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Wow! I was really surprised at how much I enjoyed it this time around! Usually I just find it okay but leaning towards the negative side, but I was in for a pleasant surprise this time. The one thing that I loved the most was how the movie understood its time constraint and paced itself to where Bond was zipping around from location to location, spending just the right amount of time in each so that you never felt rushed or bored to death. I really enjoyed every location, especially Port-Au-Prince and Austria. Matching the locations, there was at least one action sequence involved, which keeps the pace alive. I really enjoyed the boat chase and the airplane dogfight this time around, whereas I used to yawn at them. The fight with Slate in the hotel room is much to quick, and it should have been longer, and the same with Bond vs. Greene, though I love that one because of the exploding scenery and the swift movements of it all. As for the villains in QoS, well, they still stink, but whatever. I found myself laughing when Elvis got blown up, so maybe it wasn't so bad to have lame villains after all! As for Camille, she's decent. A worthy ally in a fight, but not much of a Bond girl. I also didn't care much for Fields, she was kind of a waste of time. Other than that, and the fact that it should have been longer, QoS was a great joy this time and I will most certainly be moving it up in the ranks.
Maybe I should give it another watch - I don't know.
I still find some of the editing very poor though, especially in the boat chase.
I dare you to count the number of cuts.
I do like the final shot of Craig firing the gun at the camera during the fight with Mitchell though.
I'm at a standstill with LALD this time, because I still have a soft spot for it, but it wasn't as enjoyable this time around personally. The one big thing that nailed me was the action. Number 1, there wasn't enough, and number 2, what we did get wasn't very good, except for some parts of the boat chase and the fight with Tee Hee. The dialogue stuff wasn't as there much to help us out either, except for where Bond finds out Mr. Big is Kananga. The one big factor that made the movie stand out is the music, but that alone can't carry the weight of a movie, so I may have to bump LALD down a few notches, unfortunately. Not much, because as I said, I still have a soft spot for it, but I'll have to bump it down a little, unfortunately.
Watched it with a friend of mine who is really into Brosnan's Bond movies. I hadn't seen it in a while, and neither had he, so we put it in for a spin. Even though I went in hopeful, I was still let down drastically. Even though I love a Bond movie with good action spread out to where there is never a dull moment, DAD still fails to make a hit with me, and it has action spread out. That still can't save it from taking a bottom place on my rankings. Not much to say except that I still don't like it very much.
I will say this, there is quite a noticible difference with Brosnan. His mannerisms, his general body language all seem much less "boyish" than they were in GE. Just seeing him lock up his car and walk from the car park to the hotel I'm sold that he's Commander James Bond. It's a shame his films post GE weren't as strong script or characterwise.
Indeed. I think TND is where Brosnan "became" Bond. The ghost of Dalton's Bond haunts GE for me. Brosnan in GE shines in the more comical moments but in the serious moments he comes off as a block of wood. TND's script was tailored to his "Remington Steele-ish" Bond strengths and he comes off much stronger and more confident in the role. It's essentially the most "tick-the-box" entry post-AVTAK but it moves at a good pace. TND's easily the best of the 3 1990s Bond films IMHO.
Plus Teri Hatcher is a baaaad actress (the line "I made my bed you don't sleep in it anymore" always makes me cringe). Brosnan easily outacts her in their scenes together though I feel sorry for him for having to say such cheesey lines. It's nothing compared to the Bond/Jinx stuff in DAD though.
As Haphazard said the scene with him and Kaulfman is probably one of Brozza's finest moments as 007.
GE just has a better set of characters and a slightly more "adult" feel to it. Personally I thought Brozza did rather well in the serious stuff (namely the reunion with Alec) BUT sometimes came off as a bit stiff during other scenes.
An example is the Q scene. Some of the background gags are funny but both Brosnan and Desmond seem a bit - off. Perhaps this is understandable as it was Desmond's first time in 6 years (by which point he was 81) and Brosnan's first time as Bond. It just sometimes seems like they are reading their lines - Desmond literally is in one shot.
In Dies (and TWINE for that matter) both seem a little more relaxed and chummy - despite the dialogue being cheesey as hell ("this, I'm PARTICULARLY proud of, "grow up 007" - lines also used in GE).
I really HATE to be critical of old Brozza, and GE for that matter, but the more I ponder the more I wonder whether its his weakest performance :'( :'( :'(
We all like to be critical of the Brosnan era nowdays but, while they were certainly flawed, I think his films suited their era very well. Recently I re-watched True Lies, made in 1994, and Eraser and Desperado, both made in 1996. All three were big, loud cheesey action films.
(I love the title of this)
Someone falling from an aeroplane without a parachute and then catching up with it in freefall. Where have I seen that before ;)
I think GE's plot is a combo of DAF's and TB's. The DAF points are mentioned above while like TB its plot involves a criminal organization using a femme fatale to kill a NATO officer and replace him with a double in order to steal a nuclear weapon for use against the West.
I'd say all of Brosnan's films reuse plot combos from earlier films:
TND reuses YOLT's and TSWLM's.
TWINE seems like a mixture of OHMSS and AVTAK.
DAD mixes the plots of DAF and OP.
FRWL 10/10
OHMSS 10/10
MR 8/10
TB 8/10
TSWLM 8/10
I like the locations better in GE and Natalya easily trounces the annoying Wai Lin for me in the leading lady department. If Dalton had stayed to play Bond and John Barry had stayed to score it, I'd probably rank it higher than TND but not in its current form. As they stand now, TND succeeds at its goals more than GE does so the 1997 Bond film wins for me.
Objectively speaking, is her acting really any worse than Tania Mallet's, Lana Wood's, Gloria Hendry's, Barbara Bach's, Tanya Roberts', Talisa Soto's or Denise Richards'?
I'd say Brosnan and Hatcher are about the same. It's like Remington Steele and Lois Lane. Agree that Bond/Paris is better than Bond/Jinx.
Agree.
I thought he was totally stiff in the "I trusted you, Alec." moment while Sean Bean completely outacted him. That's a good scene but it's one of the ones where I really miss Timothy Dalton.
I'd rank Brosnan's 4 Bond performances in this order:
001) DAD
002) TND
003) GE
004) TWINE(this may be more the fault of the melodramatic lines Purvis, Wade and Michael Apted's wife thought up for him to say though).
The reason I like Brozza better in that scene is because he looks genuinely annoyed/fed up to see Paris in his doorway. I suspect that might have something to do with the fact that Brozza and Hatcher weren't exactly the best of friends while filming.
I once said TSWLM was Sir Roger's strongest Bond film bar none, but now I am not so sure. It's not that I disliked The Spy Who Loved Me, but I was somewhat letdown this time. Perhaps the film was just a little 'too much' all around, I don't know. Still a fairly strong Bond film, but something was off...
From an 8/10 to a
7/10
For me, whatever negative vibes existed between Brosnan and Miss Hatcher offscreen added to the Bond/Paris scenes on screen since Paris was supposed to be mad at Bond for dumping her years earlier while Bond was supposed to mad at Paris for her husband's thugs beating him up. I believe I've read that Brosnan didn't exactly get along offscreen with Stephanie Zimbalist(his Remington Steele leading lady) either and he had to work with her much more than any of his Bond girls.
I still think Brosnan is more convincing as the wounded soul than Hatcher.
At this point in time Brosnan has just rescued Berry from the Ice Palace, as much as I hoped she would drown and perish, it just wasn't to be, easily one of the most annoying and banal Bond girls of the series, she isn't even that attractive, why Bond went back and took all that time to rescue her instead of focusing on more important matters is a mystery
Terrible Madonna music that gives me criminal intentions etc etc, fun teaser, interesting bits here and there, Toby Stephens is a fun adversary, good sword fight, Pike is a fine looking woman, should of been the real Bond girl and Berry to be killed off, they got it wrong here, (here's a fun bit, cutting through the perimeter fence with some equipment, a few snips and a huge freakin' hole the size of New Jersey appears), just adds to an already damaged and totally inplausible picture, pity really, as it could of been a really fun adventure if one or two things had been different or changed
Bond rating 2/5
Fun rating 2/5
Action rating 2/5
Staying power 1/5
Humor rating 1/5
Inplausible rating 5/5
Overall rating 2/5 (it does have some redeeming qualities but the fact I was unable this time to get to the ending should illustrate enough)
Bond rating: 5/5- Brosnan did a magnificent job once again, probably giving his most human performance on his third time around. His suspicions of Elektra and the resulting murder bring out the best of Brosnan's Bond.
Action rating: 4/5- TWINE definitely holds my attention. The excellent pre-title sequence is more than enough to satisfy. The gun fight underground in the missile silo is epic and pulse-pounding, and the gun fight at Zukovsky's caviar factory is one of my favorite Bond battles ever. Also, the entire climax at the Maiden's Tower and the submarine is pure 007. The only two pieces of action that I had a problem with were the ski chase and the fight with Renard. They are just really lame and boring, not much more to say on that note.
Locations rating: 4/5- Spain, London, Azerbaijan, and Istanbul provide us with some wonderful scenery. Kazakstan doesn't do much for the movie, but it's not really a big deal, since the movie barely stays there for any length of time.
Music Rating: 3.5/5- I particularly like the music played during the gun fights in the missile silo and at Zukovsky's factory, and I absolutely love the James Bond theme played during the PTS boat chase.
Villains: 3/5- Elektra King is a good female villain who you really want dead by the end of the movie due to her cunning evil. Renard is a great idea for a co-villain, and if had been used a little better by the direcotrs, could have been one of my favorite villains. As for the others, they are mostly forgettable.
Overall, TWINE has grown on me and I really like it now! Definitely a Top Ten or just outside of it, around #11.
I haven't seen DAD in a long time and I didn't expect it to be as good as it was, so that surprised me a bit. This was easily Brosnan's best performance as Bond too. I also wasn't bothered at all by the Jinx character, as I know some people are and I also found this movie to have some good humor in it. The only things that hold back this movie are the bad CGI, the cheesy dialogue, and parts of the second half in Iceland. The first half was fantasic, if only they could redo the second part of the movie. I would still rank it in the 15-20 range.
Wow, now there's a mouthful ;)
I found myself watching it recently and enjoyed most of it up until the Iceland part.
Personally I think one of the best scenes of DAD (and indeed the Brosnan era) is the reunion between Bond and M in the underground station. Two experienced, rather jaded professionals just wanting to get on with their jobs.
"Abandoned station...for abandoned agents"