TV evangelist shtick to announce current prices to their local sales staff. I don’t believe his stone meditation chapel would burst conveniently into flames at the drop of a single Bunsen burner. And I don’t believe the film wouldn’t have been significantly improved if his character had just been excised in an early draft.
I was very happy to see David Hedison return as Felix Leiter. Obviously, the eventual use of Fleming’s plot device wherein Leiter has an encounter with “something that ate him,” was well served by having a previous incarnation of that character receive Leiter’s correct literary fate. Sharkey, too, is a well-written and charming character, reminiscent of Quarrel in the original Fleming novels. To those who think that Felix is a little too happy in his final scene from his hospital bed, I’d suggest that they try taking a whole lot of professionally prescribed pain medications and see just exactly how chipper they can become. I give this point a pass.
Which brings us to the main downfall of this film: the well-intentioned but ultimately unsuccessful attempt at making a (somewhat) realistic tale set in the Bond universe. While I don’t require a world-domination attempt in every Bond film, I do want to see something that takes me out of the humdrum, workaday, just-exactly life-sized world. And despite some really great action scenes -- Bond lassoing a plane in flight, Bond engaging in a chase scene featuring tankers filled with gasoline that explode or crush other cars or rear up on one side to evade stinger missiles in flight -- life-sized is pretty much what we got this time around. Bond’s friend is maimed on his wedding night, and his wife killed, by a big-time drug dealer. Bond takes the drug dealer down and gets his revenge despite the toll it takes on his career and the people who get involved in Bond’s vendetta. That’s it, the end. While this film does indeed have many, many strong elements to it, and a few complicating sideline plots just to pad out the running time, in the end it’s just not enough. Some people have complained about the over-the-top violence in this film, others have criticized it for being a little too much like a standard-issue cop TV show -- for me, despite the many strong elements that I have praised here, bottom line: this offering just isn’t special enough to meet the standards that a true James Bond movie should meet. Wait until next time, I guess.
What’s that you say? It’s going to be about 6 years until next time? Hm. Maybe I should re-watch this one with a more forgiving eye…
1) Goldfinger
2) From Russia With Love
3) On Her Majesty’s Secret Service
4) The Spy Who Loved Me
5) The Living Daylights
6) Thunderball
7) Dr. No
8) For Your Eyes Only
9) You Only Live Twice
10) Octopussy
11) License to Kill
12) Live And Let Die
13) A View to a Kill
14) DiamondsAre Forever
15) Moonraker
16) The Man With the Golden Gun
I am adopting this as my new personal motto.
I can't really recall my initial thoughts when I saw this at it's time of release. I know I wondered why there was no hint of Christmas anywhere, considering the film was set in real time as the new Millennium dawned. Many scenes were set in Muslim countries of course, but there was a lot going on in London and Scotland without any suggestion of Christmas.
At least in On Her Majesty's Secret Service we had a true sense of the time of year.
Anyway, possibly a minor point. Time to decipher my notes and get stuck into Mr Brosnan and Co.
I have in the past always held reservations about Pierce's performance in this film. He seemed at times to adopt the slightly mannered, deliberately classical approach usually associated with the likes of...oh I don't know..Timothy Dalton?
But time has mellowed me. In this film Bond is a man who struggles to accept the truth of what is blatantly in front of his eyes, he then comes to the correct conclusion (that Elektra is the villain), then has doubts again before finally putting two and two together.
The story isn't dynamic, or at last isn't told in a dynamic manner, but it's an interesting premise. Stockholm Syndrome is the basis for everything here and it's a perfect leverage for a Bond story, even if it isn't always delivered to our total satisfaction.
Brosnan carries things well, only occasionally over egging the pudding (is that the term?)
Everyone picks on his scene with Marceau where he confronts her
'Isn't that what you said? There's no point in LIVING if you can't feel ALIVE?'
And yes he should have held back a little.
Earlier his 'Huh?' when Renard delivers the same sound bite is slightly risible.
But he is good in his scenes with Judi Dench, Sophie Marceau and Robbie Coltraine.
He even gets a couple of one liners bang on. When Christmas proclaims that someone 'is going to have my ass' his reply of 'First things first' is perfectly on the money.
And who else but Bond would sleep with his doctor in order to get a clean bill of health?
Sophie Marceau is gorgeous of course. Does she give us enough of a layered, complex character though? Is her past explored enough? I'm not wholly convinced, but the subtle shift from cold, business-like victim Elektra King to cold, business-like villain Elektra King is good.
Robert Carlyle as Renard. The Anarchist.
Just a sad washed up terrorist, a lap dog for Elektra to manipulate. I feel a larger than life actor, some big imposing personality would have worked better.
Denise Richards Dr Christmas Jones (Bond gets to sleep with TWO lovely doctors in this one, following on from his Professer in Tomorrow Never Dies. He clearly sees some value in bedding Professionals).
She's a cute as a button, fluent Russian speaking nuclear scientist who dresses like Lara Croft and is apparently immune to the charms of men whilst shoving her ample cleavage in Bond's face. Won't be long now James, won't be long.
I have no issues with her at all, even when she stands around in scenes where she has no dialogue and forgets to keep acting. It just makes me smile in a paternal kind of way.
Robbie Coltrane is back, and hooray for that. Zukovsky is a fine character, and since his attitude towards Bond has clearly mellowed he is turned into more of a roguish, likeable good guy as opposed to GoldenEye's roguish likeable bad guy.
Judi Dench as M is outstanding, as she always is. She gives depth to the dramatic scenes, and subtlety to the more amusing moments.
When Elektra says, of Bond, 'He left my villa in the middle of the night' the slightest exchange of looks between M and Tanner really is very funny.
And when she says 'He's the best we have, although I never tell him' it's a beautiful and revealing moment poignantly bringing her true feelings to the fore.
In an early scene where she talks about Robert King and says 'We read law together at Oxford. I always knew he would conquer the world' She delivers the line in such a way that you are quite free to read between the lines about what else the pair may have got up to in Oxford. A clever piece of acting.
Ulrich Thomsen is Davidov who works for Elektra, but we think he is working for Renard, but he is really working for Elektra.
Goldie is Mr Bullion (they should have spent more time coming up with a better name) the cowardly sidekick who we think is working for Zukovsky but is really working for Elektra.
And Maria Cucinotta is the unnamed assassin who we think is a Swiss bankers PA, but is really working....oh forget it.
All functional.
Final word to the actor I always overlook. Desmond Llewellyn.
His exit, meant to be a farewell to the character turned in to a farewell to the actor. He always came along, did his lines, hit his marks and huffed and puffed at 007's antics whilst always hiding a fatherly concern for the his wayward 'son'.
Only age got the better of Desmond, otherwise the producers rightly saw no reason on this good Earth to replace him. In real life he was always a great Ambassador for the franchise, and now his place at the forefront of 007 history is as assured as Connery or Moore.
His impact over about 30 minutes of screen time is nothing short of miraculous.
God bless the great Desmond Llewellyn.
I love the face Bond pulls when he is handed this absolute gift of a straight line, and pauses briefly to savour it before delivering. He does the same in the Swiss bank when he's invited to examine the figures.
So, the Millennium Bond movie. Released towards the end of 1999, coinciding with the turn of the millennium etc. I remember the fanfare leading up to the release of this movie and I was always gonna visit the cinema to watch it, as I had done with all Bond movies since TLD. I was so excited and thought, because of the whole Millennium thing, that this was going to a Bond Movie Plus. To be fair, at the time, I was not disappointed. The pts, in particular, living up to that easily. And the pts was always going to finish, or include, the Millennium Done wasn't it? I was chuffed that Robert Carlyle as appearing and, at the time, I was very impressed that John Cleeese was appearing. It has so much going for it and I came out of the cinema in a big high as, at the time, I thought I had just watched the best Bond movie in a while. Pretty much the same as any other find I've seen Bond at the cinema.
Fast forward 17-18 years and, for me, time hasn't been too kind to this movie. I do feel there are a few soap opera moments there, half expecting Susan Lucci to appear at points, it's fast paced but some scenes just don't hit the mark nowadays. Sane with some of the performances on show.
But, despite any misgivings, I did enjoy this showing more that I have done previously. Currently standing at the bottom of my rankings, I feel a place or two higher may well be in order. Therefore:
New Ranking
OHMSS
TSWLM
GF
FRWL
OP
GE
LTK
DN
TLD
LALD
AVTAK
FYEO
MR
TND
TB
YOLT
TMWTGG
TWINE
DAF
Previous Ranking
1. The Spy Who Loved Me
2. On Her Majesty’s Secret Service
3. Casino Royale
4. From Russia With Love
5. Skyfall
6. Goldfinger
7. Octopussy
8. Spectre
9. Dr No
10. The Living Daylights
11. Goldeneye
12. Live And Let Die
13. Licence To Kill
14. A View To A Kill
15. For Your Eyes Only
16. Moonraker
17. Thunderball
18. Quantum Of Solace
19. Diamonds Are Forever
20. Tomorrow Never Dies
21. You Only Live Twice
22. The Man With The Golden Gun
23. Die Another Day
24. The World Is Not Enough
On to the cast and performances. Pierce Brosnan in his 3rd appearance as 007 puts in a good performance here. This time Bond is slightly darker than in his first 2 movies and he's a more seasoned professional. The one liners are kept to a minimum this time around (saving them for next weeks movie I guess) and the ones he does take on are all decent. More of a return to how Moore put them across. Much better. Brosnan is good in the action and the fight scenes. He's a tough cookie, extremely confident in the role.
Sophie Marceau, for me, outshines Brozzer in this movie. You believe how the kidnapping affected, her affection for Bond, then BANG, that turn of character to the villain of the piece is quite superb. She has great chemistry with Brosnan and Carlyle and is great with Dench too. Her death scene is very powerful and a shining moment of this movie (as awful as that sounds). She really didn't think he would do it did she? That scene is, however, spoilt by Bond's need to kiss another corpse (that should have been title of his next Bond, it was getting a regular occurrence). I always found it odd that Bond seemed smitten with her, despite never having met her. Touching the screen (her tear) when on the computer, for me, was a strange moment for 007, he didn't know the woman really, never met her etc. To be fair, she is a very attractive woman and it'd be difficult not to be attracted to her.
Robert Carlyle is, despite getting the final fight with Bond, the henchman to Marceau's villain. Second one on the trot to feel no pain etc as he's slowly dying anyway, Carlyle is a decent henchman. He's an actor I like and he doesnt disappoint here. Bit of a poor death scene for him though.
Very good to see Robbie Coltrane back as Zukovsky, a character I can't help but like. A loveable rogue. Coltrane is great again. I really enjoyed his final scene, turning his cane gun on Bond, helping him escape the clutches of Elektra. A fitting finale for him.
Denise Richards. Eye candy, nothing more. It was mentioned before about her being dressed as Lara Croft, something I picked up on as well. I got the feeling the only reason she was cast was because of her figure as it was used numerous times during the movie. When we first meet her, at Zukovsky's caviar factory and during some serious wet t-shirt scenes during the finale. Her delivery during that scene was plain awful, as was most of her performance overall.
Judi Dench is, once again, excellent as M, putting in some great stuff during her scenes. She is much more prominent here, getting herself kidnapped, with Bond out to rescue her. Some great scenes with Bond and Elektra. Definitely some sort of history with Sir Robert King. One thing I will say is that I very much doubt that Bernard Lee's M would have been captured so easily.
Maria Grazia Cucinotta didn't have enough time to make a massive impact, despite looking splendid in the Bilbao scene.
John Cleeese as "R" kind of annoys me I'm afraid. I know he's there as comic relief but I just didn't find it funny. He just played Basil Fawlty.
Finally, the most poignant appearance of them all. The wonderful Desmond Llewellyn. He delivered his lines so well and at one point he seems to genuinely laugh at Bonds "If you're Q, does that make him R?" line. Can't ever say anything bad about this guy, such a wonderful actor and character from the Bond series. I was gutted that this was his last movie and saddened at his passing.
Yes, you're correct. My error, apologies. Still, the need to stroke her hair etc, similar to that with Paris in TND.
Goldeneye
After a hiatus of 6 years, everyone involved with Eon Productions had to know that bringing 007 back to the silver screen would have to be done just right. Anything less than a superlative Bond outing would be an immense disappointment to the film-going public. So everyone involved dug deep -- and they came up with a classic.
Pierce Brosnan was finally awarded the role he’d been longing to play all his life, and he delivered a performance that calmly, coolly, and yet passionately stated that he was indeed Bond…James Bond. If I were pressed to find a flaw with Brosnan’s interpretation of 007, I’d suggest that his could be considered a “Greatest Hits” Bond -- composed of a large portion of Connery’s definitive performance as the world’s most famous secret agent, embellished with significant amounts of Roger’s Moore’s roguish twinkle and occasional hints of Timothy Dalton’s moody introspection. Some might go so far as to claim that Brosnan brings nothing of himself to the role, but I must disagree: Judy Dench’s M puts her finger on Pierce’s contribution in their initial scene together: his boyish charm. Connery was never less than an adult in the role of Bond, Moore may have been admonished to “grow up, 007” a dozen times by Q but he too never appeared to be less than a mischievous adult. Pierce sometimes appears to be a kid on Christmas Day, beaming with wonderment at all the toys he gets to play with. His is a Bond that is perfect for his times and he really needs to get a lot more respect from some quarters around here for the job he did as 007 while the 20th Century drew to a close.
Judy Dench is a powerful new M, causing Brosnan to reiterate over and over that he has “no problems with female authority” even while she castigates him as being a “sexist, misogynist dinosaur.” While later films might have tended to overuse this noted actress, this particular outing gives her about the same amount of screen time as Bernard Lee might have gotten, and she uses it very well. Desmond Llewellyn is back in his usual form as Q, perhaps a little fonder of Brosnan’s Bond than he had been of Connery’s or Moore’s; and Samantha Bond is a welcome new Moneypenny, a bit more willing to call Bond on his essentially empty flirtations than Caroline Bliss ever would have been. Michael Kitchen is a very good Bill Tanner as well -- one wishes he’d been able to carry that part forward rather than having to pass it on.
But the real stars of this film (aside from Brosnan himself, of course) are Sean Bean as Alec Trevelyan; Izabella Scorupco as Natalya, our primary romantic interest; and Famke Janssen as the deliriously over-the-top Xenia Onatopp. Xenia is clearly the most outrageous femme fatale ever. Fiona Volpe is just a saucer of sweetness & light compared to Xenia, who squeezes men to death between her thighs while in the depths of coitus, and who seems to be having an orgasm while machine-gunning down dozen of Severnaya technicians. Sean Bean is a match for 007 in a fashion that no other Bond villain has ever managed: he was 006, Bond’s comrade-in-arms a decade or so ago, and his knowledge of Bond’s habits and practices is thorough. The best Bond villains always somehow manage to make the clash of opposing viewpoints something personal, and it’s never been more personal than between 007 and the one-time 006.
Most Bond girls are first presented to the audience when they are first presented to 007. Not so with Natalya, who we meet as a programmer at the Severnaya Goldeneye facility just before Trevelyan and Xenia steal the key to the Goldeneye satellites. This is a very canny move on the part of the film-makers: by the time Bond finally meets up with Natalya, the audience has already formed a real emotional link with her. We like her spunk, her intelligence, her humor. She gets to Bond on a level that most of his women can’t: she recognizes that his penchant for the destruction of various forms of motor vehicles is just a manifestation of his own self-destructive nature. She also recognizes his need to keep an emotional distance between himself and even his closest allies. I’ll rate Natalya somewhere in the top third of her class, not quite at the Honey Rider level but way above the likes of Dr. Goodhead or Mary Goodnight.
Every now and then the folks at Eon will recast an actor who played one part in a previous move as a different character in another film. My perception is that this is generally their way of saying, “Y’know, we didn’t get quite enough of you onscreen last time around, let’s try it again a little differently this time.” So it was with Charles Gray as Henderson in YOLT before being cast as Blofeld in DAF…and so it is again for Joe Don Baker -- less than entirely right as Whitaker in TLD, he seems far more appropriately cast as CIA agent Jack Wade, humorous foil to James Bond’s stiff-assed Brit. But the standout success as a secondary character in this film is Robbie Coltraine as Valentin Zukovsky. He totally steals his short scene with Bond, and was once again a stand-out returning as Zukovsky a few brief films later. I’d much rather have a Valentin Zukovsky action figure in my Bond collection than a J.W. Pepper one...or even a Jaws. How about you?
This movie is just filled with cool, fun characters. Boris is “Invincible!!!” and General Ourumov is an entirely believable evil Russian General. Even Defense Minister Mishkin, brief though his part is, gets enough time to demonstrate how to perform an effectively sinister interrogation. The action pieces in this film are really memorable, from the bungee jump off a Russian dam to the tank chase through the streets of St. Petersburg. Okay, maybe the plot is an obvious mixture of Goldfinger and You Only Live Twice, but those were long enough ago that I don’t mind the duplication. Bottom line: I loved this movie when it was first released and I love it just as much on each subsequent viewing. Bond was back in a big way with this film, and once again, nobody did it better.
MY CURRENT STANDINGS
1) Goldfinger
2) From Russia With Love
3) On Her Majesty’s Secret Service
4) Goldeneye
5) The Spy Who Loved Me
6) The Living Daylights
7) Thunderball
8) Dr. No
9) For Your Eyes Only
10) You Only Live Twice
11) Octopussy
12) License to Kill
13) Live And Let Die
14) A View to a Kill
15) DiamondsAre Forever
16) Moonraker
17) The Man With the Golden Gun
The pre title sequence, originally intended to end with Bond escaping from the Swiss bank, was extended to include the boat chase on the Thames after it was decided to give the opener a little more punch. As a result the PTS lasts a good 15 minutes.
And of course it's brim full of stunts, jokes, drama and... the Millennium Dome.
In fact the film almost struggles to recover from this epic mini-movie.
But why was the cigar girl outside MI6, on the Thames? There was no guarantee Bond would appear in full view for her to take a shot? And if she wasn't there to shoot him, why was she there? The job was done, King was dead.
Bond pursues her in Q's retirement boat (only Q would retire and have a boat armed with rocket launchers) and the chase ends with Bond hanging from the Millennium Dome - a terrific image that fades into the titles.
We get some lovely scenery in Bilbao, Scotland and London, but then it's off to all 'the romantic hotspots' as Bond calls them as he pursues Renard, but the ornate splendour of some of the interiors more than compensates.
I didn't feel that some of the photography particularly captured the flavours of those cities and countries.
The film is drenched in brown, gold and blue. None of the vibrancy of colour we have seen in some past Bond films, but certainly in keeping with the themes of the film.
Bond gets to play with another gadget laden wrist watch.
There are about 6 main action sequences, well paced and generally well made. Sometimes they fall a little flat - the ski chase barely gets going despite Arnold's pulsating music.
I enjoyed the pipeline sequence, and the theft of the bomb scene where Bond meets Renard.
The caviar factory scene is saved by some amusing moments. Zukovsky's reaction to seeing Christmas Jones is funny, and the moment Bond bursts out of a trap door causing a bad guy to summersault over it and into the vacated hole is nicely choreographed, and all the funnier for that.
Best of all Zukovsky's voice ringing out into the night 'Well at least we have four good walls' only for the whole thing to collapse inwards is a great ending to the scene.
Speaking of the humour, we get a good old fashioned Roger Moore ending as Bond lies atop Dr Jones, and everyone except M seems to realise what is happening.
Points off for the Christmas joke which follows.
The plot was yet another re-working of Goldfinger with Elektra increasing the value of her oil by eliminating the competition.
However there were some nice touches. It's too long ago to remember if I figured Elektra was the villain, but the Stockholm Syndrome angle was good, and I liked the furtive purchase of a submarine via Zukovsky's casino.
Renard's character was never properly explored; we had a few moments where we see that he feels no physical pain but I guess we have to surmise that he feels a great deal of emotional pain as Elektra teases him and even mentally tortures him (unnecessarily?). Maybe the film could have ended better and explored this aspect of the character more.
The plot became a little convoluted at times, but it made sense and played out well.
All in all it's a film I have grown to enjoy. It's never going to be the most exciting or rewarding of Bond films, but it's earnest enough and well meaning enough to be accepted as one of those middling Bond films that ticks the right boxes without ever threatening to break new ground.
I haven t seen it, is it a dead person?
The gun barrel is fine visually. The walk of Brosnan is very confident, very cool and the turn and shot is great. Not a fan of the music that accompanies it, I prefer a more traditional version of the Bond theme.
Even though the pts does fit with the movie, it's almost like a James Bond short movie, clocking in at around 14-15 minutes. I like it for the most part, fully action packed, nice locations and decent shots. I do feel that it could have finished after the Bilbao scene and his escape out of the window, carrying on after the title track. However, this was the millennium Bond and, therefore, it seems they needed to make it more and, obviously, get the Millennium Dome in there too. The boat chase is mostly ok but not a fan of it on the streets, almost an homage to the gondola scene in MR.
I do like the little touch when Bond sends the boat to dive and the adjustment of the tie. Very cool and very fitting in a Brosnan Bond flick.
As I said, the pts shows us some very nice locations, after that we are off to Eastern Europe. They fit the movie very well and look as I would expect them too.
Plenty of action in this movie but I think we see the best of it during the pts. I'm not a fan of the sequence at Zukovsky's caviar factory, some of it seems to have been played for laughs, especially the end when the walls collapse. The fight scenes are ok, one of Brozzer's strong points but the finale fight with Renard is a bit of a let down really, not a fitting fight to end the movie. Again, it's a fight that takes place in a confined space and I remember saying last time, with TND, that the best fights taken place is small spaces. Not true for this one I'm afraid, felt like we'd seen this all before.
The humour is actually kept down a little here, while we do have some of the one-liners ("well rounded" etc.), they are not as offensive as some that we have seen before in Brosnan's tenure. I guess they were saving them all for the next movie. John Cleese, an actor and comedian I admire, is there purely for laughs but these fall flat here. Coltrane brings the best humour to this movie, for me, Zukovsky is a great character and was good to see him back. The less said about the "I thought Christmas only comes once a year" the better. Maybe they were teasing us with what's to come next as straight after that line "James Bond will return" pops up on screen.
The plot is as credible as any other in the Bond series. This time, again, it seems to be about greed, similar to GF and AVTAK. Here though, we do have a little revenge story, Elektra wanting to get to M etc. It's all ok but something we have seen before and will again.
This is the kind of stuff I never really caught on to as a kid, that I can't unsee now as an adult. Same with that damn pain face: once someone mentioned it, I can't unsee it, no matter how hard I try.
Falling behind, but I will have my TND analysis/TWINE general thoughts up by today.