A View to a Kill
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Archived from the IMDb Discussion Forums — Die Another Day
TMC-4 — 13 years ago(November 25, 2012 10:14 PM)
A View to a Kill
had a geriatric Roger Moore saddled w/ an obnoxious, airhead of a Bond girl (Tanya Roberts), a nightmare inducing sex scene between Moore and Grace Jones, and a villain (Christopher Walken) who is actually cooler than Bond himself. And this is all packaged into what pretty much amounts to being a remake of
Goldfinger
. At least unlike
Die Another Day
,
AVTAK
has one of the best Bond theme songs.
Die Another Day
started off w/ a very intriguing premise involving Pierce Brosnan being tortured in a North Korean prison for 14 months. But that's not followed through all the way (after Bond shaves off his beard and gets a haircut, the tortured subplot is all but forgotten). Instead, what we get is pretty much a remake of
Diamonds Are Forever
mixed w/ the novel version of
Moonraker
. Brosnan is like in the movies prior (e.g. Teri Hatcher and Denise Richards) saddled w/ a piss-poor excuse of a Bond girl (Halle Berry, who in the process, trades cringe-inducing sexual double entendres w/ Bond) but this time, having to be placed in the cheesiest CGI effects imaginable, and gimmicky editing techniques in order to keep up w/ the Michael Bays, John Woos, and
Matrix
flicks (and to a lesser extent,
xXx
, which came out the same year) of the world. -
A-zone — 13 years ago(February 09, 2013 04:26 AM)
You took the words right out of my mouth!
Couldn't agree with you more. Those two are indeed the worst in the official Bond canon and "Never Say Never Again" if you consider the non-canon movies
"I'm the dude playin' the dude, disguised as another dude!" -
A-zone — 13 years ago(February 11, 2013 05:09 AM)
Hi "GregOrCreg"! Good to see you here.
Well I have always
LOVED
Roger Moore's "Bond", so I like all his movies, even FYEO, Octopussy, Moonraker etc. I know they were cheesey and over the top but that was how Moore approached the role, with a tongue-in-cheek attitude. I suppose that is why I don't consider his movies bad no matter how bizarre they may be. It's like if you goes to see "Johnny English", you know there's going to be a lot of craziness in it because that is expected. But if those same stunts were used in say "Mission Impossible", people would crucify that movie. So Moore was allowed to be silly but Connery wasn't.
Regarding the opening scene in FYEO, I think (and I'm not entirely sure) there was some legal issues which prevented EON from using the character of Blofeld in their movies, hence they killed him off without even showing his face. It was his bald head and white furry cat which hinted that it was Blofeld.
"I'm the dude playin' the dude, disguised as another dude!" -
A-zone — 13 years ago(February 11, 2013 07:09 AM)
Oh I'm not saying that the Moore "Bond" movies are the best. Many of them are cheesier than a Cheeseburger! But that is one of the reasons I like them. It is their identity. Unbelievable gadget, megalomaniacal villains, exotic locations, big stunts, witty one-liners, gorgeous gals with double entendre names. these are the things that make a Bond movie a Bond movie.
I'm not a fan of Craig's James Bond era. None of his films are bad, they just aren't true to "Bond", IMHO. They've stripped all the Bond-ness so all that is left is just another action spy thriller movie. Something like 'The Bourne Identity". Moneypenny, Q, Vodka Martini shaken but not stirred, all these iconic things which were introduced by Bond are now being rejected by the Craig movies as being too campy. The one thing that set James Bond apart from all other spies was the fact that he was the most conspicuous spy in the world. By making Bond too realistic, what's the difference between him and Jason Bourne or Ethan Hunt?
If you take an example of the Burton Batman movies, a lot of people (not me!) feel the same way about them as you feel about Moore's Bond movies. People find them too cartoony and cheesy and feel that Nolan's gritty and realistic Batman movies are a true interpretation of the character. If this trend continues, maybe in another 10-20 years when there's another reboot of Batman, they'll remove even more elements from it so that eventually all we will be left with is a millionaire playboy who moonlights as a vigilante. Period. No Batsuit, no Alfred, no Joker, no Batmobile, no Bat signal because by then, it will all be considered too cliche. Just like a lot of the kids of today think that the original Star Wars movies are garbage.
I don't mind some amount of realism being injected into James Bond movies but not so much that they lose their identity. Something along the lines of "Licence to Kill" would be nice.
"I'm the dude playin' the dude, disguised as another dude!" -
A-zone — 13 years ago(February 11, 2013 08:56 AM)
besides if there's only so much realism one can achieve if Batman's next cinematic incarnation is to be with the Justice League of America.
True. I'm guessing that it is the massive success of "The Avengers" that showed flmmakers that not EVERY superhero movie has to be given the "Nolan" treatment for it to be a success and considered mature. The dark, gritty, realistic approach suits some superheroes, but not all. Which is why I am a bit skeptical about the upcoming "Man of Steel". The posters make it look like it has taken the route of "Batman Begins" which I don't think is the right approach for a character like SUperman. But I'll reserve my opinion until I see the movie.
I see Craig's gritty take on Bond to be a reaction to the gone-too-far excesses of 'Die Another Day'
Yes, that seems like the most logical explanation. But sometimes film-makers try so hard to not repeat the mistakes of a previous film that they end up going to the complete opposite end of the spectrum which is also a bad idea.
I feel more protective of the older Batman films because I was always a fan of them,
I feel the same way about the old Bond movies!
I grew up watching them so as cheesy and over-the-top as they may be, for me they will always be the benchmark against which I judge all preceding Bond films.
"I'm the dude playin' the dude, disguised as another dude!" -
jemimakahn — 13 years ago(March 24, 2013 10:48 AM)
The last quarter of "License to Kill" was pretty far out as well. But it is still one of my favorites. I think "Die Another Day" was pretty much on track till the last quarter. Much like "The World Is Not Enough" was. Everything worked beautifully till Denise Richards and Bond started explaining what they were doing with the whole nuclear meltdown thingamjiggy.
I think "Octopussy" was the worst.