DAD is actually pretty good!

TheWizardOfIce

Had a spare afternoon the other day and was overcome by an insane whim to put DAD on and I was pleasantly surprised that it was packed (perhaps that’s an exaggeration – there were a few) with some great Bondian moments in amongst the dross. As someone who over the years has liked nothing more than to put the boot in to DAD I thought it was time to cut it some slack so people the question is:

List your genuinely good things about DAD.

And please no hackneyed gags like ‘the end’.

1. The surfing is a stunt that doesn’t get the credit it deserves. Getting 3 people that close together on such a big wave is pretty impressive. (Whether Bond should ever surf at all is a different debate).

2. The whole Bond being tortured thing (Pretending to myself I didn’t know what was to come I even found myself loving the segue into the credits and the opening bars until Madonna opened her mouth).

3. I like the washed out look of the cinematography in the N Korea scenes.

4. The look that nurse gives as Bond legs it from the hospital is class. A nice homage to that hotel receptionist in TB (or was it DN?).

5. The Cuba scenes hark back to classic 60s Bond (well until Jinx turns up).

6. Bond catching the revolver as it falls off the MRI scanner.

7. Bond kicking the sword at the camera.

8. John Cleese comes across as a decent Q and would prefer to see him back than have some young techno geek as we have in SF.

9. Give Arnold some credit. Although his score his very derivative of Barry he comes up with some excellent moments. I like the Cuban music and the dramatic arrangement that comes in as The Clash fades out. The highlights though are two brassy bursts that echo the best of Barry. The first as the Aston drives towards the ice hotel and the second as the cars first come out onto the ice at the start of the chase with Zao.

10. No couldn’t make it to 10. Lets say the Pikelet but that’s talking with my sexist, misogynist dinosaur hat on rather than my film critic one.

Good luck finding some more. You'll need it.

db5007

Bond walking into the hotel in Hong Kong in wet pyjamas and checking in as if its the most natural thing to do....

Except for the appearance of Jinx & Madonna the first half or so of DAD is a good Bond movie but soon after turning up in Iceland it goes down its icy, poorly CGI rendered slope....

Torgeirtrap

It's been a while since I put on DAD, but I remember well those moments in the film I actually liked.

-Some of the North Korean scenes were decent.
- The hospital scene and escape to the hotel in Hong Kong was quite funny - in a Brosnan way.
- (As you mentioned) The Cuba scenes, until Jinx turn up.
- The clinic scenes were good enough.
- The sword fight.

My problem with DAD is that the scenes I like, don't really weigh up to the worse scenes, and there's only a few glimpses of the good Bondian moments.

QBranch

Mr. Kil: "I'm Mr. Kil."

Bond: "Now there's a name to die for."

For me, that's the worst of it. Everything else, I quite enjoy.

The unique part of this film is the torture scenes. Something different.

DaltonCraig007

I totally agree - DAD is a pretty good Bond film ! Top 10 material.

mrhatsuka

I particularly don't mind the firing range sequence, especially with the twist at the end! Of course the sword fight minus Madonna is terrific. And most of the London part is well shot and believable except for the awful, cheesy references to the 40th anniversary, especially in Q's lab.

X3MSonicX

DaltonCraig007 said:
I totally agree - DAD is a pretty good Bond film ! Top 10 material.

Idk why but i guess that you're being ironic lol

BAIN123

I've said this before. DAD is a film filledd with wasted potential. It has some good scenes amidst a lot of rubbish.

Add to your list Wizard.

Bond trying to kill Miranda
The chase across the ice.

I also quite like the short sequence with Bond and Jinx at the airfield before they run after the plane near the end.

("300 metres

Windage, one and a half")

Bond just about to shoot graves with the sniper rifle and then deciding to get on the plane.

forgotmyusername

fab film for the first thirty and then it became sfx tat.

DaltonCraig007

X3MSonicX said:

DaltonCraig007 said:
I totally agree - DAD is a pretty good Bond film ! Top 10 material.

Idk why but i guess that you're being ironic lol

I was serious - DAD is among the breed of Bond films I love, like MR, DAF, YOLT, MR, TSWLM, TMWTGG

TheWizardOfIce

BAIN123 said:
I've said this before. DAD is a film filledd with wasted potential. It has some good scenes amidst a lot of rubbish.

Add to your list Wizard.

Bond trying to kill Miranda
The chase across the ice.

I also quite like the short sequence with Bond and Jinx at the airfield before they run after the plane near the end.

("300 metres

Windage, one and a half")

Bond just about to shoot graves with the sniper rifle and then deciding to get on the plane.

Sorry Mr Bain but I find myself having to disagree with all your choices.

Bond trying to kill Miranda is one of the very worst scenes in the film due to the fact that whoever wrote it obviously has no concept of the character of Bond. He would know his gun was empty the moment he picked it up and to say he wouldnt is an absolute insult to the character.

The ice chase has some great driving but alas is ruined by them constantly shooting each others missiles out of the sky with ridiculous ease at the push of a button.

The sniper scene is automatically disqualified from being any good by the fact that it contains Jinx re the Wizards first law of Bond which states:

'Any frame of celluloid which contains the character of Jinx is a travesty to the world of James Bond that results in both Ian Fleming and Cubby Broccolli rotating in their graves at about 4000 rpm.'

Sorry Bain but this law is one of the most fundamental building blocks of modern physics. Were it proved to be false the universe would unravel in some sort of black hole paradox.

Dr_Metz

I don't mind DAD. I liked the face morphing thing, the ice palace, and the PTS. The CGI was pretty bad, but at least it wasn't 90% CGI, like another film that came out that year *coughattackoftheclonescough*. It also has arguably Pierce Brosnan's best Bond performance as well. But, it also has the worst theme song from the original Bond series.

TheWizardOfIce said:
8. John Cleese comes across as a decent Q and would prefer to see him back than have some young techno geek as we have in SF.

This right here is why Skyfall is probably going to not be good. They had the perfect replacement for Llewelyn with Cleese, and they just replace him with some dumb kid with a stupid face.

actonsteve

Well, you get used to anything eventually. Old lifers in prison get used to the regime eventually.

Repeat viewing and time often dull the senses to its craptitude. I think this is the one Bond film which I wont change my mind on. I was appalled back in 2002 by the sheer incompetence of the director. And thats where its failure lies. The director didnt get Bond. He thought you could throw a load of bad one lining speaking cardboard characters in there and cover the cracks with cheap cgi.

Really bad films have a couple of good scenes but they are swept away by the tsunami of godawfulness and drown anyone involved.

BAIN123

I must confess, recently I got a Bond boxset for my birthday consisting of blu ray's of DN, FRWL, TB, LALD, FYEO and DAD. The one ive slipped into the blu ray player the most - more to watch certain scenes than the whole film - is DAD.

Shameful I know :(

Haha, sorry Wizard. They were just scenes/moments I quite liked. I suppose u could argue that Bond let his well known weakness for women get the better of him. That's how I'd prefer to view it anyway ;)

What about the "Fiedel Castrato" line? I'm getting desperate now.

jetsetwilly

DaltonCraig007 said:

X3MSonicX said:

DaltonCraig007 said:
I totally agree - DAD is a pretty good Bond film ! Top 10 material.

Idk why but i guess that you're being ironic lol

I was serious - DAD is among the breed of Bond films I love, like MR, DAF, YOLT, MR, TSWLM, TMWTGG

Says it all really. No mention of OHMSS or FRWL. I think DC007, you would be a perfect reviewer guide for me, because any film you rate highly, I would avoid like the plague, and any film you say is bad, it would certainly be on my must-watch list.

Well done.

Seen any decent films lately, or any bad ones I should watch out for...?

;)

Dr_Metz

jetsetwilly said:
Says it all really. No mention of OHMSS or FRWL. I think DC007, you would be a perfect reviewer guide for me, because any film you rate highly, I would avoid like the plague, and any film you say is bad, it would certainly be on my must-watch list.

Yes, every Bond fan must have the same opinion on the series. I hate to break it to you, but OHMSS isn't that great. FRWL is, however.

Zekidk

Before it turned CGIce, the first half of DAD ranks amongst my favorite of the 22 films. There are so many classic and great elements in there.

JWESTBROOK

I can safely say I enjoy the film until Halle Barry speaks. I didn't even mind her rising out the water like Honey. But from that point on, it got vastly worse.

dragonsky

First time I watched DAD i thought it was bad.But with every other viewing of DAD mine thoughts of DAD are better and better.

DaltonCraig007

jetsetwilly said:
Seen any decent films lately, or any bad ones I should watch out for...?

I watched 'Dragon Tattoo' with Craig and 'Drive'.... loved them.

Volante

My favourite part of DAD is when it finishes.

DCisared

I liked the part with bond in his jarmies casually strolling into the hotel,I remember thinking in the cinema at the time, "what a legend, haha"

BAIN123

Volante said:
My favourite part of DAD is when it finishes.

Wizard said no bum jokes like that.

Grant

Well it is very enjoyable compared to the disaster that is the "reboot" but that is not saying much :)

Actually, I watched it rather hung over, a while back, and had a good time. The same cannot be said to of the last two. Really cannot sit through them.

forgotmyusername

Grant said:
Really cannot sit through them.

i had to read that line twice.

SaintMark

It is really an enjoyable flick, certainly not one of the greatest in the franchise but decent enough.

And the one bad thing about the invisible Aston Martin was that it is a shame that you want to hide such a beautifull car. :D If it were an American car that would be a whole different matter.

TheWizardOfIce

Grant said:
Well it is very enjoyable compared to the disaster that is the "reboot" but that is not saying much :)

Actually, I watched it rather hung over, a while back, and had a good time. The same cannot be said to of the last two. Really cannot sit through them.

Oh dear, oh dear. There's always someone who has to take it too far.

Tell me Grant - which lunatic asylum did they get you from?

SaintMark

TheWizardOfIce said:

Grant said:
Well it is very enjoyable compared to the disaster that is the "reboot" but that is not saying much :)

Actually, I watched it rather hung over, a while back, and had a good time. The same cannot be said to of the last two. Really cannot sit through them.

Oh dear, oh dear. There's always someone who has to take it too far.

Tell me Grant - which lunatic asylum did they get you from?

Well it is all about personal taste. When one goes insulting people that differ from you, it might be you who should seek out help with you personality issues.
;)

thelivingroyale

I thought DAD was great up until Q (who I have to say, was awesome, I'm really sad that cleese isn't in skyfall and instead we're getting a young, serious Q) brought out the invisible car. From then on things slid downhill extremely quickly. If it wasn't for some of the iceland scenes and the sci-fi plane finale, then DAD would be in one of the best in the series, instead, its one of the worst.

But I don't think its the very worst in the series. (I know I'm going of topic here but still), because despite the last part making it a terrible, awful bond film, its still a bond film. Unlike the latest film in the franchise which tried too hard to be serious and ended up like a bad bourne rip-off.

CrzChris4

I really wanted to take Die Another Day and re-edit the movie into a more coherent package. The film is near perfect up until Jinx arrives in Cuba. All the film needs is Jinx stripped from the film as much as possible. Is this feasible?

I think so. After Bond goes down on her in Cuba, I'd have her effectively disappear from the film until the ending sequence on the plane. After the satelitte is destroyed I'd cut the plane being destroyed. Maybe...I'd have her show up for a quick moment in Iceland. Cut the ending in that little hut and have it end on Bond and Moneypenny together. After all, they ended up rebooting the franchise in the next film.

M_Balje

The Sword Fight
Story contuned in the maintitle
Title song
The ice palace
The car chase on ice
Surfing on water (Gunbarrel scene)
Bond meet his twin (Gunbarrel scene)
Intro to Iceland
The wheelchair scene
London Calling (Graves Enter London)
Bond meet Roger Moore his daughter
VR scene when enter hide place close to the Big Ben
Q and M scene
Teaser trailer

years later, how amazing it have been with the thrill of the gunbarrel scene with Moon almost kill his henchmen, if there show more of his fight kills then only that and the sword fight.

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