Should Bond have been tortured in DAD?

StraightUpWithATwist

Since I saw Die Another Day for the first time years ago it's always bugged me that Bond was tortured to start the film off. At the time it didn't seem right to have Bond be so easily captured and beaten like he did at the start without him putting some effort into escaping from it. I'll always appreciate EON going for something different in the Bond films, as that can only lead to good things for the series. I think it's because Bond was captured for so long that I have a problem with it. 14 months? You're telling me that James Bond was held captive for 14 months and he didn't try at least once to escape? Granted he was in North Korea but if Bruce Wayne can escape from a pit in Asia and somehow get back into Gotham City then Bond can get back to London

So do you agree or disagree with Bond's torture in Die Another Day?

zaphod

I think it is superb! A great start to what could have been a terrific Bond film. My only gripe was that after 14 months he would have been a lot thinner.

Blackleiter

I agree. It was a terrific start for a Bond film, and if it had maintained the tone and quality of the first half, DAD would have been a top tier entry in the series for me.

zaphod wrote:

I think it is superb! A great start to what could have been a terrific Bond film. My only gripe was that after 14 months he would have been a lot thinner.

Thunderpussy

I think the audience was tortured watching the second half of DAD. )

I agree it was a great Idea -{ Bond was always getting tortured in the Novels
yet this is hardly ever shown in the movies. Helps get across the courage and
determination of the character.
This may of given the Producers the courage themselves, to do the Torture
scene in CR.

DEFIANT 74205

StraightUpWithATwist wrote:

I think it's because Bond was captured for so long that I have a problem with it. 14 months? You're telling me that James Bond was held captive for 14 months and he didn't try at least once to escape? Granted he was in North Korea but if Bruce Wayne can escape from a pit in Asia and somehow get back into Gotham City then Bond can get back to London

So do you agree or disagree with Bond's torture in Die Another Day?

That was one of my first thoughts upon viewing the film. Why didn't Bond escape? And if escape wasn't possible, why didn't he commit suicide? Bond being held captive for 14 months didn't make any sense to me.

StraightUpWithATwist

DEFIANT 74205 wrote:

StraightUpWithATwist wrote:

I think it's because Bond was captured for so long that I have a problem with it. 14 months? You're telling me that James Bond was held captive for 14 months and he didn't try at least once to escape? Granted he was in North Korea but if Bruce Wayne can escape from a pit in Asia and somehow get back into Gotham City then Bond can get back to London

So do you agree or disagree with Bond's torture in Die Another Day?

That was one of my first thoughts upon viewing the film. Why didn't Bond escape? And if escape wasn't possible, why didn't he commit suicide? Bond being held captive for 14 months didn't make any sense to me.

M mentions to Bond after he's been detained by MI6 that he should've committed suicide and Bond states that he threw his cyanide pill away years ago, so I guess Bond didn't want to take the coward's way out.

Napoleon Plural

I think it was to cover the events of 9/11, as if to imply it didn't happen on his watch.

welshboy78

Yup - like others above mentioned it was a good start and things went down hill when Bond flew to London

StraightUpWithATwist

Napoleon Plural wrote:

I think it was to cover the events of 9/11, as if to imply it didn't happen on his watch.

9/11 happened on American soil, why must Bond have to clean up the CIA/NSA's mess )

Firemass

Blackleiter wrote:

I agree. It was a terrific start for a Bond film, and if it had maintained the tone and quality of the first half, DAD would have been a top tier entry in the series for me.

couldn't agree more !

Le Samourai

The idea of Bond being held captive and tortured was one of the best things about DAD. Alas, they didn't explore the many implications of his experiences.

As for the "Why didn't he commit suicide?" argument. Why would he? Bond is a survivor and not a quitter.

Regarding "Why didn't he try to escape/" Maybe he did. Maybe he was too weak and sick and starved to try. And just how easy do people think it is to escape from a North Korean prison? It's isn't even easy to escape from the nation of North Korea.

superado

I first thought that the question was, if it was necessary for the North Koreans to torture Bond and I thought, of course under the circumstances, yes.

But anyway as some have posted I thought the torture and incarceration was brilliant and while watching the movie, it seemed that DAD was going to be a throwback to Fleming's Bond... Bond was thoroughly tortured and beat up quite often in the novels and looking at what else happened to him in the books FROM the perspective of "classical hollywood," his prolonged amnesia and life of ignobility in a remote Japanese fishing village can be considered a defeat. As far as the suggestion of his ineptitude in escaping, Bruce Wayne in his experience was not imprisoned in solitary confinement and I didn't see armed guards at the mouth of the "pit." Afterall, he's Bond, not Jason Bourne or Ethan Hunt.

lordofthejimmy

I loved that part of the film (aside from the Madonna song, though maybe they wanted the audience to feel Bond's pain by playing it) and kind of wish they had kept that tone throughout the entire film. It also would have been a good transition into the newer more edgy stuff with Daniel Craig.

Unfortunately, we all know what happens int the second half of the film.

Firemass

I remember how shocked my friends were that Bond was captured and tortured.

It's a shame they had to fire Pierce in order to peruse the "newer more edgy" Bond because D.A.D came so close to achieving that direction before it totally unraveled.

Silhouette Man

Firemass wrote:

I remember how shocked my friends were that Bond was captured and tortured.

It's a shame they had to fire Pierce in order to peruse the "newer more edgy" Bond because D.A.D came so close to achieving that direction before it totally unraveled.

Yes, I believe that there were elements of this in the scenes at the beginning of the film with the torture scene etc. but they threw the potential away when the film hit Iceland and the Ice Palace - something that happens in many of the Eon Bond films of course - Moonraker being a prime example. DAD is just Moonraker on a much grander and worse scale of awfulness. Bond gets tortured in the first Bond novel, after all, so it's not really as if he's never come across it befiore. It was close to being the only time it was used in the films, excepting Elektra's chair and Tee Hee's hook on Bond's little finger etc. TND would have had the Chakra Torture though we never get to see it so they copped out, there!

L Jones

Maybe he was too weak and sick and starved to try. And just how easy do people think it is to escape from a North Korean prison? It's isn't even easy to escape from the nation of North Korea.

I doubt it would be easy for a North Korean prisoner to escape from an American or British prison, especially if that prisoner was being interrogated. Which is why I'm not surprised that Bond wasn't able to escape.

As for DAD, my only problem with the movie is the Iceland sequence. I dislike it. As for the rest of the movie, I didn't have any real problems with it.

always shaken

Yes greatt start to DAD , classic torture methods,without leaving marks on the body
sleep deprevation, starvation, drowning isolation,i mean they couldnt pull out his teeth
or burn out his eyes ect, as for the 14 months the writers probably chose that rather tha sit
down and try to work out a more logical time frame,time is money .As for the lack of escaping
you need a element of acces to technology/items if you look at any prion escape film
Colditz,Bird man Alcatraz ect ,the all had acces to tools ,saws hammers, spades, uniforms ect ect
even if Bond did escape he would hardly blend in walking down Pak loy high street on
a Saturday afternoon, but then we wouldnt have had the CIA controled exchange and the the blah blah blah
good film up until the invisible car ,but then how do we know it doesnt exist have you seen it ????

perdogg

StraightUpWithATwist wrote:

Since I saw Die Another Day for the first time years ago it's always bugged me that Bond was tortured to start the film off. At the time it didn't seem right to have Bond be so easily captured and beaten like he did at the start without him putting some effort into escaping from it. I'll always appreciate EON going for something different in the Bond films, as that can only lead to good things for the series. I think it's because Bond was captured for so long that I have a problem with it. 14 months? You're telling me that James Bond was held captive for 14 months and he didn't try at least once to escape? Granted he was in North Korea but if Bruce Wayne can escape from a pit in Asia and somehow get back into Gotham City then Bond can get back to London

So do you agree or disagree with Bond's torture in Die Another Day?

As opposed to the audience? )