11 replies to this topic

[Xenobia]

Well folks, it's the moment you have all been waiting for...Xenobia's review of "Die Another Day."

Alright, OK...I know you are really waiting on Jim's review...but in the meantime, deal with me.

I figure I will hit on the major aspects of this film, in order, sort of, and then let the debating begin.

A BRIEF WORD ON MR. PIERCE BRENDON BROSNAN:

Contrary to publicly voiced concerns...Pierce Brosnan is in this film. Pierce Brosnan is 007. More on that in a second.

PRETITLES: This is the one part of the film I have seen virtually nothing of, so it was an entire surprise for me. Will Yun Lee was amazing as Colonel Moon, and never more so than our first glimpse of him in the demonstrating sequence. The devastation he wreeks on his unfortunate lecturer is as strking a demonstration as Graves later demonstration of Icarus during the Ice ballet.
Bond's surfing entrance is nowhere near as campy as I expected it to be, so I was very grateful for that. Most of the hovercraft chase I found to be very exciting. Yes, I could tell when they were using green screen, but the folks with me could not, so perhaps it is in the eye of the very careful beholder.

TITLES: To my great surprise and pleasure, these worked. I would have prefered that the ladies be a touch more transparent, just so I could see more of Bond getting tortured. I was never quite sure when 007 became Scorpian food, but maybe that is a good thing. Brosnan looked sufficently pained, especially in the slow sequence when he rises from the floor to his knees.

WELCOME HOME: Would Bond really be waving to Robinson? Me thinks not. It was equally hard to get a read on M. I got the impression that she wasn't angry he was traded, or that a leak came from his section, but that he got captured in the first place. It felt like she was disappointed in him, and was baiting him just to see if he would take the bait and prove her wrong...which of course he did do.
We get an excellent sense of how Bond surivived his fourteen months at the North Korean Holiday Inn by seeing Bond deliberately slow his heart rate to trigger the machines. He literally thought to himself, "I am gonna (well, more likely going to) close my body now," and he did. Nice work Madonna. What do you know, your song makes sense after all.

HONG KONG: Well, we all know where Wai Lin was supposed to be, and I 'd rather have seen Michelle Yeoh back than Rachel Grant. That being said, if it was MY, then there would be no point to Bond shooting out the mirror, now would there?
The bit with the hotel staff was just a touch to real for me. Isn't it amazing how reception clerks all around the world seem to just know how to ask the really stupid questions? Of course, if I was Bond, when Mr. Clerk asked me for my credit card I would have simply replied, "Sorry, it's in my other pair of trousers."

CUBA: The best music of the series is in this sequence. I could go for an entire album just of "Welcome to Cuba." MBE once told me that Pierce Brosnan taught the world how to walk in a suit in "The Thomas Crown Affair," and I think Pierce continues the walking lessons in "Die Another Day." Men, take note: If you want to be taken seriously in a floral shirt...strut the way Bond struts into the cigar factory.
Two notes on the cigar factory: I was impressed with the detail of having someone read the papers to the factory workers. Evidently that is pretty true. Some folks in Cuba make their living reading the papers, singing, and telling jokes to the factory workers.
This being said...how would 007 know the codes to wake up a long sleeping sleeper? I am just wondering...
I will speak more of Jinx later...but that bedroom scene was nice...but nowhere near as raunchy as I expected it to be. I think we saw more of Sophie Marceau in TWINE than we did not Halle Berry. I also don't think folks fall into bed that fast...but given my history..what do I know.
I suppose I should say something about the clinic. I am big believer in the plausable being possible, so the Gene theraphy angle was not a big stretch for me. I did however find it slightly obnoxious that Bond took a fruit break before he battled Zao. Oh well. Berry's swan dive was magnificent...and Zao's departure had the appropriate amount of bang to it.
And oh by the way....my favorite nod to the past was in this scene...and I would have gotten it without asking for a hint, but I publicly thank DLibrasnow for it. Well done. But again...I am left wondering...why would a clinic have a fun house? Is this so the staff can kill time during the slow hours?


BBAC: Who was on the cover of that magazine. For one minute I thought they actually put Sean on the cover. Someone take a close look and tell me. If it is Sean...nice nod.

LONDON CALLING: I could live without the Clash...but Graves entrance and Miranda's set the tone for their characters. Those folks playing members of the press were very realistic. The must have been briefed. But what did they do to the sky...as I recall it was raining in London that weekend....

BLADES: Good news 1: Madonna finally found herself in a hit movie. Her cameo worked for me, but I don't think I would have wanted to see more of her.
Good news 2: That fight scene is simply the best hand to hand combat scene of the series. It kicked serious butt. Kudos to the stunt people and to Brosnan and Stevens for one bloody hell of a job!

HOME AGAIN: This was the first clip from the film that I saw, and in its entirity it makes a great deal of sense. Brosnan and Dench continue to play well off of each other. M.'s faith is restored, but not Bond's is shaken. M. must prove herself to him, which I guess she does eventually, but for the time being it is Bond's patriotism and his need for revenge that keep him going and brought him back.

THE Q SCENE: Finally, we are back to the Connery / Llewlyn days where Q and Bond are colleagues (and the Quartermaster is none to fond of his double 0 colleague) not father and son, as Brosnan and Llewlyn were. The Cleese / Brosnan dynamic allows for the one lines to go more toward the tart side. I enjoy it that way....wonderful allusions to the past nonwithstanding.

THE VANGUAARD: Cool car...very cool stunts with it...I could live without the mirrors, but I suppose if you were going to make the camoflauge angle viable, that would be it.

ICELAND: Everything worked well...although Frost got a touch too much like Carver's assistant for my taste. Everyone looked wonderful in their fancy garb. I am glad "We Have All The Time In The World" was not played during this scene, that would have been too much.
Somehow Berry's line, "I got the thrust of it," didn't come off as obnoxious has it has in the past...which is a good thing for me.
Frost and Bond's love scene reminded me a touch of Dr. No. True, Bond didn't know Frost was the traitor at that point, but he was definately looking to score with someone who wasn't that crazy about him. For two people who play act, they play very nicely together. Again though...nothing raunchy here, and nothing too sexy at all. Those stills of this scene were waaaaaaaaaaay off.
The ice ballet was going very well for me (Vic Armstrong, if you don't get an Oscar for this, you, Harrison and Pierce need to kick some Academy butt), until out of nowhere, there is this trailer for Nightfire the game. What the heck was that about....oh no wait...that was just the CGI surfing sequence. Folks...here's a thought: Give us back the hottub scene and put the cybersurfing in Nightfire, where it belongs.
The New York Times suggested that DAD should have ended with Bond saving Jinx. Had this been a true cliffhanger, then yes, that would have been a great ending. But this is no cliffhanger, and Bond needs to get his revenge.

-- Xenobia St. James Will Return in "Analyze This" to talk about the actors in this film.

[JimmyBond]

Great review Xen, you and me see eye to eye on several key points. Except for the CGI shot, I didnt think it was that bad, but hey, I think I've made that clear by now I could touch on a few things you said, but theres really nothing more to say. I really enjoyed the Q scene, as you did, I felt the Q scenes in the last few films were lacking, it was the cue cards of course. Though I wouldnt replace Desmond in a second, and I know if he were alive, we'd have him in DAD

[rafterman]

good review Xen, but I like the CGI scene for its sheer absurdity, it's Bond...though I would have loved some of the dramatic scenes that were cut put back in...

[Sir James]

well to be totally honest, I really like DAD. I thought that it has taken all the different kinds of Bond films over the years, and put all their themes into one movie. And while the CGI stuff at times does look incredibly fake, like when Bond parachutes off the ice into the water to escape Icarus, if you take it for what its supposed to be than it is excellent. And what I love about all of Brosnan's films is that there is a reason for Bonds hunt for the villian. Here it was to settle the score between enemies. And the great thing about that was, despite the Icarus subplot taking over the last quarter of the film, it still was always brought back to Bonds quest for vengence.

All in All I gave it a 96%, which is the highest I have ever given a Bond film. TWINE also weighs in at 96%, but when it came to breaking down the indivudal elements of this movie, DAD took it by a hair.

[homerjbond]

What about Moneypenny's scene near the end? Classic! This got the best reaction from the audience. Seriously, I couldn't hear what Moneypenny or Q said after that because people were laughing so much. It made me almost forget the lame CGI...almost

[JackChase007]

One of my big things about Die Another Day now that I have seen it is that it's such a BEAUTIFUL movie. The photography is just perfect with everything, and the action is captured just brilliantly (although there were a couple of quick edits that bugged me, but I can overlook them, just like the CGI Bond and Madonna - nothing can ruin this movie for me...). My favorite shot would have to be the scene where Bond is walking down the corridor of mirrors to find Zao, a la Man With The Golden Gun. The camera angle was fantastic, and it's one of the more beautiful shots in the film.

Oh, and by the way, that is not Connery's picture on the front of the magazine - it is a picture of Gustav Graves. In fact, I noticed that when they show Bond reading the article, there is one quote that was enlarged, and three words on the page stood out to me: DIAMONDS ARE FOREVER....... Another DAF direct reference...

I love this movie. I'm seeing it for my third time in an hour and forty minutes.

[Loomis]

Thanks for the review, Xen. I'd like to take you up on the following:

Originally posted by Xenobia

1. I would have prefered that the ladies be a touch more transparent, just so I could see more of Bond getting tortured.  

2. WELCOME HOME: Would Bond really be waving to Robinson?  Me thinks not.  

3. I was impressed with the detail of having someone read the papers to the factory workers.  Evidently that is pretty true.  Some folks in Cuba make their living reading the papers, singing, and telling jokes to the factory workers.

4. that bedroom scene was nice...but nowhere near as raunchy as I expected it to be.  I think we saw more of Sophie Marceau in TWINE than we did not Halle Berry.  I also don't think folks fall into bed that fast...but given my history..what do I know.
         
5. BBAC:                 Who was on the cover of that magazine.  For one minute I thought they actually put Sean on the cover.  Someone take a close look and tell me.  If it is Sean...nice nod.

6. LONDON CALLING:  I could live without the Clash...but Graves entrance and Miranda's set the tone for their characters.  Those folks playing members of the press were very realistic.  The must have been briefed.  But what did they do to the sky...as I recall it was raining in London that weekend....

7. fight scene is simply the best hand to hand combat scene of the series.  It kicked serious butt.  Kudos to the stunt people and to Brosnan and Stevens for one bloody hell of a job!

8. THE Q SCENE:  Finally, we are back to the Connery / Llewlyn days where Q and Bond are colleagues (and the Quartermaster is none to fond of his double 0 colleague) not father and son, as Brosnan and Llewlyn were.   The Cleese / Brosnan dynamic allows for the one lines to go more toward the tart side.  I enjoy it that way....wonderful allusions to the past nonwithstanding.

9. Frost and Bond's love scene reminded me a touch of Dr. No.  True, Bond didn't know Frost was the traitor at that point, but he was definately looking to score with someone who wasn't that crazy about him.  For two people who play act, they play very nicely together.  Again though...nothing raunchy here, and nothing too sexy at all.  Those stills of this scene were waaaaaaaaaaay off.

1. Agreed. I'm not saying I wished there'd been wall-to-wall gore (although, you know, that's pretty much what it would've been like there, methinks), but we didn't see enough of Bond being tortured.

2. Absolutely! If anything, surely Bond would've given Robinson the finger!

3. Yes, fantastic detail during Bond's first few minutes in Cuba. The production design, cinematography and music, all first rate. Possibly the high point of the film for me, where an atmosphere of "quintessential Bond" really kicks in.

4. The Brosnan/Berry scene wasn't raunchy, but it was definitely erotic. As for folks falling into bed that fast, all I can say is: move to London.

5. I think it was Blue Eyes who wrote that we should pay attention to the name of the writer of the "High Life" article Bond is reading. I did, and it didn't ring any bells. I'm far from 100% sure, but I think it was Greg Williams or something. Anyone in on this one?

6. "London Calling" was really unnecessary. They might as well have played The Sex Pistols' "Anarchy In The UK", Blur's "Parklife" or Oasis' "Don't Look Back In Anger". What were they thinking? That there needed to be an allusion to classic British rock as a way of setting the scene? Very strange. I also read that the filmmakers decided to cut the shot of Bond arriving in the UK on the landing gear of the BA jet so that the audience could be momentarily fooled into thinking that the guy coming down on the Union Jack chute was Bond. If so, they fumbled the trick by cutting first to Frost talking to waiting reporters about her employer who's about to arrive.

7. Yes, superb fight scene. Blood gets drawn, heh heh.

8. The Q scene was another of the film's highlights for me. Cleese was simply brilliant, richly deserving of his name on the poster (a first for Q), very funny yet somehow very credible. Great kudos to all concerned for not letting the Q scene descend into nostalgia or comic schtick (a real danger, especially with all the nods to the past).

9. The Frost and Bond love scene: I must have blinked and missed it. A major flaw for me was that the characters never spent much time together (I'm not just talking between the sheets here) or established any kind of rapport. There was thus no impact whatsoever to Frost's unmasking as the traitor, as the audience was never primed to expect anything different or put their trust or sympathy in Frost. I suppose we're meant to take it that Bond and Frost knew each other as colleagues before Bond's captivity, but what we never know is whether Bond thought her trustworthy in the first place.

[JackChase007]

I don't get why Bond would show any hostility towards Robinson. They apparantly have formed a friendship, and Bond knows his job. He knew that he had to be given up. The only thing he held against anybody was that M suspected him of giving into the Koreans and that he was being forced into retirement.

[Loomis]

Yes, you're right. Bond would have had nothing against Robinson per se, but I just don't think he'd have given a cheery wave either. Most probably he'd've been pissed off at, resentful and suspicious of any of his old colleagues, which would have been immediately confirmed by his being put to sleep and spirited away to captivity on a warship.

[Xenobia]

I believe Greg Williams is one of the Bond book writers...and a good one at that.

As for Frost and Bond...I have a feeling in the DVD things are going to get a touch longer...

-- Xenobia

[JimmyBond]

I dont think Frost and Bond knew each other prior to the Blade's club duel. It certantly seems that way when M asks Frost about Bond.

[OHMSS]

My Review of Die Another Day:

This movie was really enjoyable. The plot was nothing special but it was not the mind-numbingly idiot plots of the past (i.e Tomorrow Never Dies). The main problem with Die Another Day is that in its effort to big the biggest, and best Bond, the producers/writers really bit off more than they could chew.

The pre-titles sequence is wonderful. The surfing scenes have just the right tone and the amazing surfing of pro surfers makes this buyable. Amazing choreography in the hovercraft scenes and Will Yun-Lee is on the screen for too short a time. The main titles are also stirring as Bond's torture does not eat up valuable running time in the film. It is shown in brief glimpes. I love this aspect.

Bond and M's encounter on the ship is tense and Brosnan wears the beard and torment of Bond extremely well here. The Hong Kong scene provides brief humor and allows Bond to resume his quest for Zao. I like the line given by Chang, "If you find Zao, say goodbye to him for us."

Cuba, I love the look (Cadiz fills in beautifully). Bond driving down the highway in an old car with just a six shooter makes me yearn for a stripped down Bond. But the action in the clinic and the scenes with Raoul are great. Halle's cliff dive CGI is not the bad and very brief (Love the wink).

Transition to London and Bond's scenes with Q are priceless if not all to brief. M doesn't have much to do here but Dame Judy is an amazing presence. The Blades club fight is in top five Bond duels of all time. Stunning.

Iceland is were this movie started to lose steam. Barring perhaps The Spy Who Loved Me's Liparus tanker set, all big Bond sets wave equalled major action at the expense of plot. If you build a big set you have to destroy it and in this movie overuse it. All the scenes in the biodome were unnecessary and the invisible Aston is a distraction here. What ever happened to sneaking around stealthily without a million gadgets? The Bond/Zao car chase is amazing and showcases some beautiful camera and stunt coordination. Then comes the idiotic para-surf CGI scene. This scene was not needed. Iceland really surfered from too many action set pieces. If they really wanted to do this scene right they would have filmed it along with the surfing at the begininning of the film using a real parasailer and then maybe doing a CGI composite of ice bergs. The CGI Bond looked fake to everyone. The nature of the stunt did not bother me. The CGI did. They could have achieved a similar effect without it. And then the destruction of the Ice Palace took too long and Zao met a quick meaningless death.

Transition to the finale and the Antanov scenes. The highlight here is the fight between Jinx and Frost which really took away from the climactic battle between Bond and Graves. The story should never overshadow that Bond is the focus.

So in summary here are my main highlights and lowlights:

Lowlights:

Too much plot/action to pack into this movie. The second half of the film seems rushed and does not mesh with the breezy but taught pace of the opening-London scenes.

The females are great in the film, but really we don't know a thing about either of them. And neither does Bond when you think about it.

Zao is not utilized. Rick Yune looks great and has great potential but he does nothing memorable.

Bond has no male ally ala Felix Leiter, Jack Wade, or even Valentin Zukovsky to support him.

The one liners are somewhat lacking in zest

The second half is predictable and tired

The blatant CGI must go

Highlights:

Brosnan is fully in command and balanced as Bond. He wears the role extremely well and plays to all his strengths. As for him looking old, it only happens in a few scenes.

Halle Berry and Rosamund Pike are beautiful and they act unlike Denise uh...what's her name again? Haven't heard from her recently.

The cinematography is gorgeous. After two dull lifeless films worth of scenes, Bond gets a man behind the lense with an eye for style.

The first half of the movie threatens to rival all the classic for tone and substance.

The action is mostly original and exciting

Bond is always the best even at his worst