Might contain Spoilers
First off I watch( and love) Bond movies for their camp value. They're cartoonish, illogical and just plain silly. So when watching Bond flicks they go into two categories- 1.They work 2. They don't work
Which boils down to movies that are a guilty pleasure. Or movies that just make you want to rip your eyeballs out after watching them. Die Another Day is a fun, guilty pleasure. It works.
While watching this movie it feels they have taken scenes and bits from multiple Bond movies and sewn them together. I don't know if it's because of Bond 40th (movie) anniversary. Or if the screen writers just ran out of ideas. Maybe a bit of both. So all through the movie I kept on thinking,"Okay that scene from Dr.No, that scene from Living Daylights, that scene reminds me of The Spy who loved Me," You get the drift. The Q branch scene offers a trip down memory lane of gadgets past. There are lots of subtle jokes for Bond fans that will go over the heads of people who got dragged to the film. (Such as my husband) Die Another Day starts off with a spectacular hovercraft chase in Korea. Much like the World is Not Enough the rest of the movie can't hold up with the exciting opening. Anyway Bond gets caught and tortured. Madonna's song is annoying on the radio, but works as a background song for torture sequence. Bond is released(looking like a 70's rock star) and recovers. The first 45 minutes have a dark tone that works very well. Once Bond heads to Cuba the movie starts it's usual comic book feel. Over the course of the film it becomes more or less straight forward camp. The bad guy headquarters that look like Epcot center and a cross between the McDonald's arches and a spider. The whole DNA subplot with a Korean man turning himself into a weenie British guy. Bond running around Iceland in just a turtleneck. But Pierce Brosnan looks like he's having so much fun in this movie. It makes the pure silliness of the movie work better than it probably should.
So overall Die Another Day won't win any Oscars, but it's a good escapist movie. It's a good two hours to keep your mind off finals or the stress of the holidays. Hopefully here's to 40 more years of Bond flicks.
First off I watch( and love) Bond movies for their camp value. They're cartoonish, illogical and just plain silly. So when watching Bond flicks they go into two categories- 1.They work 2. They don't work
Which boils down to movies that are a guilty pleasure. Or movies that just make you want to rip your eyeballs out after watching them. Die Another Day is a fun, guilty pleasure. It works.
While watching this movie it feels they have taken scenes and bits from multiple Bond movies and sewn them together. I don't know if it's because of Bond 40th (movie) anniversary. Or if the screen writers just ran out of ideas. Maybe a bit of both. So all through the movie I kept on thinking,"Okay that scene from Dr.No, that scene from Living Daylights, that scene reminds me of The Spy who loved Me," You get the drift. The Q branch scene offers a trip down memory lane of gadgets past. There are lots of subtle jokes for Bond fans that will go over the heads of people who got dragged to the film. (Such as my husband) Die Another Day starts off with a spectacular hovercraft chase in Korea. Much like the World is Not Enough the rest of the movie can't hold up with the exciting opening. Anyway Bond gets caught and tortured. Madonna's song is annoying on the radio, but works as a background song for torture sequence. Bond is released(looking like a 70's rock star) and recovers. The first 45 minutes have a dark tone that works very well. Once Bond heads to Cuba the movie starts it's usual comic book feel. Over the course of the film it becomes more or less straight forward camp. The bad guy headquarters that look like Epcot center and a cross between the McDonald's arches and a spider. The whole DNA subplot with a Korean man turning himself into a weenie British guy. Bond running around Iceland in just a turtleneck. But Pierce Brosnan looks like he's having so much fun in this movie. It makes the pure silliness of the movie work better than it probably should.
So overall Die Another Day won't win any Oscars, but it's a good escapist movie. It's a good two hours to keep your mind off finals or the stress of the holidays. Hopefully here's to 40 more years of Bond flicks.
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