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Comments
Agree with all of this.
For CR it worked, though no reason to do the same for QOS, but then to have it at the end was just pointless.
DAD, didn't bother me as it has some, but please let's have the gun barrel at the start of SF.
Well there is a reason..... It has us all talking about it!!!?
Good or bad, it's there and it is a GB after all!!!! Granted a little late and a tad to quick, I'm sure DC & co will do us proud on SkyFall..!!!?
;)
<font color=blue size=7><b>The invisible car in DAD isn't all that bad.</b></font>
And I'm not even joking here - its the single most embarassing and poorly judged decision in the history of the series. Closely followed by the parasurfing CGI and Jinx.
There is simply no defence for this whatsoever. Bond tech is supposed to be 5 mins in the future - yet we're 10 years on and this is the best theyve managed to do:
And its still rubbish compared to what DAD pretends as credible.
Having said that if you suspend disbelief (a big ask) its one the less embarassinly executed elements of the film.
Lazenby was young and somewhat a flash harry, but he played his part in one of the best in the series...!?
And that film would not be "that film" without him & most of all Peter Hunt & co!!!
As for the car in DAD, it was to far!! But some how suited PB's over the top Bond hamming up in that poorer Bond film, along with that CGI moment!! #-o
Err well seeing as he went on a space shuttle which I think youll find was actually built and was supposed to launch before MR that is pretty much using technology 5 mins into the future. Theres a suspension of disbelief necessary that Drax can send up so many and the US has one waiting to go on the launch pad but thats well within the allowable parameters of 'its just a film'.
The invisible car crosses the line and is emabarrassing way beyond anything in MR (and I'm including the pigeon in that).
In any event your logic is deeply flawed. 'The MR space battle was over the top and contravenes the laws of physics on numerous occasions' is hardly a valid defence that DADs invisible car is not an embarrasment. I'd agree that the final MR battle goes too far but how in any way does this vindicate the atrocities of DAD?
Thats like saying in court 'Yeah I murdered 15 women but so did Peter Sutcliffe.' Youre still going down I'm afraid.
The invisible car was a bit of fun and was not the cause for failure for DAD, it financially never was. DAD was like MR a 007 tale stretched to its limit of possibility, and both get a lot of flak. Neither which is right imho.
The worst thing that happened to the series is starting a movie that wasn't ready for production, did not even have a "finished" script and there was no script doctor around to clean it up. This was attempted to be hidden by some arty-farty direction and camera work. It could have been so much better in the hands of a decent action director. ANd yet there is a need to point at DAD.
I agree that the boat chase in QOS is a shambles (as are most of the action scenes in the film) but that is due to poor execution (due to the director, the editing and the rushed script). There is a huge difference between poor execution and a poor concept - which is what the invisible car is.
The actual execution of the invisible car isnt badly done, its just the original idea which stinks in the first place.
Similarly the parasurfing on the tsunami is an epic concept which if filmed for real would be probably the best stunt in the series. The fact that it was impossible to film for real though meant it shouldve been scrapped instead of carrying on regardless with 1940s special effects.
And I fail to see how cringing into your cinema seat scared that someone can tell you are a Bond fan whilst the rest of the audience openly laughs counts as 'a bit of fun' as you call it.
I believed that Bond Begins ended with CR. So the real problem could be my interpretation or the story of QOS if it stills is an origins chapter.
The invisible car... it's not the worst thing of DAD but it's pretty stupid. It's not the main reason for its failure but neither it helped to improve the movie.
Frankly, you barely notice it.
Well I don't believe that was the case, the script was there and it was being polished as production commenced!! Marc Forster and his crew had prepped just about all and everything and filming started, the writers strike came along and that meant NP,RB & most of all Paul Haggis could not touch the screenplay at all!!
So this is where the holes began to appear in the production, but hay!!!!! Its still a good romp of a Bond movie and along with MF "arty-farty" direction it hits many spots for me!?
Love the Tosca part, and following gun fight!!
No its a good-ish film and sits well in the series, better than DAD I believe!! ;)
Regarding your comments on QoS - exactamondo.
Slightly less hectic editing and it would have been a very tidy little film. Even as it stands, it's not bad at all.
I'm going to wait for Wizard to pounce. :-S
One thing though, when Bond is following the goons in Iceland, why can't they hear the reving of the engine? The car may be invisible but he's only a few feet behind them.
I knew this would be heated ;)
Fear not - youre absolutely right. The parasurfing is, remarkably, more embarassing than the invisible car. The moment John Cleese came on with it I thought I could not be more ashamed to be a Bond fan but hey presto - EON managed to surpass it about half an hour later.
Add to these two epic shark jumps Madonna, Jinx, a last half hour composed entirely of CGI, Jinx, a Robocop suit that shoots out elecricity like the Emperor in ROTJ, Jinx, Mr Kil and Jinx and is it any wonder DAD ended up such an abortion of a film?
And to think the other day I got into a right slanging match on another thread who propsed the ludicrous hypothesis that DAD was better than OHMSS. Yes you read that right - such people do exist. It takes all sorts I suppose but really
Oh, and Brozza hiding behind it when it's invisible. Sigh.
http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_kxF371gMSro/SQ0TLKzGZ3I/AAAAAAAAFG0/0rRRB9M3jdo/s400/invisible+not.jpg
It never really bothered me. I was far more bothered by the CGI tsunami, the videogame finale ripoff of a similar and vastly superior scene in TLD, TMI during Brosnan and Miss Berry's love scene and 98% of the Jinx character's dialogue than the invisible Aston Martin.
You miss the point completely defining what a Bond fan should be and should like.
The invisible car is a bit harmless fun, nothing more. As there have been many things in the franchise that have been skating the borders of believability. I love the submarine car as well.
I agree on the parasurf on the Tsunami that was bargainbasement CGI, and should have scraped completely. Like the boatstunt from QoS, not even editing would make that understandable, same approuch. Lose it.
Finaly a 007 movie is supposed to be fun, suspension of disbelieve. And that is what a 007 movie is at the end of the day brilliant entertainment and not something that would change my personal views. It is a bit of fun that has been entertaining for 50 years at the end of the year, I sincerely hope.
So with some of the gadgets of the past at the time probably having the same effect on audiences of the time? Who knows in the future? But for this thesis? I would rather it did not happen.
I would define a Bond fan as ‘someone who likes the character created by Ian Fleming’. Fleming himself defined Bond as ‘going wildly beyond the probable, not, I think, the possible.’
Obviously as time has passed one has had to make concessions (OP for example – I’ll stomach the light hearted romp of the 1st half for the taut Cold War countdown of the 2nd) to keep the film series going but a line in the sand was crossed with DAD.
The invisible car is indeed wildly beyond the possible as even today 10 years on the technology is nowhere near being as good as it is in the film. Contrast this with the space shuttles in MR for example which are merely ‘beyond the probable’ as the technology did exist (the space battle is a different story).
You do raise an interesting point though with the submarine car as this never gets much flack yet is it technically possible? Doubtful to say the least, so why is it that the invisible car gets hammered whereas this is regarded as classic Bond?
The reason I believe is that EON made the mistake of making the invisible car too invisible. What I mean by this is if they had had the adaptive camouflage so that the car just turned the colour of the background and made it difficult to see then it would have been fine – the trouble is when Bond hits the switch and you literally cant see it at all and you have ridiculous things like tyre tracks appearing in the snow.
The submarine car for all it might not have been actually possible – it appears as though it is through some fine special effects and model work instead of just throwing CGI at it. I think if CGI had been available in 1977 and used to do the submarine car then it would have been slagged off just as much.
However I would still take umbrage at your contention that 'it is just a bit of harmless fun'.
When people next to you in the cinema are actually openly laughing at the series rather than with it, I would say that that is harmful both to the credibilty of the series and its future continuation. Its no coincidence that despite DADs healthy box office return, EON went back to Fleming for the next film because they realised down the DAD road madness lies.
Ask a Star Wars fan if Jar Jar Binks 'is just harmless fun' and they'll probably chin you.
The invisble car and the parasurf CGI are the Jar Jar Binks of Bond.
Thank you for reading.