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Comments
I think it's a good thing. It's a Bond movie with Q, girls, underwater scenes and all this stuff.
It's not Death Wish 4 1/2.
Speaking of setting, not localising the film in Southeast Asia, as it was a moment suggested, remains a missed opportunity. It would have offered the audience a more exotic and commercially appealing adventure. I know China was quickly out of consideration because The Last Emperor had removed some of the novelty from filming there and because of potential censorship issues, but other Asian countries could have been chosen. The best scenes in the film are, in my opinion, those taking place at night or at the casino and these scenes could have worked just as well if they had taken place in Macau, Singapore, or a fictional Asian city.
Another missed opportunity is the treatment of both characters of Felix Leiter and Moneypenny. On paper, Moneypenny plays an important role by being the one who contacts Q and asks him to travel to Isthmus City. While I'm not sure how it could have been archived, I would have liked to see Caroline Bliss shine more in the role. Maybe by being the one who Bond calls at the end and who says to him that M is thinking about offering him his job back. This leads me to Leiter who is poorly treated after being fed to the shark. Again, I'm not sure how it could have been archived, but I wish he wasn't sidelined so much. If I recall correctly, earlier drafts featured him discussing with Bond and Pam how to dismantle Sanchez's criminal empire, so bringing him back in a way or another could have been nice.
Last but not least, not having kept the deleted scene with Bond in his hotel room is another missed opportunity, as this scene would have helped to better establish the character of Bond (and very nice Fleminesque moment).
But it kind of is, though. The whole genesis of the movie is the maiming of Bond's key ally and the rape and murder of said ally's wife. Bond is willing to toss his career in the toilet and risk going solo against Sanchez. It's the darkest and most personal of Bond's missions to that point. I just think that the tonal shifts don't always work for me in this one.
That's why I think this Bondian elements are necessary.
I find the whole film is very un-glamorous. Even the casino scenes seem to be shot in a studio and have a look of that. In fact like other Bond films I never say "The money is on the screen." The sets look for the most part cheap or at least un-inspired.
I think the sets and the locales have to go down as a missed opportunity for me. The film has the feel of a TV movie in terms of sets and locations. Maybe having it in a fictional country made it feel this way.
Compared to Bond visiting St. Monique in LALD and the difference is noticeable.
I'm not surprised by this, the Producers didn't even dived that much into Bond's personal revenge after his own wife was killed, and still went a lighter tone, I mean, they've never went that route till Quantum of Solace, I mean, we're all expecting a brutal and violent retribution from Bond against Blofeld but what we've got? Pitting him inside a bathosub? Throwing him down a chimney stack? Not surprising.
Exactly, this is really the biggest missed opportunity in this film, I could give some missed opportunities, but this is the main one, it lacks that cinematic Bond formula, even Dr. No for how small the budget that's given into that film, it's still looked cinematic.
Although the climax from the Olympatec Meditation Institution to the end, it got better in terms of aesthetics, at least there's that, the whole third and final act is beautifully shot, but yes, the first and second act were really poorly shot, it's like a Miami Vice or Lethal Weapon, very generic, even Rambo still looked cinematic.
Still better than For Your Eyes Only though, for me, that one from start to finish, it's just dull and bland looking, it's almost like a small European Soap Opera Drama episode on TV.
The story and script are about as good as it gets in the series--scenes serve more than one purpose and sometimes set things up that pay off quite some time later. That's not exactly typical for Bond. It's great. The cast is extremely strong as well, and I'd say there's not a weak link in the bunch.
I don't have any problems with the cinematography, but there are a few hideous sets they have to film, and it doesn't come out so good, so job one is make some better sets--in particular Felix's house.
But the biggest improvement in my mind would be to just bite the bullet and make the movie longer.
I think more or less every single deleted scene should be in the film. First of all, the fanboy favorite of Bond in the hotel room is indeed too perfect to cut, and it also has some good production value--the footage of Sanchez on the screen has a lot of extras and looks great.
A couple scenes offer a good showcase for Tim's humor--the casino bit about "walking around money" is a good one, and I love the one where he buys the guy's boat. They show us Bond being cool and a bit funny in a way Tim didn't get offered much by his scripts.
Another scene set up the British agent watching Bond and also introduced Sanchez's goons, which is helpful. It may be hard to remember the first time you watched LTK, but it's not easy to pick up the names of some of these guys. It's not the fanboy dream that morose Bond smoking in his hotel offers, but it's something that should be there.
Just put it all back in.
And for that matter, the early part of the movie, okay, first of all, it needs better set decoration, as discussed before, but it also moves too quickly. They were clearly forced to cut for time, but not much can really be removed entirely, so they seem to have shaved bits off the ends of scenes, again and again. Just make a 140-150 minute movie and let it all breathe. The last 90 minutes of the existing film are IMO pretty perfectly paced, and I think it's okay to spend a tiny bit more time with some the central characters in the first hour.
But I love the movie as we have it, it's one of my favorites, and I was reminded again last night that despite the way some people regard LTK, it's also one of the funniest films in the series, if not the funniest.
And I agree, LTK may lack the visuals ( though I think it has a couple of good moments) but makes up for it in a strong story and characters, plus the action sequences ( some of the best in the series) serve the story, rather than a "lets stop and see what the stuntguys can do!" of some of the films!
If it is lacking anything its a stronger score, though I love what he did with the gunbarrel, i think Michael Kamens music doesn't do justice to the film ( and boy would I have loved to have seen what John Barry would have done, but wasn't he ill at the time?)
LALD looks like a TV show too. A lost episode of The Saint.
IMO LTK looks OK. Sure, it's un-glamorous but it's more naturalistic this way.
The wide shots help a lot. The movie is cheaper but it's not full of close-ups like GE.
LALD looks cinematic. Nothing wrong with its look.
LTK just seemed to suffer from the fact that the budgets had been frozen in the Bond series for so long. It does have its share of odd jokes which don’t quite land, but the filmmaking is more polished I’d say, even if it’s not always as lush looking.
2. A better haircut.
The movie is fine. The script is solid despite the strike.
That would have been okay, and as an added bonus, when he pops up again in Casino Royale, it might help certain folks understand how the NTTD-B26 transition is going to work!
😂 good point!
It’s kinda odd that this was the film that essentially retired the character until the series was rebooted. Even to the point where they came up with a sort of stand in for Bond’s regular CIA contact in the form of Wade (who doesn’t add much).
I mean, could we not have seen a version of Felix with a fake hand and leg? Suppose we couldn’t even get a version of Felix who mourned his wife at this point mind…
I suppose given that it was the Dalton era they were just staying true to the original Fleming LALD source novel and didn't want to kill Leiter off altogether. The shark mauling happened to the literary Leiter in only his second appearance as Bond's CIA ally.
Felix Leiter is like Blofeld, perhaps, they couldn't just kill the character for the sake of possibly using the character again, if not for McClory case, I doubt the Producers would kill him like the faceless one in For Your Eyes Only.
Felix Leiter changed faces in the course of the first 16 films, just like how Blofeld changed faces, Savalas' Blofeld ended up with a neck brace, Charles Grey appeared with a hair and no neck brace, so they've thought the same for Felix Leiter, a possibility that Hedison's Felix Leiter had his legs mauled by a shark, but the next one would appear with a different face and complete body, maybe had Dalton stayed.
But what happened was he was replaced by Jack Wade, and probably it's because to separate Dalton's Era to Brosnan's Era.
I suppose that may be down to LTK’s mixed critical reception. I would’ve loved to see Felix with the prosthetics too.
Oh, and I agree about Felix : I would have liked seeing him with prosthetics.
It's still a question to me why Felix wasn't used in the Brosnan Era, but I may assume that his return would make people remind of LTK, after all, it didn't do well in Box Office, and to also separate Brosnan's Bond from Dalton's Bond, but again, we've seen some of Dalton's Bond mementos in DAD when Bond visited Q's lab (The Outrigger of his Aston Martin V8 was present in the background), an implication that Brosnan's Bond may be the same Bond as Dalton's Bond.
About Jack Wade not appearing in DAD, we could assume that Jinx was made as a stand for Jack Wade, to be honest, he would've been unnecessary in DAD, what could be his role in there? He couldn't be Falco, as he's not a superior, he couldn't be Bond's US partner, as Jinx filled that part, and I doubt Wade was great in combat skills, as we've never saw him hold a gun before, second thought, maybe because of the actor, Joe Doe Baker may not have been available at the time, after all, he didn't appeared in TWINE either.
Possibly. I suppose rewatching Wade's first scene there's an element that they were trying to subvert a typical Bond ally type character. He's pretty much played for laughs though (at least in GE).
And hey, I'd love to see a future Felix who first appears with a fake hand/leg. Could easily see him with a more updated robotic hand.
The missed opportunities of Goldeneye
A new Bond, a new director and a new screenwriter! The result was an renaissance for Bond. We saw an explosion and a return to cultural relevance.
But yet were there missed opportunities?
Often the soundtrack is singled out as a sore point with fans, but are there other missed opportunities within this gem of a film?
Remember that a missed opportunity is a casting choice, a story line that doesn't have a good end, a poor character arc, etc.
More traditional Bond score is a big one. Maybe drop the bit about the pint and first reveal of 007 didn't have to be in a men's room. A clever gadget in the Aston Martin or BMW would be welcome, that or I should admire their restraint.
Those and Timothy Dalton.
The fact that the stinger missiles on the BMW are foreshadowed, and absolutely nothing is done with them. It’s one of the weirdest missed opportunities in a Bond film.
The way it's shot, it's very dated, the camera movements, and the transition of the PTS to the Title Sequence.
And the Eric Serra score.