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Comments
I get that. DAF, & NSNA for that matter, are very lightweight stuff. DAD has its compelling bits, much like YOLT....
Always been the case for me. I think the biggest crime a film can commit is to be boring; DAD has a lot of awful elements but it's never boring.
DAF is very, very dull for me.
Curious, do you find NSNA less or more boring than DAF?
They balance out about the same overall, but each have different strengths and weaknesses in comparison with the other.
So I do agree, DAD by contrast isn’t boring. Brosnan actually looks quite cool and confident for much of it, and puts in a far better performance than in TWINE. A lot of the special effects are a bit dated but it does retain that timeless quality that the EON Bond films all have to some extent. It’s not the best Bond film, but if it’s on tv I can happily watch it. If NSNA comes on I tend to tune out after a point.
Kershner did a good job with the pacing.
That said NSNA really drags for me. It’s just such a lifeless film. The climax is particularly terrible. It’s actually quite funny, you can tell they were trying to add something extra to it by having Bond and Leiter get shot out of the submarine with jet packs only to go back into the water. Even just watching the film it’s bizarre and underwhelming.
I don't see anything wrong with this scene. I mean, NTTD has the aeroplane scene too. Pretty Bondian stuff.
Everything's subjective, and we get different things out of watching certain films.
For me, it just feels pointless but in a really funny way. The jetpacks themselves look so cheap and ridiculous (like something from a 1950s B movie, but a bad one) and there's not much reason for them to have included it. There's at least a bit of spectacle and very much a story reason for the mini aircraft scene in NTTD.
For me it's the same.
Anyway, there are many pointless things in Bond movies but I don't think this is one of them.
Plus I think Brosnan in DAD runs countless laps around Connery in NSNA.
Agreed, wholeheartedly. As far as redeeming features go, I'd be remiss not to mention Fatima's character (she's the most interesting in the whole film, as OTT as she is) and the henchman fight in the health clinic. Basinger is easy on the eye, too.
Beyond that, DAD is simply a more entertaining film.
I concur!
I can definitely see where your coming from, it’s just incredibly hard for me to overlook the cynical nature of the production; it just manages to come off screen, and the result is just a Bond film that manages to make me feel uncomfortable watching it. It’s like watching a strange facsimile of a Bond film that does nothing to make it stand out from the EON series. For all their faults, both Casino Royale 1954 and 1967 don’t feel like that all imo, and I prefer watching those two movies because they don’t really evoke the EON Bond; whereas NSNA just comes across as nothing else but a pale imitation of the real deal, and it unfortunately highlights just how generic the Bond series could be if it were stripped of its identity and charm.
Anyway, DAD takes what would be a Goldfinger-esque (that is Bond inactive for most of it) story, and expands it so that it has a globe-trotter element. Graves and diamonds feels akin to Drax and columbite: just a massive shame that this doesn't pan out.
EON wanted to make the movie for a good reason.
Perhaps weakly plotted isn't the right way of saying it, but I do find after the first portion of the story it tends to lose itself a bit. In the novel M sends Bond to the Bahamas on what is actually quite a tenuous (certainly contrived) hunch, and from there he has to do a bunch of investigation. It does feel a bit like he's been plopped into the middle of the Bahamas without much to go on, which makes everything after that feel a bit slow/contrived. TB (the film) at least streamlines it by having Bond know that Pettachi is dead beforehand, so he at least has a bit more agency in what he's doing.
I will say that NSNA does get Pettachi's betrayal right in my opinion. Having him getting hooked on drugs feels slightly more clean than the whole body double situation in the EON film.
https://youtube.com/shorts/0vX0B0UtK6M?si=dwFRVKLExX2k_xp7
NSNA also improves on that part by having Bond actually a genuine (if rather clichéd) clue to lead him to Largo, rather than just fancying Petachi's sister or M's hunch.
I think neither TB not MR have plots which have particularly aged well as they're very conventional by today's standards, unlike something like, say, CR.
MR has Drax's duplicity which I guess makes it a little more spicy.
Oh yeah, MR's plot is a bit stupid if you think about it. The clues Bond is given to follow up on become increasingly vague to the point where he travels to a random part of the jungle because a specific type of orchid grows there. What exactly he was expecting to find/happen from there I don't know.
Not that it matters too much incidentally. It's more or less a way of getting to the next action sequence.
To be fair the novel's plot can be a bit silly too (it's not exactly subtle with its foreshadowing with Drax's men all being German etc). But then again, it's fine. The thing about Bond (books and films alike) is that they're great stories for being swept along by. They don't necessarily have to have perfect, airtight plots, and as long as the audience is having fun they can put up with contrivances or plot holes.
Yes indeed, I had the same reaction. Hope he's feeling okay.
I found that Daniel's films while good and well done got a bit tiresome by the fifth one. They did slowly introduce some of the tropes and elements of the other films. But I don't think the series ever had five films in a row that struck to the same vibe, over-arching themes and character development. I would welcome a return to a stand alone movie and a pause from the heavy continuity of the recent films. Doubt that it will happen.
Back to DAD, I can recall leaving the theatre feeling happy about the movie I just watched. I wouldn't have said it was Pierce's best Bond film but it delivered for me.
I’ve certainly grown more fond of Die Another Day as the years go by. It’s a movie that I can easily shut my brain off and enjoy for what it is.
In fact Brosnan’s final two films may not reach the heights of Goldeneye and Tomorrow Never Dies, they’re still quite entertaining in their own right; especially after Craig’s tenure skewed too dark and too serious to where they lost some of the fun/magic of the series.
Thank You!
I couldn’t agree more. You could throw MR into the mix as well.