12 replies to this topic

[JimmyBond]

I have hundreds of random Bond thoughts during the day, every single one of them I intend to pop up on here as a thread. Nine times out of ten I forget, this is the tenth time

It seems that a lot of peoples issue with Bond surfing on the fallout of the glacier is not so much that it's unrealistic (though I'm sure that's part of it), but that it's the series first full CGI stunt, no actors were involved (except for that closeup where Brosnan was showing all the emotion of a man in front of a green screen).

I'm not here to debate whether or not the sequence itself is silly, but I'm curious, could they have faked the scene, but still made it look better than what we ended up with? I think in execution it's a neat idea, but the image of the CGI Bond really kills the mood (though to be honest, the whole sequence is a bit of a guilty pleasure of mine, as I love how ridiculously over the top silly it is).

[Dustin]

It's certainly not entirely impossible to rig such a stunt and survive it. It's just entirely incalculable how to get through this and exit on the other side still breathing. Alone setting up such a device atop the glacier cliff would have been downright suicidal. Then you'd have to get the beast calving with explosives while the stuntman does his best to cling to a parachute that's got to be looking like a hasty shoestring affair, yet has to be fully manoeuvrable. Finally the guy must manage to get away from the cliff and the unpredictable winds while several tons of ice plunge into the Arctic seas.

In short, no, a stunt as seen in DAD is not manageable within the necessary safety of a film production.

You could however have had the scene altered to Bond chasing for the shadow of thick clouds, thus ending up in the wreck not exactly hanging like he did, and then escaping the glacier in a kind of base-jump. Still dangerous like hell but at least without the whole iceberg coming down on him in the bargain.

[S K Y F A L L]

What saves the iceberg scene for me is the music, what I don't really like is WHY he is doing this stunt and that is because he has Icarus after him. Which is right out of Batman Forever.

I would have liked to see them cut the scene of Graves parachuting and then have Bond using a union jack parachute in the iceberg scene. Also perhaps they could have used smaller waves and less icebergs.

[jamie00007]

This is the same movie that had an embarrassingly fake CGI Halle Berry dive off a cliff into the ocean, a stunt done for real in dozens of films, even a comedy like Forgetting Sarah Marshall so even if it was possible it wouldnt have mattered.

[x007AceOfSpades]

When I was 8 years old sitting in the theater, it was the coolest thing I ever saw, Now 10 years later, it's the most laughable thing.

However, CGI was just the only and safest route to go. CGI has improved over the years (Even though I hate films that are built on CGI). I merely think the scene wasn't necessary, but was in there as a Bond Moment so people can say "HEY! Remember when Bond was parachuting away from that giant Ice wave in DAD?!"

Why risk it with practical effects and stunts, when you can take the easy route with CGI.

[marktmurphy]

Whilst the cliff drop and all of that would have have to have been CGI I suppose they could have done more practical stuff with Bond. A closer in shot of a guy on a wire being pulled over one of those static waves you get? You'd imagine you could get a few shots of Pierce on something like that.

Or I suppose you could have got a guy actually kite surfing, but I don't know how you'd fake the wave. The environment is so large and hard to build that I don't know how anyone could do it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PEZiZ9G-gNs

[JimmyBond]

I suppose what I'm really asking, is could they have "faked" it another way to make it appear more realistic.

Another thought I had, was when the rocket car goes over the cliff (with the anchor keeping it from flying off), it seems that at least that part of the sequence could have been done for real. Just shoot some replicas of the rocket car over the clif whilst being attached.

[marktmurphy]

Another thought I had, was when the rocket car goes over the cliff (with the anchor keeping it from flying off), it seems that at least that part of the sequence could have been done for real. Just shoot some replicas of the rocket car over the clif whilst being attached.

Yes, that's true. I think the shot of the painted cigar thy have playing the part of the car twanging on its little string is far worse than the CGI bloke on the wave!

[Iceskater101]

Yeah when I was younger watching the scene in Die another Day, I thought it was so cool. Now it just looks way too fake. I think they could have done it in a way that would have been cooler.

[Hockey Mask]

I'm not here to debate whether or not the sequence itself is silly

I'm here to debate it. The sequence was silly. any takers?

[Trevelyan 006]

I think the real question should be, could the CGI ice wave just be cut out completely?

There had to be ways around that one...

[Dustin]

I think the real question should be, could the CGI ice wave just be cut out completely?

There had to be ways around that one...

At a guess I'd say it was intended as one more of those tributes to the series DAD is filled with. At the time TSWLM's ski jump was supposed to have another chapter when Bond lands on a motorboat on a lake and is further chased there by KGB killers. This was scrapped as taking it just one step too far, but I wonder if DAD's CGI glacier and ice wave isn't suffering from exactly that syndrome.

[JimmyBond]

You may be on to something. It certainly seems the ice surfing was meant to be reminiscent of the Ski jump.