Why is TWINE just an eh film?
MilleniumForce
LondonPosts: 1,214MI6 Agent
I did this topic a while ago about TMWTGG, and now I feel like looking at TWINE. The only time I hear people talk about this one is when they are evaluating the Brosnan films. I've never known anyone with this at the bottom of their list, but then neither have I seen anyway with it at the top.
For me, it's just below the middle. It has some great elements, but it just seemed....not that great. I get where they were going, with Bond falling in love with the villain, and I think Elektra is the girl Bond cared most about besides Tracy and vesper. I think between the title sequence and the caviar factory scene, the film is fairly slow. It has all the great elements, but I don't think it had the impact it should have had.
For me, it's just below the middle. It has some great elements, but it just seemed....not that great. I get where they were going, with Bond falling in love with the villain, and I think Elektra is the girl Bond cared most about besides Tracy and vesper. I think between the title sequence and the caviar factory scene, the film is fairly slow. It has all the great elements, but I don't think it had the impact it should have had.
1.LTK 2.AVTAK 3.OP 4.FYEO 5.TND 6.LALD 7.GE 8.GF 9.TSWLM 10.SPECTRE 11.SF 12.MR 13.YOLT 14.TLD 15.CR (06) 16.TMWTGG 17.TB 18.FRWL 19.TWINE 20.OHMSS 21.DAF 22.DAD 23.QoS 24.NSNA 25.DN 26.CR (67)
Comments
Still, before the Bond #5 fans lynch me (again) I'll say that there's a few things that are good about it, Desmond Llewellyn gets a poignant farewell scene and Judi Dench is, as in all her films, a great M. It's a snow Bond and I always like Bond on the piste, the best action sequence in the film and maybe Brosnan's era, though weren't the enemies firing a little too close to their boss?
Unfortunately it pales in comparison with the character building angles that it attempts to both Casino Royale (Bond/Vesper is so much better and believable love affair than Bond/Electra) and Skyfall (M/Silva is a much better and more believable vengeance than M/Renard).
It's better than DUD (everything is better than DUD) It's very close to TND. It's kinda where the rot really set in on the Brosnan era... all that character stuff was going down a blind alley, I thought we'd get a real film after this one, boy was I ever wrong!
It's just boring. The only good thing about it is Elektra King.
1 - Moore, 2 - Dalton, 3 - Craig, 4 - Connery, 5 - Brosnan, 6 - Lazenby
Denise Richards is very annoying and doesn't act smart like a physicist should. She acts like a 16-year-old! Lois Chiles played a much more mature and convincing scientist Bond girl.
The climax doesn't have the grandeur of Brosnan's other Bond films, but for what it is I think it was done very well.
Of the 24 Bonds...I put it at 23..
'She's waiting for you!'
He didn't really, though the action-like scenes in the film Enigma, which he made right after TWINE were well done. The non-action scenes in TWINE were some of the best of Brosnan's, like the scenes with Bond and Elektra. I think he did the best of all the directors at getting a great performance out of Brosnan. I think he seems most human in this film and less like a shooting machine. I don't recall any scenes where he picks up a machine gun, which was all too much of GE and TND.
TWINE is good at showing a human side of Bond. Like, him having a broken arm shows he's not a superhuman.
I don't think the broken arm is such a good example of Bond not being superhuman since the arm pretty much heals immediately. But I like the film for showing a more human side of Bond, something I feel the Daniel Craig films have tried to do but not done successfully. I found Brosnan's more human Bond more believable in TWINE.
#1.TLD/LTK 2.TND 3.GF 4.GE 5.DN 6.FYEO 7.FRWL 8.TMWTGG 9.TWINE 10.YOLT/QOS
AJB007 Favorite Film Rankings
Pros and Cons Compendium (50 Years)
#1.TLD/LTK 2.TND 3.GF 4.GE 5.DN 6.FYEO 7.FRWL 8.TMWTGG 9.TWINE 10.YOLT/QOS
#1.TLD/LTK 2.TND 3.GF 4.GE 5.DN 6.FYEO 7.FRWL 8.TMWTGG 9.TWINE 10.YOLT/QOS
Much as others.
Myself a few times. -{
I agree with this assessment, but still I rank TWINE higher than TND and DAD. The PTS, the film's attempts at a deeper, more substantive narrative, the presence of the exquisite Sophie Marceau, and Pierce's performance all elevate this film for me.
AJB007 Favorite Film Rankings
Pros and Cons Compendium (50 Years)
Well, I'd say that this film features Brosnan's finest performance as Bond hands down. For example, his glare straight to camera during the PTS and much later his execution of Elektra with the line "I never miss"- pure Bond, and both carried off impeccably. Similarly, his relationship with M is never so clearly defined as here- he questions her motives while never losing his respect for her.
Sophie Marceau is the strongest leading lady in any of the Brosnan films, with the honourable exception of DJD, of course, helped by a more layered part than the others. Of course, I do accept the argument that this particular competition isn't difficult but that doesn't reflect on Mme Marceau.
David Arnold shines here, particularly with the softer pieces ("Only Myself To Blame" carries a beautiful melody heard throughout the film in various guises such as "Casino" and "Elektra's Theme") and the main title song (which memorably uses an augmented fourth and is complemented by Don Black's carefully-worked out lyric).
Robbie Coltrane's Zukovsky is here much more of the Sydney Greenstreet character that was intended than in GE and it's a pity that he hasn't returned... so far (I live in hope).
The storyline is not typical Bond but IMO is Flemingesque (Bond genuinely falls for Elektra, which is more than can be said for most of her peers), intriguing, and has some depth (see http://www.ajb007.co.uk/topic/44307/subtext-and-themes/page/2/). The use of M is more involved than anywhere else until SF, which owes this film a debt in more than one way (briefly- in TWINE Bond and Elektra metaphorically represent her son and daughter while in SF Bond and Silva represent her sons. The MI6 building (her "castle") is assaulted in both stories, and in each her judgement and decisions are questioned).
It isn't a "light" Bond film though it does have some classic lines ("Can't you just say 'hello' like a normal person?") and it gives Desmond Llewelyn's Q a graceful, dignified farewell.
It isn't perfect- the pacing is a problem, it could flow better, and the Christmas Jones character is regrettable- but it carries an air of sincerity and "feels like" a James Bond film (I know, that's difficult to define).
As is well known here, I am not a listmaker but I would definitely rate this as my No.1 favourite from the latter Bond movies.
Personally, I love TWINE, and I'm one of the very few who fully appreciate Denise in it. In fact, there really isn't much I don't love about this film, aside from some silly physics issues I have with Q's boat navigating on dry land.
Funny thing is, when it came out I didn't much care for it. More recently when I became the mega-Dalton fan that I am today I saw TWINE in a whole new light. It's Brosnan's darkest Bond. -{
#1.TLD/LTK 2.TND 3.GF 4.GE 5.DN 6.FYEO 7.FRWL 8.TMWTGG 9.TWINE 10.YOLT/QOS
AJB007 Favorite Film Rankings
Pros and Cons Compendium (50 Years)
More like post Moore.
Nowadays all I read about TWINE are complaints about the ski chase and bad pacing.
Maybe I'm just a die-hard Brosnan supporter, but I consider TWINE among the best Bond films. -{
1. GE 2. MR 3. OP 4. TMWTGG 5. TSWLM 6. TND 7. TWINE 8.DN 9. GF 10. AVTAK