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I agree with your comments bar those related to the Villain in TND.
If a maniacal villain’s plan is to drive up ratings on his networks, you know you’re in trouble....... Jonathan Pryce, who isn’t very interesting as an actor let alone a Bond villain, plays Elliot Carver with very little interesting to say or do in one of Bond’s worst entries. Clearly it was an attempt to give Bond a new post-Cold War villain, and clearly it didn’t work.
Johnathan Pryce had zero charisma and his overacting didn’t help matters.
I find him to be a weak villain in every sense of the word, a limp wristed pantomime pufter!
He definitely camps it up and it's not a great film but head and shoulders above Brozza's other entries.
In other words, freely interpreted and updated to the late 20th century, Carver is doing almost the same thing that William Randolph Hearst did after the sinking of USS Maine, except that Carver also had to provide for the Devonshire's demise himself instead of just exploiting an accidental explosion to start a war between the U.S. and Spain then, and the UK and China now. I wouldn't rule out someone like Murdoch doing exactly the same if the opportunity arose. Faux News spells trouble in that regard.
I kind of like a more realistic approach to villain's motives even if they ultimately go over the top. LTK is another example. And yes, QOS. But I don't need yet another maniac wishing to annihilate the world for genetic experiments or personal vendetta, and I also wish to see no more satellite weapon schemes, diamond-studded or not.
.Keep the deleted scenes showing Bond, M, and Robinson in the car drinking cocktails and going over Carver's background, the jaguar gag with Q, Gupta's card tricks, and the extra dialogue during Carver's story at the party.
.Get rid of the godawful sound effects during the fight scene.
.Make the motorcycle chase and finale a little shorter.
I never cared for Arnold skipping to the end of the Bond theme for the gun-barrel. In fact I hated it the first time I saw the film.
I'd have put KD Lang's Surrender song during the titles, and just let Sheryl Crow's effort later become one of the many rejected Bond themes posted on Youtube we can be grateful never made it to the screen.
Cast someone other than Teri Hatcher. As much as I love Monica Bellucci, I don't think she missed out on much here. Paris is a crummy role, IMO and a feeble attempt to bring a personal element to the series. I never cared for her backstory being a former girlfriend of Bond. That type of scenario might have worked for Stacy Keach's Mike Hammer, but here I just don't buy it or even care.
As popular as Wai Lin is, I never felt any romantic chemistry between her and Bond. My favorite Bond girl in TND is the Danish Professor.
Is TND the only Bond film with absolutely no connection to any Fleming material?
Perhaps at some point the writers could have picked up one or two of Fleming's novels and found at least something to use.
Quibbling aside, I do feel TND holds up better than the other Brosnan films in some ways. The score alone makes it more enjoyable for me as a go-to Brosnan than even GOLDENEYE
.
I feel the pacing is spot on, and Pierce looks great here.
Good point. She's not particularly likable in TND. I'm not sure if the slap to Bond was intended to make her look "cool", but that scene doesn't work, IMO. Pierce is great though.
What's interesting for me is that someone like, say Plenty O Toole has far more personality. Even her death has more impact to me than Paris. Maibaum and Mankiewicz weren't trying to create a deep character with Plenty. She's just meant to be funny. Yet through the witty dialogue and rapport with Sean she became more iconic than Paris would ever be.
Also this began the '90's trend of casting current popular stars as Bond girls. Paris, Christmas Jones and Jinx all rank near the bottom for me.
"So tell me, James, do you still sleep with a gun under your pillow?"
I remember in 1997 bemoaning that this was the only Fleming element I could possibly find in the film.
Your point is a good one.
The score is better. Pierce looks the part and and lost a bit of the naff vibe he has in GE.
Totally agree re kd Lang. much better than crows warblings. the kd lang song is by Arnold (and Don Black) if I remember correctly.
I read the other day that St Etienne did a song for TND. EON apparently rejected it. But Pierce liked it so much he kept the tapes and told the band he much preferred it to Crow's song
I remember when TND was in production and hearing the threat and thinking not another stop WWIII scenario, but it surprisingly works. TND works overall and the best Brosnan movie for me because it seems the most straightforwardly enjoyable, like it could've come from the Moore era. It has good action, score, Bond doing some actual spying, a decent girl, villain and locations. It really moves and has pace.
Somebody mentioned TND's successors taking risks but were failures made them better. In the long run, is it better to do a successful repeat or risk and fail? I guess the answer for me is I'd rather watch something that has replay value than something that doesn't work and only makes me roll my eyes. Sometimes turning your mind off and just enjoying is more stimulating than appreciating some type of stab at art, particularly in this genre.
https://g.co/kgs/CmqHXL
I find Carver entertaining if a bit lightweight. He's one of the many amateur villains of the series which I'm never too keen on.
I don't think its all that bad either. I prefer it to AWTD and TWONW.
I'm going to wait for the OP to change the thread title before commenting further on TND, but thought I'd chime in with some support for the oft-lambasted title track.