DIE ANOTHER DAY: First 30 minutes perfect?

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Comments

  • TR007 wrote: »
    It's definitely the Batman & Robin of the franchise. I've not seen it since it came out and I'll never watch it again. It's such an embarrassing mess of a film.
    Gotta disagree with you. Have you seen AVTAK?

    Yes. I like it. Mainly for Christopher Walken. Rog was clearly too old in it, but it's got some great moments. Great theme tune too. I prefer it to Dire 'Nother Day, SPECTRE and The World Is Not Enough. In fact, it's my brother's favourite Bond movie. DAD is the nadir of the series.
  • MurdockMurdock The minus world
    Posts: 16,351
    I watched it recently not seeing any Bond film in over four years. I gotta say it's not that bad. It's not a great film by any means but I can enjoy it for what it's worth now.
  • Posts: 7,434
    I would argue that its AVTAK that has some great ideas, scenes and characters, and is brought down a little by the humour and Rogs age.
    Christopher Walken is a fine villain, he and Grace Jones are a great double act, rather bizarre, think Fleming would have approved. Some good action sequences, and the finale is well staged. Barry has some memorable cues too, and always liked the theme song (remember buying the 9in vinyl, had a pic of Rog in the Bond pose in the middle, when you put it on the turntable it looked like Rog had an enormous...well you get the idea!)
    DAD, however, is indefensible. Hate that opening torture scene, Brossa just looks silly in the make up! Its just dire in every department!
  • RoadphillRoadphill United Kingdom
    Posts: 984
    Interesting take. Whilst DAD's first half is far from perfect, it's very good.

    It really brings into focus how ludicrous the second half is. They literally feel like two separate, mini-movies.
  • Posts: 631
    I think DAD is good until he gets to Hong Kong. It goes downhill after that, then it stumbles badly when Jinx shows up, from then it’s really tumbling down and down, then it flies off the cliff edge when we get to Iceland, and thereafter it keeps falling, falling, falling.

    Still, it’s very watchable though, I always end up watching it whenever it’s on telly
  • talos7talos7 New Orleans
    Posts: 8,217
    Changing how Berry played Jinx alone would have greatly improved the film . Sexy, smart and sophisticated rather than street. She was a great choice for the role, but the wrong characterization.

    And ditch the tidal wave... 😁
  • MakeshiftPythonMakeshiftPython “Baja?!”
    Posts: 8,188
    DAD can never be the worst film in the franchise in my eyes. Not when there's also TND and TWINE ranked just below it. ;)
  • Agent_Zero_OneAgent_Zero_One Ireland
    Posts: 554
    DAD can never be the worst film in the franchise in my eyes. Not when there's also TND and TWINE ranked just below it. ;)
    How can you say that about poor TND? :-O
  • I think you could really remake DAD in a few years and actually focus on the interesting things in the film: (1) Bond being tortured and psychologically broken, (2) More emphasis on his quest for revenge and to clear his name, (3) More focus on Miranda Frost to make her betrayal more impactful (Bond only finds out a few hours beforehand that she was even an MI6 agent), and (4) More focus on the conflict diamonds.

    A smarter director would have leaned on this aspect and made the film about a rogue North Korean Colonel doing shade deals to get his hands on conflict diamonds. That's way more geopolitically interesting than lasers in outer space.

    All these four elements expressed in this way give the impression of reflecting on a completely different movie. You do well to point out the blood diamonds subplot, which, although narratively important, is not what one's remember most from the film. It is all the more unfortunate that a serious treatment of this subject would have have offered a relevant tribute to DAF without falling into a repetition of Blofeld's scheme.
  • RoadphillRoadphill United Kingdom
    Posts: 984
    DAD can never be the worst film in the franchise in my eyes. Not when there's also TND and TWINE ranked just below it. ;)

    I think TND is perfectly watchable. It blends old fashioned Bond with a 90's style action movie. Is it great? No but it's decent.

    TWINE on the other hand, I will give you. There certainly are less ridiculous moments than DAD, but TWINE is just, well, boring. And that's the worst sin a Bond film can have.
  • NickTwentyTwoNickTwentyTwo Vancouver, BC, Canada
    edited October 2020 Posts: 7,553
    Roadphill wrote: »
    DAD can never be the worst film in the franchise in my eyes. Not when there's also TND and TWINE ranked just below it. ;)

    I think TND is perfectly watchable. It blends old fashioned Bond with a 90's style action movie. Is it great? No but it's decent.

    TWINE on the other hand, I will give you. There certainly are less ridiculous moments than DAD, but TWINE is just, well, boring. And that's the worst sin a Bond film can have.

    I may be in the minority here, but I also love Carver and his plot in TND. Very Bondian to me. The franchise was lucky to have Pryce.
  • Agent_Zero_OneAgent_Zero_One Ireland
    Posts: 554
    Roadphill wrote: »
    DAD can never be the worst film in the franchise in my eyes. Not when there's also TND and TWINE ranked just below it. ;)

    I think TND is perfectly watchable. It blends old fashioned Bond with a 90's style action movie. Is it great? No but it's decent.

    TWINE on the other hand, I will give you. There certainly are less ridiculous moments than DAD, but TWINE is just, well, boring. And that's the worst sin a Bond film can have.

    I may be in the minority here, but I also love Carver and his plot in TND. Very Bondian to me. The franchise was lucky to have Pryce.
    There are dozens of us! Dozens!
  • NickTwentyTwoNickTwentyTwo Vancouver, BC, Canada
    Posts: 7,553
    Roadphill wrote: »
    DAD can never be the worst film in the franchise in my eyes. Not when there's also TND and TWINE ranked just below it. ;)

    I think TND is perfectly watchable. It blends old fashioned Bond with a 90's style action movie. Is it great? No but it's decent.

    TWINE on the other hand, I will give you. There certainly are less ridiculous moments than DAD, but TWINE is just, well, boring. And that's the worst sin a Bond film can have.

    I may be in the minority here, but I also love Carver and his plot in TND. Very Bondian to me. The franchise was lucky to have Pryce.
    There are dozens of us! Dozens!

    Hello my golden retrievers!
  • GadgetManGadgetMan Lagos, Nigeria
    Posts: 4,247
    Roadphill wrote: »
    DAD can never be the worst film in the franchise in my eyes. Not when there's also TND and TWINE ranked just below it. ;)

    I think TND is perfectly watchable. It blends old fashioned Bond with a 90's style action movie. Is it great? No but it's decent.

    TWINE on the other hand, I will give you. There certainly are less ridiculous moments than DAD, but TWINE is just, well, boring. And that's the worst sin a Bond film can have.

    I may be in the minority here, but I also love Carver and his plot in TND. Very Bondian to me. The franchise was lucky to have Pryce.

    Better make that two!
  • CraigMooreOHMSSCraigMooreOHMSS Dublin, Ireland
    Posts: 8,217
    Roadphill wrote: »
    DAD can never be the worst film in the franchise in my eyes. Not when there's also TND and TWINE ranked just below it. ;)

    I think TND is perfectly watchable. It blends old fashioned Bond with a 90's style action movie. Is it great? No but it's decent.

    TWINE on the other hand, I will give you. There certainly are less ridiculous moments than DAD, but TWINE is just, well, boring. And that's the worst sin a Bond film can have.

    I may be in the minority here, but I also love Carver and his plot in TND. Very Bondian to me. The franchise was lucky to have Pryce.
    There are dozens of us! Dozens!

    Hello my golden retrievers!

    TND is great fun.
  • MakeshiftPythonMakeshiftPython “Baja?!”
    Posts: 8,188
    Roadphill wrote: »
    TWINE on the other hand, I will give you. There certainly are less ridiculous moments than DAD, but TWINE is just, well, boring. And that's the worst sin a Bond film can have.

    That's also my primary issue with TND. It's such a generic film. I think Jonathan Pryce was the only guy on set who seemed to have a good idea of what kind of film it should have been, but nobody was matching his energy so that's why he stands out.

    This should have been directed by John Woo, not the guy who did TURNER & HOOCH and STOP! OR MY MOM WILL SHOOT.
  • This should have been directed by John Woo, not the guy who did TURNER & HOOCH and STOP! OR MY MOM WILL SHOOT.

    Very much agreed! I think Spotiswoode did a bette job than Apted or Tamahori, but I can imagine how much better TND would've been directed by Woo or Martin Campbell returning.
  • CraigMooreOHMSSCraigMooreOHMSS Dublin, Ireland
    Posts: 8,217
    I love Woo but I'm glad he never got near Bond, considering what he did with M:I-2.
  • I love Woo but I'm glad he never got near Bond, considering what he did with M:I-2.

    🙏Amen to that🙏
  • RoadphillRoadphill United Kingdom
    Posts: 984
    Roadphill wrote: »
    DAD can never be the worst film in the franchise in my eyes. Not when there's also TND and TWINE ranked just below it. ;)

    I think TND is perfectly watchable. It blends old fashioned Bond with a 90's style action movie. Is it great? No but it's decent.

    TWINE on the other hand, I will give you. There certainly are less ridiculous moments than DAD, but TWINE is just, well, boring. And that's the worst sin a Bond film can have.

    I may be in the minority here, but I also love Carver and his plot in TND. Very Bondian to me. The franchise was lucky to have Pryce.

    Yeah, I like him too. Pryce is a fun villain. Lovely bit of scenery chewing.
  • MakeshiftPythonMakeshiftPython “Baja?!”
    Posts: 8,188
    I love Woo but I'm glad he never got near Bond, considering what he did with M:I-2.

    It’s a much better and entertaining movie than TND, TWINE, and DAD altogether.
  • CraigMooreOHMSSCraigMooreOHMSS Dublin, Ireland
    Posts: 8,217
    I love Woo but I'm glad he never got near Bond, considering what he did with M:I-2.

    It’s a much better and entertaining movie than TND, TWINE, and DAD altogether.

    Not a chance!
  • talos7talos7 New Orleans
    Posts: 8,217
    I don’t get the hate for TWINE; while it does have its flaws , what Bond film, yes even FRWL, doesn’t? I thoroughly enjoy it; it sits in my top 10 as did may even be my favorite Brosnan Bond Change the casting of Dr. Jones and Renard and it may have gotten into my top 5
  • MakeshiftPythonMakeshiftPython “Baja?!”
    Posts: 8,188
    talos7 wrote: »
    I don’t get the hate for TWINE; while it does have its flaws

    Every Bond film has flaws, but not every Bond film is a flaw itself like TWINE.
  • talos7talos7 New Orleans
    Posts: 8,217
    talos7 wrote: »
    I don’t get the hate for TWINE; while it does have its flaws

    Every Bond film has flaws, but not every Bond film is a flaw itself like TWINE.

    Well look at you, aren’t you clever.

  • MakeshiftPythonMakeshiftPython “Baja?!”
    Posts: 8,188
    I'll give this to TWINE: There are far worse Bond ladies than Christmas Jones.
  • RoadphillRoadphill United Kingdom
    edited October 2020 Posts: 984
    talos7 wrote: »
    I don’t get the hate for TWINE; while it does have its flaws , what Bond film, yes even FRWL, doesn’t? I thoroughly enjoy it; it sits in my top 10 as did may even be my favorite Brosnan Bond Change the casting of Dr. Jones and Renard and it may have gotten into my top 5

    It's just boring. The action is lacklustre. Location's are pretty big standard. Finale is weak. Most of the side characters apart from Elektra and M are bland.

    It's not that anything is overly bad, it's just that nothing is good.
  • DenbighDenbigh UK
    edited October 2020 Posts: 5,970
    I also wish Brosnan's era had better cinematography. I know in the 90s it was never gonna be like Skyfall for example, but it's just a shame how drab everything seem to look, especially Tomorrow Never Dies. I think the only thing I'll give Die Another Day is that it didn't look like every crew member had smoked a cigar before shooting, compared to other Brosnan films.
  • MakeshiftPythonMakeshiftPython “Baja?!”
    Posts: 8,188
    The bland TND cinematography is such an oddity. It’s actually shot by Oscar winner Robert Elswit, who in the same year as TND shot BOOGIE NIGHTS.

    But then again, Roger Deakins also shot Spotiswoode’s AIR AMERICA, but you wouldn’t realize that given how bland the film looks as well.
  • edited December 2020 Posts: 7
    Denbigh wrote: »
    I also wish Brosnan's era had better cinematography. I know in the 90s it was never gonna be like Skyfall for example, but it's just a shame how drab everything seem to look, especially Tomorrow Never Dies. I think the only thing I'll give Die Another Day is that it didn't look like every crew member had smoked a cigar before shooting, compared to other Brosnan films.

    Totally agree with this. Dated speed ramping aside, it looks really quite slick compared to the rest of Brosnan’s rather drab looking Bond entries.

    Update: Upon revisiting the film again last night, it’s weird - it alternates between looking slick and noticeably cheap. The photography is more clear and colorful, which is nice, but the production values are all over the place.

    Overall as time has gone on, I tend to look at DAD more fondly. It certainly has its terrible aspects, but I’ll forever be intrigued by what Brosnan’s fifth movie would look like and how the response to DAD would have shaped it.

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