6 replies to this topic

[Loomis]

DIE ANOTHER DAY
Rating: 7 out of 10

While I would say that there is PLENTY wrong with this film (I agree with others' criticisms of the turns it often makes into Stupidsville, the over-reliance on frankly execrable CGI, etc.), I have to say that I enjoyed it immensely. I found it very hard to dislike.

Its predecessor, THE WORLD IS NOT ENOUGH, seemed at first glance to have been made with all the right ideas and intentions and should have worked. For me it fell flat. The reason, I think, was that the filmmakers didn't really know what sort of Bond picture they wanted to make, and tried to come up with something they felt would please everyone. For the Fleming diehards, they incorporated a woman who severed part of her own ear, while for those whose ideal Bond adventure is lighthearted, fun-for-all-the-family burlesque, there was the usual saucy banter with Moneypenny, and John Cleese getting his lab coat stuck in a car door.

The obligation it appears the filmmakers felt to "play to the gallery" every so often (as against director Michael Apted's publicly stated aim to make a relatively "serious" and "believable" Bond outing) resulted in a movie with jarring shifts in tone, which played like several people's competing ideas of a Bond movie thrown uneasily together.

DIE ANOTHER DAY could so easily have been TWINE Mark II. It isn

[Loomis]

As for how I'd rank DIE ANOTHER DAY alongside the other Bonds, it's say it's considerably better than TOMORROW NEVER DIES and THE WORLD IS NOT ENOUGH, but not quite as good as GOLDENEYE.

It's also better than any of the 1970s or 80s outings, with the possible exception of LICENCE TO KILL, which I have something of a soft spot for.

It's not as good as any of the 1960s Bond films.

[Mi6 AgntBond007]

I felt the same way about Bond being electricuted during the finale. Next time I see DAD, I think I'm going to time the scene and see just how long exactly he gets shocked by Graves. It seemed like an eternity!

[Loomis]

For me, it summed up how DAD became more and more overblown and uninteresting towards the end, with plot and characters totally sacrified for empty spectacle.

I hope B5Erik2 won't mind me quoting something he wrote on another thread here, because I agree with him entirely: "Brosnan is a robot in the last 30-45 minutes of DAD - you can tell that he didn't like how over the top the movie got. It was TOO MUCH. The rest of the actors really phone it in for the last 30-45 minutes, and almost none of the lines are given any conviction."

[TheBritishEnd]

The 'sports cars in rice paddies' scene was one of my favorites. Classic Bond humour.

One thing that surprised me, is that I may be the only one who likes the theme song. Now, I've never cared for Madonna's music, especially her newer dance grooves, but for some reason I was looking forward to seeing the song on the big screen. I especially enjoy the line 'I'm gonna break the cliche', which sets up the film's tone (for the first half, at least).

If it wasn't in a Bond film, I probably wouldn't like it. But it is Bond, after all. So far, there aren't many themes that I haven't enjoyed. (Okay, I usually skip LTK and TLD on the compilation cd- though the latter is hum-worthy.)

[Loomis]

I also love the title song, TheBritishEnd. It's great to have a radically different song accompanying a radically different opening title sequence.

Madonna is one of a number of aspects of DAD I'd've mentioned in my review, but I found I had to edit it heavily to get it within the maximum wordcount.

[Loomis]

Having seen DAD for the second time, I'm relieved to be able to say that my enjoyment of it first time around wasn't simply the excitement of finally being able to see another Bond film three years on from the last one.

It works just as well on a second viewing, possibly even better, although it still has plenty of flaws, and there is a slight sense of disappointment that the filmmakers managed to come far closer than they have done in many, many years to making a perfect Bond film, but just not close enough. I pinpointed the introduction of Q's invisible car as the moment from which DAD goes into decline.

So I stick with everything I have written above. My rating still stands at a (perhaps slightly generous) 7 out of 10.