The name's Bond...James Bond
09-11-2013
, 06:23 PM
09-11-2013
, 10:59 PM
09-12-2013
, 06:15 PM
You Only Live Twice by Ian Fleming
A terrific book that starts with a Bond, broken by the tragic events in OHMSS, slowly going to pieces, only to have M give him a nearly impossible assignment in the hope of getting Bond back to his former self. It's interesting to contract Bond now with the Bond at the end of Casino Royale...there, a loved one killed formed his character and drove him to target the enemies of Britain, whilst this death was the start of internal corrosion of the soul.
I really enjoyed this one, with it's western-eye view of Japan, the surprise turn (when not that surprising if you are at all familiar with thriller conventions) of Blofeld being the focus of Bond by coincidence, and the sweet tang of revenge.
It's final chapter is, if anything, even sadder (or maybe bittersweet) than the end of OHMSS, where we have Bond inadvertently giving up a beautiful wife, life and chance of a family because former memories won't give him any peace.
The title is from a haiku composed by Bond during the story:
You only live twice:
Once when you are born
And once when you look death in the face
Wonderful, probably my third favourite Bond after From Russia With Love and Live and Let Die.
A terrific book that starts with a Bond, broken by the tragic events in OHMSS, slowly going to pieces, only to have M give him a nearly impossible assignment in the hope of getting Bond back to his former self. It's interesting to contract Bond now with the Bond at the end of Casino Royale...there, a loved one killed formed his character and drove him to target the enemies of Britain, whilst this death was the start of internal corrosion of the soul.
I really enjoyed this one, with it's western-eye view of Japan, the surprise turn (when not that surprising if you are at all familiar with thriller conventions) of Blofeld being the focus of Bond by coincidence, and the sweet tang of revenge.
It's final chapter is, if anything, even sadder (or maybe bittersweet) than the end of OHMSS, where we have Bond inadvertently giving up a beautiful wife, life and chance of a family because former memories won't give him any peace.
The title is from a haiku composed by Bond during the story:
You only live twice:
Once when you are born
And once when you look death in the face
Wonderful, probably my third favourite Bond after From Russia With Love and Live and Let Die.
Last edited by diebitter; 09-12-2013 at 06:20 PM.
09-14-2013
, 11:31 AM
09-19-2013
, 04:25 PM
Casino Royale (2006)
76/100
4 years after Die Another Day (seems longer), we get a Bond reboot of sorts (M is still Dench, but playing it harder edged), starting with Bond winning his Double-0 status by killing 2 men. He's a loose cannon here, but extremely resourceful, icy and distant.
I saw this when it came out, and not since, and remembered bits I liked (most of it actually except the stupid self-defribilator part, and I didn't buy the love story at the end), but completely forgot a whole section in the middle involving an attempt to destroy a new aircraft - and damn well-put together it was. I really enjoyed the rewatch, and my estimation of the movie has gone up somewhat. I still think the poker scenes had very little tension compared to what they could have had, and the defibrillator scene is still poor, but I was most changed over my view of Eva Green and the love story - she was a great Vesper, and it did work, I was wrong.
Excellent start by Craig imo, and definitely a big step up from the silliness that Die Another Day has got into.
Theme song sucks. Fantastic opening chase, by the way. And very nice ending too.
76/100
4 years after Die Another Day (seems longer), we get a Bond reboot of sorts (M is still Dench, but playing it harder edged), starting with Bond winning his Double-0 status by killing 2 men. He's a loose cannon here, but extremely resourceful, icy and distant.
I saw this when it came out, and not since, and remembered bits I liked (most of it actually except the stupid self-defribilator part, and I didn't buy the love story at the end), but completely forgot a whole section in the middle involving an attempt to destroy a new aircraft - and damn well-put together it was. I really enjoyed the rewatch, and my estimation of the movie has gone up somewhat. I still think the poker scenes had very little tension compared to what they could have had, and the defibrillator scene is still poor, but I was most changed over my view of Eva Green and the love story - she was a great Vesper, and it did work, I was wrong.
Excellent start by Craig imo, and definitely a big step up from the silliness that Die Another Day has got into.
Theme song sucks. Fantastic opening chase, by the way. And very nice ending too.
09-23-2013
, 05:02 AM
Quantum of Solace (2006)
70/100
Quantum of Solace has real structural problems. The motivations and plotting seem senseless at times. Bond kills people left right and centre - which is fine, but when he does it to a guy when Bond's just broken into the apartment and doesn't really know much about the guy...seems odd. Near the beginning, a girl is going out on a motor boat with some potential foreign dictator, and so no obvious issue, Bond takes it on himself to rescue her. Why? I have no idea. The same girl is obviously a target for death by the main villain at the start, and yet we see her with the villain again halfway through the movie, so why did the villain change his mind about her?...and so on.
Having said that, there is a lot of good in this movie that I didn't take in the first time, because I was just aggravated with the poor setup up of character motivations - the stunts are really terrific (car chase at the start, Bond taking out people left right and centre, the end set-piece); the interesting political points raised where governments realise they have to deal with bad guys to get things done rings very true; and Bond clear, inconsolable rage, and a rather good (partial) resolution to the whole Vesper arc.
The villain was actually better than I remembered too, being a kind of creepy Roman Polanski (ahem...) clone, and it was kind of funny (and melding nicely with real life villains) the plot was about Quantum being a monopolistic utility company.
Craig is in fine form here, exuding menace and confidence at every turn. I lolled when he refused to check into a second-rate hotel, and went to a fine one, insisting it didn't blow their cover as teachers on holiday, because they'd "just won the lottery". lol. The female lead is pretty good too, as is Dench.
Overall enjoyable, but hell the motivations and causality issues in the script were kind of heinous.
70/100
Quantum of Solace has real structural problems. The motivations and plotting seem senseless at times. Bond kills people left right and centre - which is fine, but when he does it to a guy when Bond's just broken into the apartment and doesn't really know much about the guy...seems odd. Near the beginning, a girl is going out on a motor boat with some potential foreign dictator, and so no obvious issue, Bond takes it on himself to rescue her. Why? I have no idea. The same girl is obviously a target for death by the main villain at the start, and yet we see her with the villain again halfway through the movie, so why did the villain change his mind about her?...and so on.
Having said that, there is a lot of good in this movie that I didn't take in the first time, because I was just aggravated with the poor setup up of character motivations - the stunts are really terrific (car chase at the start, Bond taking out people left right and centre, the end set-piece); the interesting political points raised where governments realise they have to deal with bad guys to get things done rings very true; and Bond clear, inconsolable rage, and a rather good (partial) resolution to the whole Vesper arc.
The villain was actually better than I remembered too, being a kind of creepy Roman Polanski (ahem...) clone, and it was kind of funny (and melding nicely with real life villains) the plot was about Quantum being a monopolistic utility company.
Craig is in fine form here, exuding menace and confidence at every turn. I lolled when he refused to check into a second-rate hotel, and went to a fine one, insisting it didn't blow their cover as teachers on holiday, because they'd "just won the lottery". lol. The female lead is pretty good too, as is Dench.
Overall enjoyable, but hell the motivations and causality issues in the script were kind of heinous.
09-23-2013
, 02:05 PM
09-23-2013
, 11:06 PM
09-24-2013
, 10:58 AM
09-27-2013
, 06:41 PM
Skyfall
Though much is taken, much abides; and though
We are not now that strength which in old days
Moved earth and heaven; that which we are, we are;
One equal temper of heroic hearts,
Made weak by time and fate, but strong in will
To strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield.
Well, having watched all the Bond movies in a long run (and not the first time I've seen them), and expecting mostly that what I thought before would remain true by the end, I was surprised by the end result...Skyfall is now my favourite Bond. None of the others, save perhaps OHMSS and Casino Royale, approach the emotional impact of this, and none of them except maybe From Russia With Love and Goldfinger approach the level of cinematography and imagery of Skyfall.
It is flawed, of course, with logic, plot holes and with character dissonances, but these are minor. It's a grand work, with a great villain, and some great scenes (the fight in silhouette is masterful), and has subtle echoes of other stories and themes (some of Bond's own in fact). The main themes, it seems to me, are death and resurrection, themes of parenthood gone awry but shaping the child into something he would not have been if he'd stayed under a parent's protective wing, of battling against very tough odds to win (and this is the first time I can really recall in a Bond film a clear sense Bond is in survival rather than winning mode), and also light and shadow. There's elements of old British myths here, like Arthurian legend, a touch of St George fighting the Dragon (the villain is a man burned through on the inside), and Jesus. It starts, after a brilliant action sequence in Istanbul, with Bond dead to the world (echoes of the end of the book You Only Live Twice), amplified by a terrific title sequence overlaid by Adele's plaintive song.
But he does come back when he needs to, and we see him trying to get back some of his former skills and fitness. We have new versions of old Bond elements and characters that work well. But mostly there's this theme of resurrection and old sins coming back to haunt you.
Twice we see Bond fall into water and sink, only to emerge somewhere else. We even see him get to walk on water (well, ice...), and face dragons (of the Komodo kind). We see him unshaven and looking tired and raddled, but when he needs to, a shave and a decent tuxedo brings the Bond we know back.
Sam Mendes, the director, is a man versed in classic British literature and stories, and he invokes these subtly throughout. There's a theme here of Britain in decline, paralleled by Bond's decline, and both struggling...it reminds me of the Saxon belief that a king is tied to his land, and a king in decline means the land is in decline, and vice versa. Mendes is perhaps invoking that old idea here. And while we see Bond struggling to get back to his old levels of strength, we also see the chaos and doubters around M, until finally Bond takes M away, so he can try to protect her from the relentless and resourceful villain, even while he's not quite back to strength himself.
But about Bond and maybe about Britain, M says as she quotes Tennyson...'Made weak by time and fate, but strong in will. To strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield.'
The words mirror the end.
And what a great ending. A great middle and start too, with Bardem proving a terrific villain, who is clearly the good guy in his own story, but the bad guy in ours. He's bitter, complex, funny, and haunted by betrayal he cannot forgive. He shows he loves M by the end, but cannot live without finishing her and himself. But that end...The final goodbye to the old M, and Bond back to his former self, going into M's office with that gloriously plush leather-padded door (like the one in the old days), to see the new M, and when asked if he's ready to get back to work...as Bond puts it, "With pleasure, M. With pleasure."
Glorious.
90/100
Though much is taken, much abides; and though
We are not now that strength which in old days
Moved earth and heaven; that which we are, we are;
One equal temper of heroic hearts,
Made weak by time and fate, but strong in will
To strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield.
Well, having watched all the Bond movies in a long run (and not the first time I've seen them), and expecting mostly that what I thought before would remain true by the end, I was surprised by the end result...Skyfall is now my favourite Bond. None of the others, save perhaps OHMSS and Casino Royale, approach the emotional impact of this, and none of them except maybe From Russia With Love and Goldfinger approach the level of cinematography and imagery of Skyfall.
It is flawed, of course, with logic, plot holes and with character dissonances, but these are minor. It's a grand work, with a great villain, and some great scenes (the fight in silhouette is masterful), and has subtle echoes of other stories and themes (some of Bond's own in fact). The main themes, it seems to me, are death and resurrection, themes of parenthood gone awry but shaping the child into something he would not have been if he'd stayed under a parent's protective wing, of battling against very tough odds to win (and this is the first time I can really recall in a Bond film a clear sense Bond is in survival rather than winning mode), and also light and shadow. There's elements of old British myths here, like Arthurian legend, a touch of St George fighting the Dragon (the villain is a man burned through on the inside), and Jesus. It starts, after a brilliant action sequence in Istanbul, with Bond dead to the world (echoes of the end of the book You Only Live Twice), amplified by a terrific title sequence overlaid by Adele's plaintive song.
But he does come back when he needs to, and we see him trying to get back some of his former skills and fitness. We have new versions of old Bond elements and characters that work well. But mostly there's this theme of resurrection and old sins coming back to haunt you.
Twice we see Bond fall into water and sink, only to emerge somewhere else. We even see him get to walk on water (well, ice...), and face dragons (of the Komodo kind). We see him unshaven and looking tired and raddled, but when he needs to, a shave and a decent tuxedo brings the Bond we know back.
Sam Mendes, the director, is a man versed in classic British literature and stories, and he invokes these subtly throughout. There's a theme here of Britain in decline, paralleled by Bond's decline, and both struggling...it reminds me of the Saxon belief that a king is tied to his land, and a king in decline means the land is in decline, and vice versa. Mendes is perhaps invoking that old idea here. And while we see Bond struggling to get back to his old levels of strength, we also see the chaos and doubters around M, until finally Bond takes M away, so he can try to protect her from the relentless and resourceful villain, even while he's not quite back to strength himself.
But about Bond and maybe about Britain, M says as she quotes Tennyson...'Made weak by time and fate, but strong in will. To strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield.'
The words mirror the end.
And what a great ending. A great middle and start too, with Bardem proving a terrific villain, who is clearly the good guy in his own story, but the bad guy in ours. He's bitter, complex, funny, and haunted by betrayal he cannot forgive. He shows he loves M by the end, but cannot live without finishing her and himself. But that end...The final goodbye to the old M, and Bond back to his former self, going into M's office with that gloriously plush leather-padded door (like the one in the old days), to see the new M, and when asked if he's ready to get back to work...as Bond puts it, "With pleasure, M. With pleasure."
Glorious.
90/100
09-27-2013
, 07:04 PM