I saw the movie yesterday. It wasn't that bad. I really liked it at first. I thought that the beginning scene was good; better than most. And I was really glad that during the credits, instead of having the usual crap with all the shadow women dancing, it showed James Bond being tortured by North Koreans. The theme song wasn't bad, either. Hell, it was stellar by Bong standards. All this made me get past that stupid opening in which there was a facsimile of the bullet going through the scope of the man's rifle (things like that shouldn't be changed). But, in this movie, the cons outnumber the pros by far. There were more annoying one-liners in this one than in all of the other Bond films combined - "My name's Mr. Kill." "Now there's a name to die for." The action scenes were boring, crammed with computer-generated effects, and, worst of all, very plentiful. The plot was absolutely ridiculous. Not in a goofy, campy way - just absurd. And the worst part of the movie was that Lee Tamahori tried to make it just like "Charlie's Angels" or "XXX". James Bond movies used to be the classiest action films. All the other action films were supposed to steal pages from their books. But I guess that's changed now. Nothing but slow motion effects and loads of explosions.
I figured that James Bond would have a different personality in "Die Another Day."One would assume that spending 14 months being tortured in a Korean hell would change a person completely. But that doesn't seem to be the case here: Once Bond gets out, he shaves his beard, somehow cuts his hair, and then it's back to sex and shaken Vodka Martinis. Though one thing that I realized while watching this was that I have completely accepted Pierce Brosnan as James Bond. He plays the role well, and is probably my second favorite Bond. He's like a nice mixture of Sean Connery's suave Bond, Timothy Dalton's edgy Bond, and Roger Moore's ridiculous, over-the-top Bond. I hope he stays for a fifth movie.
Since everyone's giving out numbers, I guess I'll do the same. Maybe 2.5/5. I don't know. I thought that it was a pretty fun Summer movie. Oh wait, it isn't Summer time. Meh.
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