TMND - decent Bond film

2

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  • edited May 2012 Posts: 11,425
    @Getafix

    Yeah the usage of Crow's track has always annoyed me. It's not a terrible song, the melody is easy on the ears and the sleazy way she sings the song sort of works, but Surrender blows it away. And yes, I see your point on that, I have the complete score and listen to it quite religiously along with OHMSS and The Living Daylights, so I know it note for note at this stage!

    And yeah, I understand. I think the Brosnan era is more enjoyable if you're able to look past the minor flaws TWINE has, and, well, I won't even argue for DAD, because that was very bad. I can't see anything wrong with GE though, what do you not like about it?

    I haven't watched it for years but I remember thinking in the cinema that it was one of the worst scores I had ever heard. The title track is not that bad but was (I think) commissioned totally seperately from the rest of the score and is not integrated at all.

    Funnily enough, in my mind the GE score was also guilty of a crime that has recurred more recently - i.e. a very annoying refusal to use the Bond theme at an obvious moment. CR was massively annoying in keeping the theme until the end, but at least it made some kind of narrative sense. I just felt with GE there were a ton of tonal miscues, most obviously at the end of the PTS, when Bond reappears in the plane after a moment of silence. If that is not a moment for a quick burst of the Bond theme, I dom't know what is. Instead we got silence and then the Tina Turner theme - for me it didn't work. There are many more moments, like the car chase after the titles, where the music sucks.
  • CraigMooreOHMSSCraigMooreOHMSS Dublin, Ireland
    Posts: 8,217
    @Getafix, you're right. Arnold and Lang had their song accepted, and Arnold then wrote the score around that. The producers then changed their minds shortly before release, and Crow's song was put in instead. It was a question of weeks I believe.

    I rather enjoyed the implementations of the title song in TWINE, it pops up in nearly all the right places, Arnold should of used it a bit more than he used the Bond theme, which he used quite a bit, making the film feel like it was full of more "Bond moments" than it was.

    Die Another Day had too much techno. Ruins a good portion of the score. Thankfully he went back to basics with the Craig films. I hope Newman continues this trend.

    And I agree with your assessment of Goldeneye, some tracks are pretty cool, and I like the gunbarrel, but other tracks sound dated, and some are just plain terrible.
  • Posts: 11,425
    I am looking forward to Newman's work on SF. He seems a talented guy and I think Mendes will be taking a more active interest in the score than previous directors. I'd be happy for Arnold to return in the future as I did feel that CR and Qos had pretty solid scores. As others have said, hopefully Arnold will return feeling hungrier
  • CraigMooreOHMSSCraigMooreOHMSS Dublin, Ireland
    Posts: 8,217
    Getafix wrote:
    I am looking forward to Newman's work on SF. He seems a talented guy and I think Mendes will be taking a more active interest in the score than previous directors. I'd be happy for Arnold to return in the future as I did feel that CR and Qos had pretty solid scores. As others have said, hopefully Arnold will return feeling hungrier

    Newman will do okay. I don't think I've ever heard a bad score by him, and he's able to vary himself a bit. He's adaptable so I think he'll do an okay job. And like everyone else said, maybe Arnold will return hungrier. Some of Barry's best work came after he took a break for a year here and there.

  • Posts: 11,425
    What do you think of Hans Zimmer? Do you think he has a decent Bond score in him?
  • CraigMooreOHMSSCraigMooreOHMSS Dublin, Ireland
    Posts: 8,217
    Getafix wrote:
    What do you think of Hans Zimmer? Do you think he has a decent Bond score in him?

    I don't know. Sometimes he shows glimpses of being able to. Parts of his Inception score gave off that Bond vibe. Other times, he's just the same old predictable but satisfactory Zimmer. I wouldn't be outraged if he was given a chance, though. What do you think?

    If anyone other than Arnold was to score a Bond film, my vote goes to Clint Mansell. His score for Sahara screamed Bond!
  • Posts: 5,634
    I'm guessing there's already a Tomorrow Never Dies thread in existence somewhere

    Been through it a thousand times but I'll always insist this is one of the weakest entries of the last 30 years, if not not the entire series, I usually switch off once Bond leaves Hamburg, nothing much else happens. The only redeeming qualities are a super Sheryl Crow score and the opening teaser at the Russian arms fair and that Doctor Kaufmann sequence at the hotel, apart from that it's a struggle to stay awake. Michelle Yeoh is good value as the Bond girl though and a damn improvement on many that came before or indeed after, but Hatcher should of been left on the cutting room floor. Not Brosnan's finest hour (or two)
  • edited May 2012 Posts: 12,837
    tnd sucked big time. the whole movie was kiddy action and retarded stunts. the story was absolute thrash and the whole Wai Lin character was total politically correct garbage, my god this whole movie is just about as worse as any of Moore's or Connery's last few outings. Bruce Feirstien is a horrible writer, I can't believe they had that idiot write bloodstones story. the guy has no substance.

    You've made it obvious you only like the realistic Bond films so why bother coming on a thread about how some people enjoyed an unrealistic one?
    Getafix wrote:
    What do you think of Hans Zimmer? Do you think he has a decent Bond score in him?

    I think he could. His Inception score was great, I also liked his Sherlock Holmes score.
  • edited May 2012 Posts: 11,189
    Getafix wrote:
    I don't feel TND is particularly more action dependent than the other Brosnan films.

    Well lets have a look at the BIG action set pieces in both GE and TND:

    GE

    -PTS
    -Sevanya attack
    -Archive shootout/tank chase
    -Final showdown between Bond and Alec

    TND

    -PTS
    -Ship sinking
    -Warehouse shootout
    -Car park chase
    -Motorbike chase
    -fight between Wai Lin and Carver's goons
    -Shootout on Carver's stealth ship

    GE is listed as having a running time of 130 mins
    TND has a running time of 120

    Last time I watched TND I quite enjoyed it but it does have its fair share of weaknesses. I'd still say GE is the better film overall bar a few exceptions.
  • Posts: 165
    I think it's a movie that can more than hold it's head up in the series.
    Not a great fan of mobile phone driven cars but the Q scene is great and the Dr Kaufman/hotel room section is vintage Bond.

    I agree with those who feel that Paris was sacrificed way too early.
  • Posts: 11,189
    I'd agree that the Q scene in TND is better than the one in GE. At least Desmond isn't looking off camera.
  • HASEROTHASEROT has returned like the tedious inevitability of an unloved season---
    Posts: 4,399
    TND is neither awful or great imo... it's somewhere in the middle.. so - average/good?... maybe....

    i always felt that it was a very safe 'paint by numbers' Bond flick - it hit all the formula points as if it were checking them off a list.
  • Posts: 2,782
    I know I'm going to get slaughtered here - but I prefer TWINE to TND.

    Please people talk about the flaws of TWINE, what are they? And please don't say Denise Richards. She was there for T&A and that suits me fine. None of this equal Bond girls for me thank you.
  • DaltonCraig007DaltonCraig007 They say, "Evil prevails when good men fail to act." What they ought to say is, "Evil prevails."
    Posts: 15,718
    Please people talk about the flaws of TWINE, what are they? And please don't say Denise Richards. She was there for T&A and that suits me fine. None of this equal Bond girls for me thank you.

    Brosnan's extreme OTT over-acting, his OTT and silly faces and gestures, the overly melodramatic story............
  • HASEROTHASEROT has returned like the tedious inevitability of an unloved season---
    Posts: 4,399
    I know I'm going to get slaughtered here - but I prefer TWINE to TND.

    Please people talk about the flaws of TWINE, what are they? And please don't say Denise Richards. She was there for T&A and that suits me fine. None of this equal Bond girls for me thank you.

    while i feel that (overall) it's Brosnan's best performance as 007 - it's a pretty weak film.... it's a movie that leads you to believe it's much more than what it really is... It promises to explore Bond and the other characters deeper - which it presents all of these things to us, as if they were going to take it somewhere... but they dont..... as a reviewer HapHazard said eloquently - it's like the movie constantly lets air out of the balloon...

    for example.. having a villain who can feel no pain..... he can hold scolding rocks and punch through tables with no effect... but in a fist fight, he sure looks like he's feeling it.

    also, the movie just seems to struggle with an identity... does it want to be more emotional, does it want to be more psychological, or does it want to be standard formula Bond?.... it feels like the plot, story and characters are being pulled in all different directions, as well as being forced to fit a certain mold - to fit that Bond formula.
  • edited May 2012 Posts: 11,189
    Agreed. The thing is with TWINE you get the sense it WANTS to be different but at the same time follow the Bond formula and satisfy what the audience want. That is a tough mix.

    I don't mind TWINE but it has fallen in my ranks recently. Watching it again its difficult not to think of Haphazard's assessment.
  • Posts: 1,052
    For me TWINE is where they started messing about with the character of Bond, trying to make him sensitive, TND maybe a bit paint by numbers as some say but sometimes don't you just want to watch an enjoyable, straight forward Bond film?

    Also I have always liked the song by Sheryl Crow, last decent theme in my opininon!
  • Posts: 11,189
    For me TWINE is where they started messing about with the character of Bond, trying to make him sensitive, TND maybe a bit paint by numbers as some say but sometimes don't you just want to watch an enjoyable, straight forward Bond film?

    Also I have always liked the song by Sheryl Crow, last decent theme in my opininon!

    They did that to an extent in TND though with the whole Bond/Paris storyline.
  • HASEROTHASEROT has returned like the tedious inevitability of an unloved season---
    Posts: 4,399
    @identigraph

    the last 'traditional' Bond film imo is TLD - since then, they've started picking apart and exploring aspects of Bond himself, or his past... not that that is a bad thing mind you - when it's done properly.
  • Posts: 1,052
    HASEROT wrote:
    @identigraph

    the last 'traditional' Bond film imo is TLD - since then, they've started picking apart and exploring aspects of Bond himself, or his past... not that that is a bad thing mind you - when it's done properly.

    I don't think it was too bad in TND the whole Bond/Paris thing, didn't really last that long, so for me it worked.

    TLD is probably the last film to have that old/classic Bond feel though!
  • Posts: 11,425

    TLD is probably the last film to have that old/classic Bond feel though!

    Agreed. And that was 25 years ago...!
  • Posts: 11,189
    What do you expect when most of the original team have either died or retired?

    In fairness CR does have some of that "old Bond" feel to it. I remember thinking when watching DC smash the car into the fence at the health club: "that was something Sean Connery would have done".

    That combined with the ultra colourful lingering shots of exotic locations.
  • TheWizardOfIceTheWizardOfIce 'One of the Internet's more toxic individuals'
    Posts: 9,117
    In terms of a by the numbers Bond film TND is hard to fault. Doesnt mess about just does what it says on the tin and does it pretty slickly.

    Obivously its no OHMSS but for an entertaining 2 hours in the old Rog classic romp vein its cracking fun.

    Only gripes are Surrender being relegated to the end titles when it is probably the best title song since AVTAK and the last 20 mins when they seem to run out of ideas and just have Bond walking round with a machine gun in each hand shooting peope like Arnie.
  • DaltonCraig007DaltonCraig007 They say, "Evil prevails when good men fail to act." What they ought to say is, "Evil prevails."
    Posts: 15,718
    the last 20 mins when they seem to run out of ideas and just have Bond walking round with a machine gun in each hand shooting peope like Arnie.

    Bond is not Rambo.... he doesn't have 2 machine guns, but a machine gun in one hand and his walther p99 in the other hand.

  • Posts: 4,813
    The funniest part of that whole scene is how Bond kills a hundred people and then little tiny Elliot sneaks up on him and kicks his ass around for a bit!
    I mean I know he's the 'main bad guy' but COME ON, lol

    What would have been hilarious is if Elliot tried to punch Bond and he hurt his hand-- I would have died laughing!
  • Iliked haphazrd's idea of not killing Elliot Carver, but rather having him get imprisoned and see him being a laughing stock in the media. That would have been ironic and more orginal then just killing him.
  • TheWizardOfIceTheWizardOfIce 'One of the Internet's more toxic individuals'
    Posts: 9,117
    the last 20 mins when they seem to run out of ideas and just have Bond walking round with a machine gun in each hand shooting peope like Arnie.

    Bond is not Rambo.... he doesn't have 2 machine guns, but a machine gun in one hand and his walther p99 in the other hand.

    Yeah fair point. The scene is still a large pile of bollocks though.
  • Posts: 11,425
    the last 20 mins when they seem to run out of ideas and just have Bond walking round with a machine gun in each hand shooting peope like Arnie.

    Bond is not Rambo.... he doesn't have 2 machine guns, but a machine gun in one hand and his walther p99 in the other hand.

    Yeah fair point. The scene is still a large pile of bollocks though.

    It's a lazy conclusion to a not particularly good movie. However, it is Brosnan's best Bond film.
  • Posts: 11,189
    I liked the scene:

    "you can see it during the day and it's invisible to radar but not the human eye"

    (Fire comes out dragons mouth)

    "ha, very novel"
  • Posts: 12,837
    I know I'm going to get slaughtered here - but I prefer TWINE to TND.

    Please people talk about the flaws of TWINE, what are they? And please don't say Denise Richards. She was there for T&A and that suits me fine. None of this equal Bond girls for me thank you.

    I agree. TWINE was great. But I do like TND, and GE was better than both.
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