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If you ask me he's just beeing bored, waiting for Medrano. He just says 'I'm busy' becaus he doesn't want anything to interfere with his meeting.
Disagree on Domino: she's an in-depth character. The brooding type.
I agree re Greene,thats how I look at it,hence he isn't bothered when Camille breaks the paper roll as he holds it in front of her face.
Regarding Domino,she is being dominated and basically imprisoned by Largo and her brother is missing,she is more depressed than anything.
On the other hand I never really warmed to Solitaire or Anya. But it wouldn’t be the first time that my taste differs from anyone else’s on that front :))
Love TWINE in general. I could go on for ages about how underrated it is but instead I'm just going to link the appreciation thread and encourage you all to go check out @mattjoes brilliant summary of why it's so good on page 7 of this thread
https://www.mi6community.com/discussion/1678/the-world-is-not-enough-appreciation-thread/p7
Also, possibly controversial opinion of my own that I've just found on that thread: TWINE is one of the best original (as in not based on a book) Bond films at capturing the essence of Fleming. Here's what I wrote in the thread I linked above to back that up.
*Fleming title.
*Bond actually seems to fall for Elektra because he sees her as this broken vulnerable young woman and wants to protect her. Fleming's Bond girls were often wounded and vulnerable and Bond was more of a romantic than he is in most of the movies, it wasn't just sex. And then when she shows her true colours Bond is in full on "the bitch is dead" mode.
*There's a torture scene.
*Bond a proper spy/detective who's loyal to the people he works for. He really comes across as a "sort of policeman" in this one.
*Bond is at his most physically resourceful.
*The characters. Physically deformed villain, a mix of posh high society types on the British end (could easily imagine Robert King being a mate of M's from Blades if it was a Fleming book) and colourful seedy characters when Bond is out in the field. The main characters are given real depth and backstories, and even the minor characters have little gimmicks to make them stand out (Goldie, Dreadlocked guy, cigar girl's leather catsuit) in the same vein as characters like the eyepatch guy from CR.
*Bond ends up emotionally involved as it goes on but what it still comes down to is him on a mission. He's got no personal stake in it when he's given the assignment and it is a real spy story.
*It's dark but isn't "gritty", the characters still live in that old fashioned high society world of posh blokes in suits, there's no sense that they're slumming it. A down to earth story but one set in casinos and historic castles, in offices offering eachother cigars and drinks, Bond's ally even owns a caviar factory. The snobbery is there in full force and it isn't just Bond, it's the world he's in, and that reminds me of Fleming because that was what he knew about and when his books were most convincing.
It's hard to put into words but I really do think TWINE nails the "feel" of Fleming's Bond. I think TND with its generic modern 90s take and DAD with its early 00s Fast and Furious/XxX take make people forget about that, people seem to sort of lump them in together but TWINE doesn't deserve that imo. It's a great Bond film and a more than worthy follow up to Goldeneye.
I think GE did a better job with a beautiful woman who happens to be a computer programmer (something associated with nerdy men mostly -- like Boris).
Christmas needed more character. Even when she comes face to face with Elektra she doesn't say anything. Waste of opportunity for a catfight!
Denise is certainly amazing to look at though, and the writing isn't as annoying as Stacey's or Goodnight's, I agree.
I’ll never understand anybody disliking Kara or Pam. I really like both of them.
Never warming to Anya I get, I always felt she was overrated. Solitaire though... not much there character-wise but man Jane Seymour is one of the most beautiful Bond girls and she still is. So I think that’s the main appeal.
Interesting point you are making. I agree.
I have come to believe eventually that with a few tweaks, polished dialogue, and most importantly a different director and (apologies Brosnan fans) a different Bond, TWINE could have turned out a great film. The way it is now however, it is far too sloppy and soap opery for me. Apted was just not the right man for the job.
Though on a sidenote, TWINE was my first ever Bond film, so I might be more forgiving towards its flaws than TND for instance. Still though, don’t think it’s only the nostalgia factor that makes me like it so much, it’s full of excellent stuff.
TWINE is a frustrating Bond movie for me. It has all the right elements it just can't seem to make them interesting. The plot point about Bond's injured shoulder was a genius - a metaphor for the character's relative vulnerability during the course of the story. I at least liked that much.
You didn't find Electra a fascinating character,or the brilliant Caviar battle with a brilliant soundtrack during the fight ?
On Elektra King? Yeah. I guess so. Sophie Marceu is a wonderful actress.
I have real mixed feelings about David Arnold's soundtrack though. His scores for TND, CR and QOS were terrific. But on TWINE felt like he was trying too hard and on DAD didn't feel like he was trying hard enough. There's nothing memorable about the DAD soundtrack IMO - and the TWINE one always feels like I'm getting slapped around the head with it.
You and I agree on a lot on these boards and I feel that even when we disagree we reach that disagreement amicably because we approach things from a similar angle.
However, we do disagree here, re: that level of personalization in a Bond film. I'm a big fan of the formulaic churning of the series, but I also like to think that I'd welcome a more personalized approach. I feel like QoS would fall under that umbrella, more or less? It's an interesting conversation.
For the record, I don't think Nolan is the right choice. I'm not sure his sensibilities are "right" for Bond, but I certainly would welcome some more unique sensibilities to the series. For better or worse. We might get a disaster, we might get an absolute masterpiece.
I do invite interesting director sensibilities to inject something intriguing/atypical stylistically/formally. That's more what I want.
So perhaps @Birdleson and I agree after all and I just wasn't being clear / I misunderstood.
I’m not sure Forster had enough vision to get in the way.
From wht I fathom he had quite a lot, hence the shakey cam i.e. Personally I think he took it a bit too far, but I love QoS for the way it's telling the story. I find it beeing done far more intelligently than, let's say, TWINE, even though I agree with @thelivingroyale that TWINE has all the right elements. But where QoS the main characters clearly have strong chemistries, in TWINE the connection isn't coming over well.
In QOS 007 is more the man of the world that Fleming’s Bond used to be. Spanish? Italian? Nessun problema, James speaks it all. Shabby hotel? He's not having any of that, let's go some place nice. I love that stuff. In SF and SP he’s more what Jack Wade would call a ‘stiff-ass Brit’.
Also, Craig looks a lot classier in QOS, and that’s not because he’s younger. His attire looks and fits better, his haircut is better done too. The military haircut, the supertight suits and that horrible training montage in SF give him a bit too much of a working class vibe.
I love that opinion, @barryt007.
I find the scores for OP, TLD and MR somewhat underrated and rarely discussed. Particularly OP, which has a wonderful darkness to it. Also, similar to how Barry gave diamonds a particular sound for DAF, he does the same for outer space in MR.
I've always been partial to his TLD score as well. He does great instrumental versions of the 3 songs, and it's probably my fave later Barry score.
In addition I've always loved the gunbarrel arrangements Barry does for those films. That's exactly how I want the gunbarrel Bond theme to sound when not using the electric guitar for the melody.
That's a great point about TLD and a tribute to Barry's versatility and genius as a composer. These days we can't even get one theme used as a variation and in that film we had three strong ones that all lent themselves to strong instrumentals and why I just haven't found any of the soundtracks since then to be as listenable.
- All 3rd acts in Bond films suck.
- Only the first 4 films and OHMSS were any good.
- George Lazenby would've been a great Bond up until Dalton.
PS: I love Roger, though ;)
I don't agree they all suck, but personally I find the journey getting there is more satisfying than the resolution in the majority of cases. So much is predictable in many of the third acts.
I was trying to shock with that statement. I quite like the 3rd act of FRWL and...don't shoot me...SF (hey, here's another controversial statement, I like home-alone Bond).
- Some third acts kinda suck, yeah, in good or bad Bond movies. All? No way. The third acts of Goldfinger, FRWL, OHMSS, Casino Royale among others are outstanding.
- The first four, OHMSS and CR are the absolute diamonds of the series in my opinion, but they are by no means the only good Bond films. I particularly love TLD, LTK, GE, QOS, SF and SP and I think YOLT, TSWLM and FYEO are pretty good too.
- I love Laz and it’d been great if he got to do at least a couple more. Roger has never been a big favorite of mine, and he was in some of the weaker entries but I love the guy and I can’t imagine the series without him.
It's definitely a weakness you see in many of the films. I can think of several films where my interest is much higher early on rather than towards the end and at the climax. Sometimes the films just drags a little bit towards the end, other times it's more how the plot, structure and feel is during the first two acts.
Example: TB is one of my favourite films (not just within the Bond series), and currently sits at #1 in my ranking. Although I absolutely love the underwater fight and all what happens towards the end of the film, I really love the mystery feel it has early on, at Shrublands and early on in Bahamas.
Strongly disagree here! :-)
Lazenby definitely should have done more films. The Moore era was perfect as it was (except MR, IMO), but it would have been interesting to see Lazenby in DAF and at least one more.
Don't we all!