The World Is Not Enough (1999)

[The Sovereign]

Originally Posted by Sky_Captain

I thought it was shit back in 1999 and while I've softened a bit on it over the years, it's still my least favourite Brosnan outing

That's right, I'll watch DAD over it anytime.

Come at me, bro.

I tend to agree. They’re both in the hot mess realm of Bond films for me, but they’re also both entertaining. DAD usually takes more heat, but between the two, I’d probably lean more toward it just for Halle Berry.

[BluRayTim]

Originally Posted by CreasyBear

lolwut

I’ll send you a private message later to enlighten you.

[RCRochester]

Originally Posted by badfingerboogie

Also, what's the deal with the opening sequence - it feels like two opening sequences tacked together? I never looked into it (at least, I don't believe I ever did) so I'm not sure if there's some story there, but ever since I was a kid I always felt like something was off there in regards to the momentum.

The PTS was supposed to end with Bond escaping from the office in Bilbao, but it was felt that it didn’t have enough oomph so the speedboat chase which was supposed to take place after the credits was moved forward which is why the PTS is so lengthy.

[Zechs Merquise]

Originally Posted by BluRayTim

Try telling that last part to Heather Locklear, Ava Sambora and now Richie Sambora.

Okay, I'll bite. What beef do the Locklears have with Denise Richards? Something to do with Charlie?

[mwynn]

Originally Posted by Zechs Merquise

Okay, I'll bite. What beef do the Locklears have with Denise Richards? Something to do with Charlie?

https://decider.com/2020/09/16/what-...ther-locklear/

[CreasyBear]

Originally Posted by BluRayTim

I’ll send you a private message later to enlighten you.

Please. Don't.

[badfingerboogie]

Originally Posted by RCRochester

The PTS was supposed to end with Bond escaping from the office in Bilbao, but it was felt that it didn’t have enough oomph so the speedboat chase which was supposed to take place after the credits was moved forward which is why the PTS is so lengthy.

Thanks, had a feeling that was the case. It certainly feels like an odd duck.

[Zechs Merquise]

Originally Posted by mwynn

https://decider.com/2020/09/16/what-...ther-locklear/

Oh, so it's just some reality TV bullshit

Originally Posted by The Sovereign

I tend to agree. They’re both in the hot mess realm of Bond films for me, but they’re also both entertaining. DAD usually takes more heat, but between the two, I’d probably lean more toward it just for Halle Berry.

You lot are crazy. TWINE is nowhere near as bad as DAD. Yeah, TWINE loses points for Denise Richards and personally I thought the Bond villain's gimmick of not being to feel pain after being shot in the head was rather dumb. But it had that grit, it felt like a Bond film, Sophie Marceau was excellent, Brosnan was never colder as Bond than in TWINE

At least it didn't have invisible cars, Moneypenny having VR sex with Bond, the main villain being a Korean guy who turned himself into a white guy with Gene Therapy, a heavy with a bunch of diamonds in his face and Halle Berry cracking wise about the henchman's mamma. And at least TWINE didn't remove the best scene.

Like I said before, TWINE was at least half a good film. DAD was, at best, a good idea for a film somewhere in all that mess.

Originally Posted by CreasyBear

As for Richards, she's perfectly fine in the film. It's a Bond film. Nuclear technicians are allowed to be beautiful. Calm down.

It's not that she was beautiful. She was completely unconvincing.

Should have went with someone else. Should have went with Monica Bellucci. She and Sophie Marceau are like the female French cinema equivalent of DeNiro and Pacino, so often compared. They would have played off each other well.

But no, they went with Denise Richards. Why? Because she appealed to the MTV generation, and the Bond producers feared younger Americans thought Bond was old and uncool

[zen007]

[dallywhitty]

I'll reserve total judgement until I re-watch World the week after next, but I remember liking the film plenty. Elektra slaps and people give Denise Richards too much stick.

Honestly, I think DAD is the only outlier in an otherwise strong tenure.

[CreasyBear]

Originally Posted by dallywhitty

I'll reserve total judgement until I re-watch World the week after next, but I remember liking the film plenty. Elektra slaps and people give Denise Richards too much stick.

Honestly, I think DAD is the only outlier in an otherwise strong tenure.

Brosnan will always be my Bond, even though he's not my favorite. His run was so much fun for those seven years! That he had some kick ass video games didn't hurt either. Everything or Nothing is amazeballs. Even DAD is like...just taking it on its own goofy ass terms, it's not bad, especially the first half.

[Batman1980]

Die another day is absolutely trash

[Winslow Leach]

DIE ANOTHER DAY is a good Bond film. It's a lot of fun.

[Batman1980]

It still remains the only bond film I've ever seen that I have zero interest in ever seeing again.

[BluRayTim]

Originally Posted by Freddie_Quell

Are we talking about the man who gave the lead (female) role to Kate Capshaw in the sequel of the highest-grossing film of 1981?

Kate Capshaw is far from good, but she’s also far from the bottom of the barrel.

[Jay H.]

Originally Posted by CreasyBear

As for Richards, she's perfectly fine in the film. It's a Bond film. Nuclear technicians are allowed to be beautiful. Calm down.

I wasn't referring to her appearance. And I'm perfectly calm, Dude. Calmer than you are.

[zen007]

Originally Posted by Winslow Leach

DIE ANOTHER DAY is a good Bond film. It's a lot of fun.

Yes, every Bond film has its moments. DAD has an interesting first half esp. the HK (Bond's hotel check-in) & the Cuba segments. The score by Arnold is quite good. From when Bond checks in to Ice Hotel, the film tries a different approach that does not work as well as the filmmakers would have hoped.

Relatively speaking, I have found SPECTRE ((Thread Link) to be the weakest Bond film so far (it still has segments that I like).

[RCRochester]

Christmas Jones was intended to be a sort of Lara Croft knock-off. Smart, sexy and kick-ass. The character could have worked if they had cast an actress who actually played it tongue-in-cheek. Denise Richards was mis-cast not because she is beautiful but because she played the character too seriously. There’s no chemistry between her and Brosnan and no understanding that some of the exchanges featuring double entendres require a sense of playful sexuality.

[zen007]

The discussion on Denise Richards can appear like much ado about nothing as her role is limited in scope:

a) Kazakistan segment: Introduced as a different type of scientist. Mostly there for action sequences
b) Azarbaijan segment: Defuses a bomb (or removes plutonium to let a dud explode) in an oil pipeline
c) Caviar factory: Does a pose in a nice dress
d) Istanbul segment: Sports a wet t-shirt and mumbles some technicalities on radiation inside a submarine
e) Epilogue: The standard romance with Bond
f) Some scenes here and there

[captainsolo]

I saw TWINE at a midnight show on release day with my dad. I had been thrilled as a young Bond fan to have new films to get to see and counted down the days. Afterwards I would rewatch the film on VHS innumerable times before graduating to the DVD, UE and Blu-ray.

It used to be my favorite Brosnan era film and I still think is has the most intimate story. Over time I found myself liking it less and less and enjoying both GE and TND more. As my Bond obsession grew and I delved more deeply into analyzing the productions it became clearer why I didn't like the film as much.

Essentially you have a film where the got a director with a deep background in character (Apted) plus a script with a neat concept from Purvis and Wade to fulfill Brozzer's wish to have more dramatic scenes to play. However it was a darker and more intimate downer of a story and the film fights against this by continually trying to be a more traditional Bond film. Everything points to it have a dark conclusion and it doesn't deliver that. In addition the first and second unit materials don't gel properly and feel a bit disjointed. The villains are fascinating and yet we never quite get enough time with them. Raymond Benson's novelization gives some crucial bits of backstory that enrich the film.

The film is at its best in the character scenes and when Bond is unravelling the mystery aspect. I've never minded the Christmas character but the problem is after a point all she does is fulfill the Girl no.2 role. The script should have given her something to do or removed her entirely to give greater focus on Bond and Elektra.

The key example that now feels really obvious to me is

[Show spoiler]how much they undercut the crucial moment of "I never miss." The edit is brief, the music sting is too much and the pacing is rushed likely to appease the MPAA. But it is the moment the film builds to and it should have been savored as an extreme moment for Bond's character. In TND the Dr. Kaufman confrontation is very similar but the darkness is allowed to play out more naturally.

The sound design is the weakest of the four films in spite of having EX by a dramatic margin. On the other hand I think David Arnold produced his best Bond score, the Garbage title song is fantastic (though the film mix is wimpy) and the film should have ended with the abandoned Scott Walker-David Arnold "Only Myself To Blame" which is one of the great lost Bond songs.

I say all this and still cherish the film. It's easier to pick apart the Brosnan era because we have more production information to go off of. The film began the Purvis and wade era and shows their big problem of having interesting concepts without being able to flesh them out satisfactorily. I went into great detail on all of this in the commentary I did last year.


Die Another Day magnifies every issue of TWINE but it was the choice of Lee Tamahori as director that gave it the frequent cringe factor. If TWINE has tonal issues, DAD defines them. Which is a shame because at its core the story idea is sound and pulls directly from at least two Fleming novels. I still stick up for the good things in the film and Benson's novelization that does its best to try and patch over the issues. One thing that does help is its absolute beast of a soundmix which is still a joy to blast.