While there is no question the film has been casted in a bad light by some in the fan base, those who immaturely despise the film with name-calling are in a small minority in the larger movie going population.
I assume that this name-calling you are speaking of refers to those who have described DAD as trash, rubbish and one of the worst Bond films ever made. I don't think it's immature at all; rather I think the name-calling is a reflection of just how much some of us truly hate DAD.
BTW, welcome to the best Bond site on the internet. {[]
"He’s a man way out there in the blue, riding on a smile and a shoeshine. And when they start not smiling back—that’s an earthquake. and then you get yourself a couple of spots on your hat, and you’re finished. Nobody dast blame this man. A salesman is got to dream, boy. It comes with the territory." Death of a Salesman
Hey, I loved this movie, especially the first thirty minutes, up until Iceland, and then, the Swan Bed. But seeing Bond in the hotel room shaving was something so silent, yet conferred so much about his taste, the Norelco razor, Brioni shirts, (and yes, they are Brioni, T&A told me, and you can zoom in on the label on the DVD), the suits, and the layout of the fruitand champagne bakset was something so rich, and something that everyone wanted to be. KUDOS, Brosnan, and kudos Bond, becuase that moment of silence showed the calm, sophisticated Bond. Does this scene strike anyone else? Even the hotel scene in DN with the wet hair on the door and the shoulder holster before going to the club was not as good.
I must say that I hated DAD when it was released ... simply hated it. There's a thread hanging around somewhere with my post-film autopsy. And it was an autopsy.
I had a chance to watch it again a couple of weeks back (I have the DVD ... the Bond completist that I am) on TV and I have to say that it is - if possible - even worse than I remember it.
From Bond's buddhist heart stop/restart, to the holodeck to the invisible car, it is simply woeful. In fact in retrospect, the poor CGI just looked dated and fake rather than the abomination it was to many on release (see what I did there? Damning with very faint praise).
In truth, the part of the film that will truly stick in my memory in addition to the above is the diabolical acting from the entire cast.
Perhaps this is systematic of director who clearly didn't like actors (no, he liked jump cuts and fire and ice) and scriptwriters who don't like stories.
Nevertheless, one would almost expect AT&T to be a corporate sponsor of the film, the number of performances that were phoned in.
Apologies to the Pierce fans, but this was his worst performance of his four Bonds. He looked badly prepared, lazy and unfit.
Berry was simply shocking in a simply shocking role, while Stevens was barely two-dimensional. Old Pikey survives only because her character was so lifeless that it's impossible to tell whether she was acting or not.
Oh dear, my blood pressure is up.
DAD is a Bond film in name, but not in spirit or execution. It was a story of too little talent spread too thin.
Although I rank this at the bottom of my Films list, and may slate parts of it, I don't hate it.
I don't hate any of the Bond films, I see the good in them all, in spite of any faults I find with the film.
The first 45 minutes, Toby Stevens aside, I love. The hovercraft chase is superb, in fact the whole of the PTS I rank with the best.
And the sword fight I think is superb.
There are a few things that ruin this film for me:
CGI - it is too ott at times and it really shows. These days we can have a photo-realistic Gollum in Lord of the Rings but when Halle Berry dives off a huge wall or Pierce Brosnan surfs with a parachute on a huge wave it looks fake. If you can't do a stunt in real life, please don't put it in a Bond film!!
That Bloody Car - I realise upon entering the theatre to watch Bond that I may have to suspend disbeleif to a certain extent, but please, an invisible car! I actually groaned when it was revealed
Toby Stevens - He's a fantastic actor away from Bond. However, like the CGI in the film, he is just to over the top for me. Horrible villain.
Madonna - It's bad enough you sang the song love, but please bugger off.
The 'knowing' nods back to the older films - One or two would be fine, but again it just smacks of overkill.
All in all it just seems like the film is trying too hard. I think the film as a whole suffers from a barrage of 'in-jokes' if you will. It's like parts of the film are shouting out "Look, this is a Bond film, here is a reference to past films to prove it".
Up until the ice palace melts the film keeps me engaged, albeit only just at times. After this my minds autopilot kicks in and I become somewhat bored.
1- On Her Majesty's Secret Service 2- Casino Royale 3- Licence To Kill 4- Goldeneye 5- From Russia With Love
Before I state why I hate DAD, I'm just gonna say that I love AVTAK, and the movie has more than one fan indeed!
Now onto DAD...
For me, the CGI was the biggest issue. It looked terribly unconvincing and felt like a computer game more than a film. I got nothing from these 'action' scenes.
Secondly, the direction in general, including those AWFUL slow-motion bits - they ruined action sequences (even more that is).
Thirdly - the invisible car. Stupid idea.
Next reason is Jinx, Halle Berry's look in this movie is real bad, and her lines are awful.
That brings me onto the dialogue in general, which I found very poor indeed.
Madonna's 'song' and cameo were also downright awful.
The homages didn't actually bother me. But I thought they were unneccessary. Kind of took the identity away from DAD.
The plot was uninspired, but then again, I don't look much into plots anyway, so not a huge issue for me.
Gustav Graves, actually, wasn't bad in my opinion. But certainly not good either.
The only things I liked in this movie were the PTS and Miranda Frost.
Die Another Day was actually very well received by many critics and fans at it's release. While there is no question the film has been casted in a bad light by some in the fan base, those who immaturely despise the film with name-calling are in a small minority in the larger movie going population.
oh so I imagined the people leaving the theatre muttering "that was crap" then? Or the boys I heard on the tube telling another boy it "wasnt worth seeing?"
It got good reviews but Bond films are pretty much critic proof (one critic more or less said tht). If it has a Aston Martin, a world destroying plot and a girl in a bikini then it follows the Bond formula - and they praise it for that. No way did it have critics slavering over it like Casino Royale did.
DAD is a parable. If you do down this road then this will happen.The producers learnt as much as the audience did of how not to make a Bond film. And gladly they learnt by their mistakes to make possibly the best Bond film in twenty years.
And though I dont hate DAD, I DO hate Lee Tamahori for his inept direction and attitude to the genre. James Bond is just another action hero...
I caught it on TV a few weeks ago from the ice chase onwards and d'ya know? I quite enjoyed it. The OTT Bond films work better on telly cos you're not really trying to believe any of it, it's just a firework display.
No wonder Brosnan looked teary at giving Jinx the kiss of life after her near drowning in the ice palace. She would have reminded him of his first real love, Vesper Lynd...
The explosive finale on the plane is like a hyped up, vampish twist on that of Goldfinger... The music during the sword fight duel turns into 1930s Robin Hood stuff...
But the feeling didn't last. The thing is, the bored innuendos sounded evidence of sexual incontinence and witlessness. And for that 20 mins they're just throwing stuff in as much as they can to see what sticks. For 2 hours it gets too much. Plus I wasn't contrasting it with the 'let's make a serious thriller' of the opening section, but rather with MR that I'd seen 2 weeks earlier.
DAD crashed the franchise, hence the CR reboot. It achieved what no other Bond film had done before in that respect. :v
i liked DAD's PTS, and after that i pretty much think Brosnan's tenture as bond is over, and that wave stunt, or CGI stunt rather is so crazy and cheap they might as well have added a pirate ship and megladon, Jinx needed to lose the haircut,the aston martin is a beautiful car and doesnt need to be invisable for any reason, the virutal reality didnt make much sense to me either
I too remember this film having pretty solid reviews. When I saw it in the cinema, I didn't think very much about it either way after having seen it. The second viewing, the problems began to show, IMHO. It just gets worse on every subsequent viewing- the last time I tried to watch it, I genuinely could not watch it the whole way through.
In fairness, the opening scene with Bond being captured and tortured I think had real promise. But little else here stands up, IMHO. It's crammed full of poor performances (Toby Stephens, Halle Berry, Madonna) and utterly woeful dialogue/innuendos.
They missed a real opportunity for parody when the long haired, bearded Bond did not bring a soccer ball with a bloody handprint on it back from North Korea.
Bond could have escaped the hospital by acting crazy, talking to the ball!!
No wonder Brosnan looked teary at giving Jinx the kiss of life after her near drowning in the ice palace. She would have reminded him of his first real love, Vesper Lynd...
Huh???:)
I think he's referring to the fact that Vesper drowned.
Sweepy the CatHalifax, West Yorkshire, EnglaPosts: 986MI6 Agent
edited May 2009
The truth is it's only half bad. The 1st half is great, but the second is rubbish. In general I like a fun unbelievable bond film but this just took it one step too far (Like MR). My definition of a fun Bond film without going over the line of no return is something like YOLT ot TSWLM.
Comments
BTW, welcome to the best Bond site on the internet. {[]
I had a chance to watch it again a couple of weeks back (I have the DVD ... the Bond completist that I am) on TV and I have to say that it is - if possible - even worse than I remember it.
From Bond's buddhist heart stop/restart, to the holodeck to the invisible car, it is simply woeful. In fact in retrospect, the poor CGI just looked dated and fake rather than the abomination it was to many on release (see what I did there? Damning with very faint praise).
In truth, the part of the film that will truly stick in my memory in addition to the above is the diabolical acting from the entire cast.
Perhaps this is systematic of director who clearly didn't like actors (no, he liked jump cuts and fire and ice) and scriptwriters who don't like stories.
Nevertheless, one would almost expect AT&T to be a corporate sponsor of the film, the number of performances that were phoned in.
Apologies to the Pierce fans, but this was his worst performance of his four Bonds. He looked badly prepared, lazy and unfit.
Berry was simply shocking in a simply shocking role, while Stevens was barely two-dimensional. Old Pikey survives only because her character was so lifeless that it's impossible to tell whether she was acting or not.
Oh dear, my blood pressure is up.
DAD is a Bond film in name, but not in spirit or execution. It was a story of too little talent spread too thin.
I don't hate any of the Bond films, I see the good in them all, in spite of any faults I find with the film.
The first 45 minutes, Toby Stevens aside, I love. The hovercraft chase is superb, in fact the whole of the PTS I rank with the best.
And the sword fight I think is superb.
There are a few things that ruin this film for me:
CGI - it is too ott at times and it really shows. These days we can have a photo-realistic Gollum in Lord of the Rings but when Halle Berry dives off a huge wall or Pierce Brosnan surfs with a parachute on a huge wave it looks fake. If you can't do a stunt in real life, please don't put it in a Bond film!!
That Bloody Car - I realise upon entering the theatre to watch Bond that I may have to suspend disbeleif to a certain extent, but please, an invisible car! I actually groaned when it was revealed
Toby Stevens - He's a fantastic actor away from Bond. However, like the CGI in the film, he is just to over the top for me. Horrible villain.
Madonna - It's bad enough you sang the song love, but please bugger off.
The 'knowing' nods back to the older films - One or two would be fine, but again it just smacks of overkill.
All in all it just seems like the film is trying too hard. I think the film as a whole suffers from a barrage of 'in-jokes' if you will. It's like parts of the film are shouting out "Look, this is a Bond film, here is a reference to past films to prove it".
Up until the ice palace melts the film keeps me engaged, albeit only just at times. After this my minds autopilot kicks in and I become somewhat bored.
Now onto DAD...
For me, the CGI was the biggest issue. It looked terribly unconvincing and felt like a computer game more than a film. I got nothing from these 'action' scenes.
Secondly, the direction in general, including those AWFUL slow-motion bits - they ruined action sequences (even more that is).
Thirdly - the invisible car. Stupid idea.
Next reason is Jinx, Halle Berry's look in this movie is real bad, and her lines are awful.
That brings me onto the dialogue in general, which I found very poor indeed.
Madonna's 'song' and cameo were also downright awful.
The homages didn't actually bother me. But I thought they were unneccessary. Kind of took the identity away from DAD.
The plot was uninspired, but then again, I don't look much into plots anyway, so not a huge issue for me.
Gustav Graves, actually, wasn't bad in my opinion. But certainly not good either.
The only things I liked in this movie were the PTS and Miranda Frost.
1 - Moore, 2 - Dalton, 3 - Craig, 4 - Connery, 5 - Brosnan, 6 - Lazenby
Bond’s Beretta
The Handguns of Ian Fleming's James Bond
Brosnan's performance.
The PTS.
The opening titles. Madonna's 'Die Another Day' is underrated IMO.
The first 20 minutes or so.
The bad. Almost everything else.
oh so I imagined the people leaving the theatre muttering "that was crap" then? Or the boys I heard on the tube telling another boy it "wasnt worth seeing?"
It got good reviews but Bond films are pretty much critic proof (one critic more or less said tht). If it has a Aston Martin, a world destroying plot and a girl in a bikini then it follows the Bond formula - and they praise it for that. No way did it have critics slavering over it like Casino Royale did.
DAD is a parable. If you do down this road then this will happen.The producers learnt as much as the audience did of how not to make a Bond film. And gladly they learnt by their mistakes to make possibly the best Bond film in twenty years.
And though I dont hate DAD, I DO hate Lee Tamahori for his inept direction and attitude to the genre. James Bond is just another action hero...
No wonder Brosnan looked teary at giving Jinx the kiss of life after her near drowning in the ice palace. She would have reminded him of his first real love, Vesper Lynd...
The explosive finale on the plane is like a hyped up, vampish twist on that of Goldfinger... The music during the sword fight duel turns into 1930s Robin Hood stuff...
But the feeling didn't last. The thing is, the bored innuendos sounded evidence of sexual incontinence and witlessness. And for that 20 mins they're just throwing stuff in as much as they can to see what sticks. For 2 hours it gets too much. Plus I wasn't contrasting it with the 'let's make a serious thriller' of the opening section, but rather with MR that I'd seen 2 weeks earlier.
DAD crashed the franchise, hence the CR reboot. It achieved what no other Bond film had done before in that respect. :v
Roger Moore 1927-2017
In fairness, the opening scene with Bond being captured and tortured I think had real promise. But little else here stands up, IMHO. It's crammed full of poor performances (Toby Stephens, Halle Berry, Madonna) and utterly woeful dialogue/innuendos.
Bond could have escaped the hospital by acting crazy, talking to the ball!!
Bond’s Beretta
The Handguns of Ian Fleming's James Bond
1 - Moore, 2 - Dalton, 3 - Craig, 4 - Connery, 5 - Brosnan, 6 - Lazenby