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I do like her too. I know she portrays a much derided character, but she lightens the film up for me.
The story is great, and I always say how exciting it was that a Bond film was doing things we'd never seen before. The idea of Bond being injured right in the opening was genuinely quite thrilling at the time- making 007 actually vulnerable did feel big stuff, and I think we forget that a bit with all of the dramatic advances the Craig films made. Then you have M being kidnapped, MI6 blown up, a chase in London itself- it felt like they were taking some chances at last and pushing the boundaries of a Bond film a bit, giving us stuff we actually hadn't seen before and making it more dramatic. I think looking back at this distance of years it's easy to forget that, but looking at it next to much more conventionally formula films like GE and TND you can see they were actually going to new places with it. Watching it for the first time was a bit of a shock because there was a little more depth than we were used to.
In the years since the Craig films have overtaken it and left it looking a little dull, but at the time it was as dramatic as the Bond films had got.
I always say, if this had been a continuation novel written by Benson or whatever, we would be crying out to see it adapted and this sort of invention and drama up on the big screen. There's a clever story (even if it does ultimately boil down to a Goldfinger plot), bags of great memorable ideas, interesting characters - a female villain (which for some reason we still haven't had again since). It just got let down in the execution.
One bit I always enjoy is M witnessing Bond kill Electra. I think that's a great moment.
I like the idea of the action. Just not the execution! The boat chase on the Thames with a cool looking boat was great, but boy does it outstay its welcome! Similar, the bladed helicopters were inspired ( an idea I believe was meant for GE!) , but it's just not delivered well. I would have preferred the setpiece in daylight, but I suppose that may have proved tricky for the effects crew!
The underground firefight is done quite well!
And the action scenes in TWINE are both well directed and has a decent cinematography, compared to FYEO.
When it comes to the Bond Girls, though, Melina is a great character but Carole Bouquet failed to bring the character to its greatness (due to not having an acting experience and was dubbed), while Denise Richards, an experienced actress, was given a mediocre character.
I'd say the 2CV and ski chases from FYEO are far superior to anything in TWINE.
Agreed, and I would even take the helicopter action in the pts of FYEO (sans the final part!) over the caviar factory scene in TWINE!
By the way, Bouquet was actually an experienced albeit young actress prior to Bond. She was even in a Luis Bunel film and had had a handful of lead/supporting roles in film and tv. Richards had a lot more tv and film work under her belt and was more recognisable though. Talent is a bit debatable in this case I think, but I don’t mind the character of Christmas Jones. She’s meant to be capable and smart. Not a love of Bond’s life but just a capable ally. I do think an alternative actress may have helped.
I was going to reply the same. I'm a TWINE defender, but Bouquet was in a Buñuel film, I really can't see Richards, who I really like mind you, in a film from an established director like that...
I'm going to disagree with you slightly as a fan of Paul Verhoeven and Starship Troopers, but I can very much see what you mean and think you're right (very different directors and both established in very different ways too!)
My only major issue is some of her line deliveries fall weirdly flat (that "or sour cream" line... oof). But yeah, I think she gets a bit of unfair flack about her not being a nuclear physicist because she wears short shorts.
Well, I like Denise in TWINE but Isabella operates on an entirely different level if you ask me. I don't like to use the word "worse", but surely Dr Jones wasn't as effective as Natalya. I am not, by the way, suggesting that the actresses are to blame for that.
For me it was Agent Under Fire, which feels like it's totally in the same realm as TWINE the film.
I personally don't see any problem with Izabella Scorupco as Natalya (maybe because she's Polish and her character which was Russian is not that far off from her language and accent, so she's kinda convincing in the role, and Natalya, as a character is great, she has agency, unlike Christmas Jones, which is a shame because I think Denise Richards could've been better than that).
You are quite right, I forgot about Starship Troopers, probably because I haven't seen it yet. What I have seen of Verhoeven, I did like, so there you go ;)
I think the criticism of her not being convincing as a nuclear physicist is unfair, being a scientist myself, and being surrounded by physicists, there really isn't a specific 'look' that a physicist has, some are not far off how C. Jones looks and acts.
As for the action, I absolutely think it is TWINE's weak point. The boat chase is one of my favorite action scenes in the series and the opening office scene is cool as well. The rest are just kind of alright, nothing terrible, nothing amazing, just ok. The ski scene and the submarine finale are probably the biggest let downs.
But I think it has so many great non-action scenes that it makes up for it.
I guess to be fair, she is shown to be willing to travel to the ends of the earth to dispose of hugely dangerous nuclear hazards, and she shows plenty of spirited resentment to those who would use them even before Bond turns up, so I guess that's quite revealing of her character, bravery and determination. So I suppose compared to a lot of civilian Bond girls, it's perhaps more believable than most that she would be prepared to get her hands dirty to stop the baddie as she is already someone who is prepared to go to dangerous and unpleasant places because of her strong moral sense, and nuclear disasters are exactly what she is spending her life preventing. I don't think she really needs any more motivation than what we're given. Natalya on the other hand suddenly becomes a commando because she wants revenge against Boris? I mean, it's fine for the film, but I probably buy it less.
I know what you mean though that she's kind of relegated in importance in the film and isn't as key as Brosnan previous Bond women.
To me the film feels disjointed, the action and drama don't meld together as they should, the story and villains motivations are too unbelievable. Yes I know we've had hollowed out volcanoes, underwater cities, a space station. But in TWINE, the story tries to be too grounded in reality, it wants to be deeper as a story but I'm just not sold.
The action is mediocre at best. It's all been done before, and done better before.
That's not to say that TWINE is a bad film. It's still entertaining and has its moments, Robbie Coltrane is a standout for me.
But the cons outweigh the pros, and there are 24 films I prefer to this one.
Oh, it's a great but quirky little film, recommended. Verhoeven isn't quite on Bunel's level of prestige I guess (love Un Chien Andelous and Discreet Charms incidentally), but he's made a few classics.
DIAMONDS ARE FOREVER (1971)
Directed by Guy Hamilton
"How disappointing."
DAF came in 6th for two members, both were also its highest rankings and the only top 10's it received. Three other participants rated it towards the lower end of the top 15.
At the other end of the spectrum there was a bigger crowd to be found: twelve bottom 5's were given to Bond's trip to Las Vegas, three of those were last places.
Another divisive entry, DAF ended up with 77 points in total.
It didn't helped that this film had stepped backward after OHMSS and not giving us the revenge sequel that we deserve.
This film was just beaten in mediocrity by the most recent Bond film and the second Bond film in the Moore Era (you know which films I'm talking about 😅), this film is still tolerable, it may not be the definite worst in my list, but it's up there as one.
My issues with the film are manyfold. There is, unfortunately, a bit of a cheapness evident in the quality of this film, especially when compared to the 60s adventures . Some of it’s by design - instead of exotic, beautiful locations much of this film takes place on the seedy, grimy streets of Vegas. But a lot of it comes down to bad filmmaking too - Connery’s vocals on his ‘Bond, James Bond’ line seem sped up, the fight choreography during the PTS is badly shot, there’s the notorious insert shot of the car going through the ally which makes no sense and is clearly due to a mistake (incidentally it’s a very underwhelming car chase, and this movie has a few similarly underwhelming sequences - the desert chase with the moon buggy, the fight with Bambi and Thumper), and then of course there’s the fact that Plenty is randomly killed and the audience isn’t quite sure why (I think it’s due to a much needed scene that was cut for some reason). Hamilton’s direction is all over the place in this sense. The film drags a bit by the middle as well for some reason.
I can’t hate it, but I don’t love it at the same time. One of the weirdest entries in the series though!
On one hand I'm having a great time with the witty dialogue, the excellent music, the easy-going atmosphere, Wint & Kidd and Charles Gray, who I absolutely adore! I also quite like Tiffany too.
On the other hand, this one is a considerable step down from its predecessor. There are many editing errors too, the special effects are dodgy even for the time and some comedy moments are a bit too CR67-y (the elephant playing the slots for instance).
Never really sure where to put this one, sometimes I love it and I feel like I want to put it in the upper half, other times I just can't look past the obvious missteps that it takes... I ranked it 20th this time, though at another day I could put it as high as 12th...
I vaguely knew, although not the specifics. But yeah, odd moment. Suppose under the circumstances there's not much else they could have done.