Richard Album Reviews

Die Another Day (2002)

Oh yes, oh no, but not quite oh James...

[22 November 2002]

Die Another Day has everything anyone ever wanted from a Bond film. An interesting and unbelievable plot, a planet destroying super weapon, a genetically mutated baddie, great girls, great cars, great gadgets, bad one-liners and a few nods and winks to the audience who are all in on the joke.

But... but... it just doesn't quite deliver as a truely classic Bond film. It should do, just as "The World Is Not Enough" and "Tomorrow Never Dies" almost did (and "Goldeneye" utterly failed to do) but it doesn't.

An exploration into the darker side of the character is very well done and interesting. It is reminiscent of Sean Connery in a cell in Dr No having been roughed up after dinner ("tell me, does the toppling of American missiles really make up for having no hands?"). But the whole film is slightly "dark" in it's lighting and mood. Even scenes in Cuba manage to have a slightly dull glow. There's too much skulking in small spaces rather than expansive vast open shots. Even the wide shots of the car chase are more stylised that necessary.

Bond turns up in Havana... and he's wearing a Hawaian shirt? Where's the cream linen suit? Bond pulls off his skydiving kit and he's in commando battle dress. Where's the tux? Of course he wears a dinner suit for an evening ball, so does everyone else. The whole point is that Bond turns up in black tie in the middle of the Sahara, after four days on a camel, dusts down the jacket and asks a local peasant for directions to the nearest tailor. These are minor irritants but in other ways they symbolise that the essence of the character has been lost by writers who don't truely understand the concept of a "gentleman" spy (yes, even in 21st century).

Die Another Day is enjoyable, it's definitely a Bond film and not a bad Bond film but as with the previous two it is only almost a great Bond film. It could and should have been a great Bond film. Oh Michael and Barbara why did you let it happen? Oh Lee! Oh James...

The Pink Panther (1963)

Slightly missing the point.

[21 August 2002]

There seems to be two entrenched sides to the debate about this film and I must come down firmly in the middle. I love all the Pink Panther films. The later ones for their genius slapstick, comic set pieces and one-liners and the first two, The Pink Panther and A Shot In The Dark, for their more subtle comedy and character development. These early two films are both romantic comedies and work brilliantly as such (by the way, has anyone ever seen the 1968 film, Inspector Clouseau, starring Alan Arkin?).

The real point about The Pink Panther is that the Inspector Clouseau character was supposed to be another in the line of Peter Sellers cameos in US films of the time. It was a David Niven film. It was during the shooting that Sellers, realising that he had a chance to make a real name for himself in America, set out to steal every scene, take-after-take. His part was continuously enlarged as a result (much to the alleged chagrin of Niven).

It is only looking back, in the light of the films that followed, that The Pink Panther seems a somewhat lesser comedy than the others.

This is a beautifully over-the-top sixties film. Stylistically it's very dated but a gem to watch, especially when you know that Peter Sellers was trying so hard to make an impact. I urge those of you who love the Pink Panther movies but are disappointed by this one to watch it again, armed with this knowledge, and appreciate the genius at work.

Plaza Suite (1971)

Dialogue heaven...

[19 August 2002]

The old cliche applies to this brilliantly acted and wonderfully scripted film; they don't make them like this any more. The comedy, the intensity, the emotion is all in the dialogue and in the performances of the leading ladies and of course, that of Walter Matthau as the three lead male characters.

The dialogue crackles from start to finish. I don't think a script like this would ever get the green light in Hollywood today. Too much talk, not enough drama, nothing that really happens. In many ways it's more like a French film.

Walter Matthau is from that wonderful generation of fifties and sixties comic actors who could be over-the-top without overracting (Peter Sellers, Phil Silvers, Tony Hancock etc.). He manages to do this whilst never losing his grip on his characters and always managing to surprise with his subtle facial expressions and the comic timing of his movement.

Great performances and a great film.