A few month ago, I passed a kayaking test, and ever since then, I've been able to enjoy the taste of Scotch. All the best sea kayakers are from Scotland, you see, and that is what I attribute the change to. Previously a Bourbon drinker, I've spent the past couple of months trying different Scotches, doing some reading about them, and learning what I like.
Laphroaig -I'm not sure what year this was; I expect the 10 Year. I had his to celebrate success on my exam, and I was really taken with its deep, smoky flavor. Apparently I am odd in liking the smoky, peaty Scotches. I don't always need it this intense, but I do like it.
Macallen 12 - I had this as a victory lap following a long kayaking day trip. I was in a bar with a smaller selection, and after asking about their single malts, tried the Macallen on the recommendation of the bartender and another patron. It's far more balanced the the Laphraig, and was a nice step down from the Laphraig.
Belvenie Double-Cask (Sherry) - In a fancy hotel in Tulsa, I found an excellent selection, and tried this one. I loved it so much I bought a bottle of my own. There are actually two double casks, one finished in sherry and the other in rum; I have not tried the rum, but the sherry finish is excellent. This is by far the most complex Scotch I have had, with an array of flavors in succession: honey, salt, a little peat, heather.
Talisker - from the Isle of Skye, where I hope to train one day. Peaty, but not as much as the Laphraig. I rather enjoyed it, it is mild, but not especially sweet.
Glenfiddich - I tried this at a whisky party, and can see why it's so successful. It's a wonderful combination of all the good things in Scotch, but a bit more subdued than the Macallen.
Highland Park - my new favorite, from the northernmost tip of Scotland, where some of my ancestors supposedly came from. Not too sweet, and complex but not so complicated as the Belvenie, sweet up front with a smoky finish.
Scotch, or whisky of any kind, is insane when you think about it. Someone had to think, I'll take some grain wet it and then let it spoil and ferment, and then I'll put it in water, and boil it. Then I'll build some tubes above it, bend them, and capture the condensate. Then, I'll put all that in a barrel and store it for, I dunno, ten years, at least. At least! And then I will drink it."
It's crazy, it's engineering, it's something only people on a rocky outcrop between the Atlantic and the North Sea could perfect.
Sunday, December 22, 2013
Sunday, April 14, 2013
Bond Films: Skyfall
Skyfall is the 23rd EON Bond film, and the 24th, and last I've watched in my little marathon. Released in the 50th year of Bond films, it is also certainly one of the best. Spoilers are active. There is no way to talk about this movie within referencing events within it.
The basic plot of Skyfall is: Hot on the trail of a stolen hard drive that contains the true identifies of MI6 agents hidden worldwide, Bond chases his quarry through Istanbul and atop a train, ending in a missed shot by a fellow agent that sends him falling into the river below. Eventually declared dead, Bond is pulled back in when a series of terrorist attacks zero in on M, and raise public skepticism about the efficacy of MI6. Bond comes in, and after being waved past some evaluations, he heads to Shanghai, and later Macau, following the trail of the man he fought until he 1) steals the villain's girl and 2) arrives at the secret lair. After some repartee, the villain kills the girl before being captured by Bond and taken in. There, his full story is revealed: a former agent abandoned by M, he survive a disfiguring attempt at suicide and is now a sort of master hacker. While captured, his computer materials are unlocked by Q, but in turn hack MI6's security systems and allow him to escape. After a merry chase through the Tube, he and his accomplices attempt to assassinate M at a Parliament hearing. Bond thwarts them, and takes M in the old Aston-Martin to his family home in Scotland, where he lays in wait for the villain's assault. After a hella amount of fighting, Bond and a fatally wounded M defeat the villain.
Skyfall is epic, but not overly busy. Each sequence feels like the next logical step, and covers the half-moments between action. It's also remarkably simple - the only gadgetry Bond receives is a fancy gun keyed to his palmprint, and a tiny radio. This continues with the tone of the previous two films, returning Bond to his roos as a simple spy - albeit an incredibly capable one.
When Skyfall came out, there was much talk of it being about age, and getting old, and feeling irrelevant. The new Q is a young man, quite a turnaround from the previous Bond-Q relationship, and M as played by Judi Dench, is more than long in the tooth, being eased out by management. But Skyfall isn't about being old, or irrelevant. Bond only creaks because he's genuinely injured, not because he's getting on.
Skyfall is about abandonment. In the very beginning of the film, Bond is ordered to abandon a mortally wounded fellow agent. He himself is figuratively abandoned when another agent is ordered to take a shot at the risk (and result) of hitting Bond. The villain was also abandoned by M. See a pattern here? The villain abandons the girl, killing her, and on top of all this, Bond is an orphan who falls back to the abandoned family home in Scotland. M dies - the ultimate abandonment. Skyfall is not a simple techno-thriller: it touches repeatedly on loss, loyalty, and the wearying conflict between the two: how can we be loyal to something we know we may ultimately lose?
This is the key to all of the best Bond films: Bond actually experiences loss. The stakes are high, but while he may win for queen and country, he suffers a personal loss in the bargain. We see this in On her Majesty's Secret Service, in Goldeneye, Casino Royale, and now Skyfall.
Skyfall introduces some new changes. Moneypenny is finally introduced into the post-Brosnan "rebooted" series, and Ralph Fiennes steps in as the new M (Bond: he works for Voldemort). The new Q promises to be more smart aleck schoolboy than lecturing professor. And Bond hopefully for the better - can move forward from the losses of Vesper, and M, and achieve some measure of satisfaction besides vengeance in the next film.
The basic plot of Skyfall is: Hot on the trail of a stolen hard drive that contains the true identifies of MI6 agents hidden worldwide, Bond chases his quarry through Istanbul and atop a train, ending in a missed shot by a fellow agent that sends him falling into the river below. Eventually declared dead, Bond is pulled back in when a series of terrorist attacks zero in on M, and raise public skepticism about the efficacy of MI6. Bond comes in, and after being waved past some evaluations, he heads to Shanghai, and later Macau, following the trail of the man he fought until he 1) steals the villain's girl and 2) arrives at the secret lair. After some repartee, the villain kills the girl before being captured by Bond and taken in. There, his full story is revealed: a former agent abandoned by M, he survive a disfiguring attempt at suicide and is now a sort of master hacker. While captured, his computer materials are unlocked by Q, but in turn hack MI6's security systems and allow him to escape. After a merry chase through the Tube, he and his accomplices attempt to assassinate M at a Parliament hearing. Bond thwarts them, and takes M in the old Aston-Martin to his family home in Scotland, where he lays in wait for the villain's assault. After a hella amount of fighting, Bond and a fatally wounded M defeat the villain.
Skyfall is epic, but not overly busy. Each sequence feels like the next logical step, and covers the half-moments between action. It's also remarkably simple - the only gadgetry Bond receives is a fancy gun keyed to his palmprint, and a tiny radio. This continues with the tone of the previous two films, returning Bond to his roos as a simple spy - albeit an incredibly capable one.
When Skyfall came out, there was much talk of it being about age, and getting old, and feeling irrelevant. The new Q is a young man, quite a turnaround from the previous Bond-Q relationship, and M as played by Judi Dench, is more than long in the tooth, being eased out by management. But Skyfall isn't about being old, or irrelevant. Bond only creaks because he's genuinely injured, not because he's getting on.
Skyfall is about abandonment. In the very beginning of the film, Bond is ordered to abandon a mortally wounded fellow agent. He himself is figuratively abandoned when another agent is ordered to take a shot at the risk (and result) of hitting Bond. The villain was also abandoned by M. See a pattern here? The villain abandons the girl, killing her, and on top of all this, Bond is an orphan who falls back to the abandoned family home in Scotland. M dies - the ultimate abandonment. Skyfall is not a simple techno-thriller: it touches repeatedly on loss, loyalty, and the wearying conflict between the two: how can we be loyal to something we know we may ultimately lose?
This is the key to all of the best Bond films: Bond actually experiences loss. The stakes are high, but while he may win for queen and country, he suffers a personal loss in the bargain. We see this in On her Majesty's Secret Service, in Goldeneye, Casino Royale, and now Skyfall.
Skyfall introduces some new changes. Moneypenny is finally introduced into the post-Brosnan "rebooted" series, and Ralph Fiennes steps in as the new M (Bond: he works for Voldemort). The new Q promises to be more smart aleck schoolboy than lecturing professor. And Bond hopefully for the better - can move forward from the losses of Vesper, and M, and achieve some measure of satisfaction besides vengeance in the next film.
Bond Films: Quantum of Solace
Quantum of Solace is a direct sequel to Casino Royale. This was a little difficult to follow when it came out, because by the time it was released nearly three years had passed since its predecessor. Because of that, and because of being hampered by a writer's strike in the interim, Quantum gets short shrift among the modern Bond films. However, watched in sequence with Casino Royale, it is a nice little chestnut, a satisfying coda to one of the better Bond films.
The basic plot of Quantum of Solace is: Having stalked Vesper Lynd's killer at the end of Casino Royale, Bond has brought Mr. White in for questioning. However, the interrogation is interrupted by a sleeper agent whom Bond chases. Following clues, Bond learns a little more about the mysterious Quantum organization, including an elaborate virtual meeting they will be holding at an outdoor opera. Bond takes photos and disrupts their meeting, ultimately resulting in a shootout wherein he kills another British agent (apparently one undercover). His documents revoked, Bond goes rogue, making his way to the South American country where Quantum has backed a military coup in exchange for land rights - ultimately, water rights, rather than the oil rights everyone has assumed. Bond meets up with the girl, who is the villain's ex-girlfriend, and daughter of the previous regime's leader. She and Bond crash a fundraiser; Bond's buddy from Casino Royale is killed, and he and the girl go to Quantum's secret facility in the middle of the desert. There, they assault and kill the villain and his pawns; Bond chases him into the desert, giving him the choice of death by dehydration or drinking antifreeze.
On its own, Quantum of Solace is a choppy pretty choppy film; there are purposefully rapid cuts to emphasize the action, effective at first but jarring over time. Even more jarring are some of the story jumps; I could barely follow the plot the first time I saw it. It's a kinetic film, like a bullet that shatters and leaves multiple fragments embedded as it penetrates its target. It's the action counterpart to Casino Royale's lover story.
However, watching the two films back to back, Quantum makes more sense than I remember it making, and really, the ideal way to treat the two is as Part 1 and Part 2 of one long movie, similar to what Quentin Tarantino did with his Kill Bill movies, or with what happens with some other franchises. Casino Royale ran long and Quantum of Solace runs short, but together, they tell a tale of a man who takes on a touch new job, falls in love with a woman who is then killed after she is forced to betray him, and then he avenges her death in a South American desert. The girl in this film is less a femme fatale than a fellow avenger, aiming for the coup leader's head as much as Bond seeks to kill his backer. Together, their story is an old standby: a tale of vengeance.
Bond has been in this territory before: in Licence to Kill, and Thunderball. Quantum is as topical as Licence to Kill (which stood against a backdrop of the America's War on Drugs) and, in aspiration at least, right up there with Thunderball in terms of the romantic pairing of vengeance. What is a little ridiculous is how often M is personally threatened when played by Judi Dench - once before in Die Another Day, now in this film, and - in an effective way at least - later in Skyfall. What Quantum gets right is how pointless revenge can be, and here the girl is the proxy for Bond gone too far - he manages to keep it about the mission, wherease for her, she has not purpose other than to grieve once she kills the villain.
Quantum of Solace deserves a better place in the cosmos of Bond films - but should always be preceded immediately by Casino Royale.
The basic plot of Quantum of Solace is: Having stalked Vesper Lynd's killer at the end of Casino Royale, Bond has brought Mr. White in for questioning. However, the interrogation is interrupted by a sleeper agent whom Bond chases. Following clues, Bond learns a little more about the mysterious Quantum organization, including an elaborate virtual meeting they will be holding at an outdoor opera. Bond takes photos and disrupts their meeting, ultimately resulting in a shootout wherein he kills another British agent (apparently one undercover). His documents revoked, Bond goes rogue, making his way to the South American country where Quantum has backed a military coup in exchange for land rights - ultimately, water rights, rather than the oil rights everyone has assumed. Bond meets up with the girl, who is the villain's ex-girlfriend, and daughter of the previous regime's leader. She and Bond crash a fundraiser; Bond's buddy from Casino Royale is killed, and he and the girl go to Quantum's secret facility in the middle of the desert. There, they assault and kill the villain and his pawns; Bond chases him into the desert, giving him the choice of death by dehydration or drinking antifreeze.
On its own, Quantum of Solace is a choppy pretty choppy film; there are purposefully rapid cuts to emphasize the action, effective at first but jarring over time. Even more jarring are some of the story jumps; I could barely follow the plot the first time I saw it. It's a kinetic film, like a bullet that shatters and leaves multiple fragments embedded as it penetrates its target. It's the action counterpart to Casino Royale's lover story.
However, watching the two films back to back, Quantum makes more sense than I remember it making, and really, the ideal way to treat the two is as Part 1 and Part 2 of one long movie, similar to what Quentin Tarantino did with his Kill Bill movies, or with what happens with some other franchises. Casino Royale ran long and Quantum of Solace runs short, but together, they tell a tale of a man who takes on a touch new job, falls in love with a woman who is then killed after she is forced to betray him, and then he avenges her death in a South American desert. The girl in this film is less a femme fatale than a fellow avenger, aiming for the coup leader's head as much as Bond seeks to kill his backer. Together, their story is an old standby: a tale of vengeance.
Bond has been in this territory before: in Licence to Kill, and Thunderball. Quantum is as topical as Licence to Kill (which stood against a backdrop of the America's War on Drugs) and, in aspiration at least, right up there with Thunderball in terms of the romantic pairing of vengeance. What is a little ridiculous is how often M is personally threatened when played by Judi Dench - once before in Die Another Day, now in this film, and - in an effective way at least - later in Skyfall. What Quantum gets right is how pointless revenge can be, and here the girl is the proxy for Bond gone too far - he manages to keep it about the mission, wherease for her, she has not purpose other than to grieve once she kills the villain.
Quantum of Solace deserves a better place in the cosmos of Bond films - but should always be preceded immediately by Casino Royale.
Sunday, February 17, 2013
Bond Films: Casino Royale
Casino Royale is the first of the Daniel Craig Bond films, and the first in the EON line to start with Bond's first mission - it's been adapted before, but nothing most people today would have seen). It was formally described as a reboot, which addresses some problems with Bond continuity, keeping the character firmly in the present while acknowledging elements of his past in a more nuanced way that Bond coming across old props in The World Is Not Enough. Casino Royale came out 4 years after its predecessor, and was the first under new creative leadership. Is quality is a result of this deliberate attention to what works and what doesn't in the series.
The basic plot of Casino Royale is: after earning his 00 status taking down a mole in Prague, Bond is dispatched to capture a bomb maker in Africa. After shooting up an embassy and killing the target, Bomb is criticized but turns up clues to a financier named Le Chifre. Le Chifre is a banker to the criminal underworld, and turns a profit shorting successful stocks and orchestrating events that will turn tragedy into profit. Unfortunately for him, Bond prevents a bombing of a new airliner, and Le Chifre loss over $100,000,000 of his clients' money, and so he puts together a high-stakes poker game in Montenegro. Bond is paired up with Vesper Lynd (the girl) from the Chancellory of the Exchequer's office, and off they go to win a poker game. In the course of the game Le Chifre is assaulted by one of his more militant clients, whom Bond later kills, and Bond himself is betrayed and also poisoned. However, he wins, and in short order Vesper is kidnapped and used to lured him into a trap, after which he is tortured in a very novel way by Le Chifre - who ins short order is killed in front of Bond's own eyes by a shadowy man. Bond and Vesper recover together in a hospital, and decide to escape together, to give up their government jobs and sail the world. However, Vesper absconds with the money, leading to a shootout in a Ventian build as it collapses into the sea, wherein Vesper drowns. Bond later learns that she betrayed him at the casino and in the end because her lovel was being held by the mysterious bad guys who killed Le Chifre, and Bond hunts down a man identified by her for him in her cel phone, and kills him. Bond is cold and trusts no one. This is the beginning of James Bond, agent 007.
Casino Royale was quite impressive when it debuted, and stands well on its own and within the Bond canon. It sticks within the rules of the series but brings us new surprises, notably that Bond is not totally on top of his game; he slips and nearly falls, he makes noise during a quiet snatch, and he lowers his guard and falls in love. He hasn't earned the trust of his superiors yet, and he's a bruiser: he takes hits as hard as he dishes them. He relies less on gadgets, other than commonly available text messaging. Indeed, one of the challenges for the series is that technology that would have seemed outlandish when it started is in the hands of everyday, normal consumers today.
What really struck me when I first saw Casino Royale, and when I re-watched it for this blog, is that it takes a turn into being chick flick Bond. While this Bond knows what he wants, he's not a jerk about it, and certainly, the shots of Daniel Craig arising from the ocean wearing nothing but swim trunks is fair turnabout on Halle Berry and numerous other girls over the series' history. However, in the final act, when Bond is opening up to Vesper, and he says, "I have no armor left", and some more beautiful words, those baby blue Bond eyes staring at us, OMG, ladies, swoon. This is a Bond we girls want to be with, and not just as a buddy, or conquest. This is Bond the boyfriend-material.
The best Bonds have emotional stakes that are high and are personal. When I saw Casino Royale the first time, I haven't seen most of the early films, and this chick-friendly approach was novel to me. However, I now know that it reflects the best Bonds, where there is real chemistry and emotional risk for Bond - On Her Majesty's Secret Service, From Russian With Love, and, later, even Skyfall. Bond does his best when he has something to love, and it has to be personal. After all, the world is not enough.
The basic plot of Casino Royale is: after earning his 00 status taking down a mole in Prague, Bond is dispatched to capture a bomb maker in Africa. After shooting up an embassy and killing the target, Bomb is criticized but turns up clues to a financier named Le Chifre. Le Chifre is a banker to the criminal underworld, and turns a profit shorting successful stocks and orchestrating events that will turn tragedy into profit. Unfortunately for him, Bond prevents a bombing of a new airliner, and Le Chifre loss over $100,000,000 of his clients' money, and so he puts together a high-stakes poker game in Montenegro. Bond is paired up with Vesper Lynd (the girl) from the Chancellory of the Exchequer's office, and off they go to win a poker game. In the course of the game Le Chifre is assaulted by one of his more militant clients, whom Bond later kills, and Bond himself is betrayed and also poisoned. However, he wins, and in short order Vesper is kidnapped and used to lured him into a trap, after which he is tortured in a very novel way by Le Chifre - who ins short order is killed in front of Bond's own eyes by a shadowy man. Bond and Vesper recover together in a hospital, and decide to escape together, to give up their government jobs and sail the world. However, Vesper absconds with the money, leading to a shootout in a Ventian build as it collapses into the sea, wherein Vesper drowns. Bond later learns that she betrayed him at the casino and in the end because her lovel was being held by the mysterious bad guys who killed Le Chifre, and Bond hunts down a man identified by her for him in her cel phone, and kills him. Bond is cold and trusts no one. This is the beginning of James Bond, agent 007.
Casino Royale was quite impressive when it debuted, and stands well on its own and within the Bond canon. It sticks within the rules of the series but brings us new surprises, notably that Bond is not totally on top of his game; he slips and nearly falls, he makes noise during a quiet snatch, and he lowers his guard and falls in love. He hasn't earned the trust of his superiors yet, and he's a bruiser: he takes hits as hard as he dishes them. He relies less on gadgets, other than commonly available text messaging. Indeed, one of the challenges for the series is that technology that would have seemed outlandish when it started is in the hands of everyday, normal consumers today.
What really struck me when I first saw Casino Royale, and when I re-watched it for this blog, is that it takes a turn into being chick flick Bond. While this Bond knows what he wants, he's not a jerk about it, and certainly, the shots of Daniel Craig arising from the ocean wearing nothing but swim trunks is fair turnabout on Halle Berry and numerous other girls over the series' history. However, in the final act, when Bond is opening up to Vesper, and he says, "I have no armor left", and some more beautiful words, those baby blue Bond eyes staring at us, OMG, ladies, swoon. This is a Bond we girls want to be with, and not just as a buddy, or conquest. This is Bond the boyfriend-material.
The best Bonds have emotional stakes that are high and are personal. When I saw Casino Royale the first time, I haven't seen most of the early films, and this chick-friendly approach was novel to me. However, I now know that it reflects the best Bonds, where there is real chemistry and emotional risk for Bond - On Her Majesty's Secret Service, From Russian With Love, and, later, even Skyfall. Bond does his best when he has something to love, and it has to be personal. After all, the world is not enough.
Bond Films: Bond by Brosnan
Pierce Brosnan's history with the Bond franchise is an interesting one. Like Roger Moore, he was considered as a Bond replacement long before he actually got the role; he was originally considered to replace Moore, but at the time was obliged to play Remington Steele on TV, and so the producers went with Timothy Dalton (who had also been considered earlier . . .maybe that's the norm). As a kid Remington Steele was one of my favorite shows, so when Brosnan was tapped to play Bond, I knew ahead of time he'd be a good one.
Brosnan Bond is a pretty capable blend of the preceding Bonds. He's as down-to-Earth as the Connery era, fights a range of villains as diverse as Seventies Bond, and smooth and lethal as Eighties Bond. He's sharp, witty, and deadly. Brosnan Bond's plots and villains are generally good, with some weird detours, such as the genetically-modified trans-racial villain of Die Another Day.
Brosnan Bond saw the fall of the Soviet Union and started after the end of the Cold War; ironically, this Bond doesn't fight SPECTRE, the global conspiracy Ian Fleming created as an adversary simply because he didn't believe the Cold War would last. Instead, this Bond fights mostly variations of the Mad General, whether Russian or Chinese, and the mega-wealthy industrialist in Tomorrow Never Dies. While this seemed fresh at first, by 2002 Brosnan Bond was a little lost. Who exactly was he fighting? What was his raison d'etre?
Pierce Brosnan, like so many Bonds before him, aged out of the role. A tall glass of water at first, by the end of his run he was approaching 50 and getting into creepy Roger Moore territory, sleeping with woman potentially young enough to be his daughter. Furthermore, while he kept fit, the overabundance of special effects barely concealed a lack of engaging plot - generally a plot so ridiculously implausible that the audience had no emotional investment . we may like Bond for being able to go through the motions, but we need more than the motions to get us through.
I like Brosnan Bond. I don't like to rate the Bond actors against each other, because they each stand on their own, but I think he was one of the better ones - smart, sexy, lethal. Brosnan Bond was everything a Bond should be. Unfortunately, he was saddled with a question of that that is, and but the end of his run, we were all desperate for an answer.
Brosnan Bond is a pretty capable blend of the preceding Bonds. He's as down-to-Earth as the Connery era, fights a range of villains as diverse as Seventies Bond, and smooth and lethal as Eighties Bond. He's sharp, witty, and deadly. Brosnan Bond's plots and villains are generally good, with some weird detours, such as the genetically-modified trans-racial villain of Die Another Day.
Brosnan Bond saw the fall of the Soviet Union and started after the end of the Cold War; ironically, this Bond doesn't fight SPECTRE, the global conspiracy Ian Fleming created as an adversary simply because he didn't believe the Cold War would last. Instead, this Bond fights mostly variations of the Mad General, whether Russian or Chinese, and the mega-wealthy industrialist in Tomorrow Never Dies. While this seemed fresh at first, by 2002 Brosnan Bond was a little lost. Who exactly was he fighting? What was his raison d'etre?
Pierce Brosnan, like so many Bonds before him, aged out of the role. A tall glass of water at first, by the end of his run he was approaching 50 and getting into creepy Roger Moore territory, sleeping with woman potentially young enough to be his daughter. Furthermore, while he kept fit, the overabundance of special effects barely concealed a lack of engaging plot - generally a plot so ridiculously implausible that the audience had no emotional investment . we may like Bond for being able to go through the motions, but we need more than the motions to get us through.
I like Brosnan Bond. I don't like to rate the Bond actors against each other, because they each stand on their own, but I think he was one of the better ones - smart, sexy, lethal. Brosnan Bond was everything a Bond should be. Unfortunately, he was saddled with a question of that that is, and but the end of his run, we were all desperate for an answer.
Sunday, February 10, 2013
Bond Films: Tomorrow Never Dies
I don't know how, but I seem to have overlooked writing about Tomorrow Never Lies. Rest assured, readers, I've been watching the Bond films in order of release. Somehow, this essay hadn't made it to public yet.
Tomorrow Never Dies is probably the Brosnan Bond I think of most often; perhaps its ubiquity on cable, or its straightforward plot. Jonathan Pryce plays a villainous mashup of Rupert Murdoch and Steve Jobs, using a stolen satellite kerjigger to orchestrate violations of Chinese sovereignty and lead o war between the West and China. Co-starring Michelle Yeoh as the sort-of girl, sort-of rival, Tomorrow Never Dies is in many ways a rehash of The Spy Who Loved Me - not a bad Bond to rehash, and with just enough gloss to make it interesting.
The basic plot of Tomorrow Never Dies is: the villain has gotten hold of some satellite thing that can give false information to ships hat rely on satellites for positioning. He sends a British warship into Chinese waters, attacks wih his stealth ship and drill-torpedo, and then steals a nuclear weapon. Bond is dispatched to investigate the villain, who owns a news conglomerate with surprisingly prescient headlines (the original title was, "Tomorrow Never Lies"). Bond learns of the orbital duplicity and seeks to recover the device used to fake out the satellites, and along the way meets the girl, who is a Chinese agent working towards the same ends. For most of the film, they compete to outwit the villain and count coup for the respective governments, until they later run into each other diving the lost British ship, where they are waylaid by the villain's henchmen, but of course escape. After that, they are able to determine where the villain's stealth ship must be, but before they can infiltrate it they are captured and must escape by fast-roping down the Petronas towers and then running an amazing stunt-escape on a motorcycle - all while handcuffed to each other. They do infiltrate the ship, all while China and the UK are on the brink of war, and destroy it after the usual endgame shenanigans.
Tomorrow Never Dies has one of the better Bond villains, a mega-wealthy industrialist along the lines of Auric Goldfinger or Hugo Drax. It also continues the Brosnan Bond's move into more modernized fight sequences, and genuinely exciting stunts. It executes well on the details. However, I couldn't help feeling underwhelmed by the plot, and while I admit this might be because this is the twenty-first or so Bond film I've watched, I think it's also a sign of the franchise's long-term creative slump. Bond works in a formula, but a little flash only goes so far.
Tomorrow Never Dies is a good Bond film. It makes more sense than the ones that follow, and does what it does well. It just doesn't do much that is new.
Tomorrow Never Dies is probably the Brosnan Bond I think of most often; perhaps its ubiquity on cable, or its straightforward plot. Jonathan Pryce plays a villainous mashup of Rupert Murdoch and Steve Jobs, using a stolen satellite kerjigger to orchestrate violations of Chinese sovereignty and lead o war between the West and China. Co-starring Michelle Yeoh as the sort-of girl, sort-of rival, Tomorrow Never Dies is in many ways a rehash of The Spy Who Loved Me - not a bad Bond to rehash, and with just enough gloss to make it interesting.
The basic plot of Tomorrow Never Dies is: the villain has gotten hold of some satellite thing that can give false information to ships hat rely on satellites for positioning. He sends a British warship into Chinese waters, attacks wih his stealth ship and drill-torpedo, and then steals a nuclear weapon. Bond is dispatched to investigate the villain, who owns a news conglomerate with surprisingly prescient headlines (the original title was, "Tomorrow Never Lies"). Bond learns of the orbital duplicity and seeks to recover the device used to fake out the satellites, and along the way meets the girl, who is a Chinese agent working towards the same ends. For most of the film, they compete to outwit the villain and count coup for the respective governments, until they later run into each other diving the lost British ship, where they are waylaid by the villain's henchmen, but of course escape. After that, they are able to determine where the villain's stealth ship must be, but before they can infiltrate it they are captured and must escape by fast-roping down the Petronas towers and then running an amazing stunt-escape on a motorcycle - all while handcuffed to each other. They do infiltrate the ship, all while China and the UK are on the brink of war, and destroy it after the usual endgame shenanigans.
Tomorrow Never Dies has one of the better Bond villains, a mega-wealthy industrialist along the lines of Auric Goldfinger or Hugo Drax. It also continues the Brosnan Bond's move into more modernized fight sequences, and genuinely exciting stunts. It executes well on the details. However, I couldn't help feeling underwhelmed by the plot, and while I admit this might be because this is the twenty-first or so Bond film I've watched, I think it's also a sign of the franchise's long-term creative slump. Bond works in a formula, but a little flash only goes so far.
Tomorrow Never Dies is a good Bond film. It makes more sense than the ones that follow, and does what it does well. It just doesn't do much that is new.
Saturday, February 9, 2013
Bond Films: Die Another Day
I had low expectations going in to Die Another Day. It was the last Brosnan Bond; it was the last Bond before the major reboot of Casino Royale. I had vague memories of it being the one with the ice-skating invisible car. Having seen it, I felt moderately surprised. As Bond films go, it has its flaws, but it's not terrible. It's fair to middling, with some good, and some bad.
The basic plot of Die Another Day is: captured and imprisoned in North Korea, Bond is tortured for fourteen months before being traded with one of the guys he fought in the opening. The Americans were concerned Bond had broken and was giving up intel, but in fact, someone else inside MI6 has been. Bond's license is revoked and he is put off duty, but he manages to escape police custody and bullshit his way Cuba, where he learns of a clinic that genetically modifies people and their identities. Following clues, he is shortly re-instated with MI6, meets the girl (Halle Barry), and infiltrates a British diamond mogul's circle party in the arctic, where he reveals a new satellite that can reflect sunlight peacefully - or be used as a deadly orbital ray gun, as Bond learns later. During an attempt to spy on the villain, Bond and the girl are nearly captured, and Bond learns the villain is in fact the corrupt North Korean officer he fought in the opening - genetically modified to appear British, and actually selling his deadly ray gun to Korean and Chinese warlords. Bond and the girl infiltrate using these sort of glider-packs, and board a place that is serving as a mobile command post while the villain trains his death ray on a road leading to the demilitarized zone. After an intense fight in which the death ray destroys the plane, Bond and the girl escape on a helicopter, starting it in mid-air and setting out for a bucolic house before going back to civilization.
There is a lot of action in this film. Action, action, action. It's well done, although with a high level of CGI, making some of it a bit unbelievable. Apparently, everyone in a Bond film is immune to hypothermia, but that is nothing new. The genetic modification bit seems far-fetched, but is really just a modern gloss on Charles Gray playing Blofeld after he'd already been played by three other actors. There is a fairly epic car fight that is interesting if only because Bond usually hasn't been taking on similarly-ranked spy cars.
Where Die Another Day fails is in the romantic and sexual chemistry. Halle Barry's Jinx is a fairly competent agent, but she doesn't have much style as an agent, and her liaisons with Bond seem perfunctory. Michelle Yeoh had more style as an agent from another government, and more sparks with Bond as a competitor. Add in a false flag Bond and you get no one Bond can really rely on. There isn't really a Bond girl in this film - just a couple of fellow spies who Bond happens to sleep with. At this point in the franchise, Bond hasn't figured out how to work with women who are his equals, with notable exceptions from On Her Majesty's Secret Servie and The Spy Who Loved Me.
Die Another Day was the last of four films bookended by extensive hiatus - six years before GoldenEye, and four until Casino Royale. They're all of the nineties, and all feature the same Bond, and the same M, for that matter. The Brosnan Bond films are practically of a genre to themselves, which I'll write about later. None of them are bad, but Die Another Day flails a bit as Bond moves into the twenty-first century.
The basic plot of Die Another Day is: captured and imprisoned in North Korea, Bond is tortured for fourteen months before being traded with one of the guys he fought in the opening. The Americans were concerned Bond had broken and was giving up intel, but in fact, someone else inside MI6 has been. Bond's license is revoked and he is put off duty, but he manages to escape police custody and bullshit his way Cuba, where he learns of a clinic that genetically modifies people and their identities. Following clues, he is shortly re-instated with MI6, meets the girl (Halle Barry), and infiltrates a British diamond mogul's circle party in the arctic, where he reveals a new satellite that can reflect sunlight peacefully - or be used as a deadly orbital ray gun, as Bond learns later. During an attempt to spy on the villain, Bond and the girl are nearly captured, and Bond learns the villain is in fact the corrupt North Korean officer he fought in the opening - genetically modified to appear British, and actually selling his deadly ray gun to Korean and Chinese warlords. Bond and the girl infiltrate using these sort of glider-packs, and board a place that is serving as a mobile command post while the villain trains his death ray on a road leading to the demilitarized zone. After an intense fight in which the death ray destroys the plane, Bond and the girl escape on a helicopter, starting it in mid-air and setting out for a bucolic house before going back to civilization.
There is a lot of action in this film. Action, action, action. It's well done, although with a high level of CGI, making some of it a bit unbelievable. Apparently, everyone in a Bond film is immune to hypothermia, but that is nothing new. The genetic modification bit seems far-fetched, but is really just a modern gloss on Charles Gray playing Blofeld after he'd already been played by three other actors. There is a fairly epic car fight that is interesting if only because Bond usually hasn't been taking on similarly-ranked spy cars.
Where Die Another Day fails is in the romantic and sexual chemistry. Halle Barry's Jinx is a fairly competent agent, but she doesn't have much style as an agent, and her liaisons with Bond seem perfunctory. Michelle Yeoh had more style as an agent from another government, and more sparks with Bond as a competitor. Add in a false flag Bond and you get no one Bond can really rely on. There isn't really a Bond girl in this film - just a couple of fellow spies who Bond happens to sleep with. At this point in the franchise, Bond hasn't figured out how to work with women who are his equals, with notable exceptions from On Her Majesty's Secret Servie and The Spy Who Loved Me.
Die Another Day was the last of four films bookended by extensive hiatus - six years before GoldenEye, and four until Casino Royale. They're all of the nineties, and all feature the same Bond, and the same M, for that matter. The Brosnan Bond films are practically of a genre to themselves, which I'll write about later. None of them are bad, but Die Another Day flails a bit as Bond moves into the twenty-first century.
Sunday, January 27, 2013
Bond Films: The World Is Not Enough
The World Is Not Enough is the motto of Bond's family, it can imply several ideas, along the lines of constant avarice, or the notion that nothing in this world is sufficient to dissuade us from our higher principles. In this case, it seems to imply that nothing can make up for the hurt caused to the film's villains, a former kidnap victim and and arms dealer fatally wounded by MI6.
The basic plot of The World Is Not Enough is: After re-acquiring ransom money for a friend of M's, Bond and all of MI6 are shocked when the money is used as a bomb to kill the friend and damage MI6. Bond chases the assassin, who refuses to name who she works for before dying in a fiery explosion. Bond is sent to keep an eye on the guy's daughter Elektra King, who had previously been kidnapped by an arms trafficker and used as bait by M. She has inherited her father's oil pipeline business and is building a like through Central Asia. Following an investigation, Bond realizes that the original kidnapper is planning to steal plutonium that is removed from Russian nuclear weapons. He meets the girl, who is a rather implausible nuclear scientist, and realizes that the former kidnapper intendes to use the plutonium to stage, basically, a dirty bomb that renders competing pipelines useless. With the help of a former Soviet friend, Bond delivers this information to M, but she is subsequently kidnapped by Elektra. Bond and the girl learn that an understaffed Soviet submarine is being used to stage the bomb, and are able to figure out where it must be. Bond infiltrates the place, is captured and tortured by Elektra, but then is rescued when his friends storm the place. He confronts Elektra and kills her when she refuses to order her former kidnapper to stop. Bond and the girl get aboard the submarine and fight their way to the engineering section, where a rod of pure plutonium is being fed to the ore by the vilain. They defeat him, swim to the surface, and, in a callback to past Bond adventures, are caught making love that night using satellite-based thermal imaging.
While the action works pretty well in this film, there is a lot that goes wrong. There are plot holes the size of ICBMs, and a fairly epic glossing over of basic physics and chemistry, moreso than is usual for a Bond film. he girl is pretty blah. Denise Richards might work as an actual damsel in distress, or perhaps one who can fight back, but she is hardly believable as a nuclear scientist, let alone one in charge of dismantling the arsenal of the former Soviet Union. This film also reverts back to the "silly Bond" moments of the Seventies, such as Bond driving a motorized gondola through Venetian streets. In this case, he has a crazy little jetboat that dives on command and gets its own version of the musical theme, and then drives up stair-streets and through restaurants. The Russian accents by otherwise-fine Scottish and English actors are atrocious. We don't expect to believe that Bond operates in the real world, but Bond's world must be believable, and this one isn't. It's a fun ride, but as Bond films go, it's clear that they'll need another reboot, which is a shame after doing so well with GoldenEye.
The basic plot of The World Is Not Enough is: After re-acquiring ransom money for a friend of M's, Bond and all of MI6 are shocked when the money is used as a bomb to kill the friend and damage MI6. Bond chases the assassin, who refuses to name who she works for before dying in a fiery explosion. Bond is sent to keep an eye on the guy's daughter Elektra King, who had previously been kidnapped by an arms trafficker and used as bait by M. She has inherited her father's oil pipeline business and is building a like through Central Asia. Following an investigation, Bond realizes that the original kidnapper is planning to steal plutonium that is removed from Russian nuclear weapons. He meets the girl, who is a rather implausible nuclear scientist, and realizes that the former kidnapper intendes to use the plutonium to stage, basically, a dirty bomb that renders competing pipelines useless. With the help of a former Soviet friend, Bond delivers this information to M, but she is subsequently kidnapped by Elektra. Bond and the girl learn that an understaffed Soviet submarine is being used to stage the bomb, and are able to figure out where it must be. Bond infiltrates the place, is captured and tortured by Elektra, but then is rescued when his friends storm the place. He confronts Elektra and kills her when she refuses to order her former kidnapper to stop. Bond and the girl get aboard the submarine and fight their way to the engineering section, where a rod of pure plutonium is being fed to the ore by the vilain. They defeat him, swim to the surface, and, in a callback to past Bond adventures, are caught making love that night using satellite-based thermal imaging.
While the action works pretty well in this film, there is a lot that goes wrong. There are plot holes the size of ICBMs, and a fairly epic glossing over of basic physics and chemistry, moreso than is usual for a Bond film. he girl is pretty blah. Denise Richards might work as an actual damsel in distress, or perhaps one who can fight back, but she is hardly believable as a nuclear scientist, let alone one in charge of dismantling the arsenal of the former Soviet Union. This film also reverts back to the "silly Bond" moments of the Seventies, such as Bond driving a motorized gondola through Venetian streets. In this case, he has a crazy little jetboat that dives on command and gets its own version of the musical theme, and then drives up stair-streets and through restaurants. The Russian accents by otherwise-fine Scottish and English actors are atrocious. We don't expect to believe that Bond operates in the real world, but Bond's world must be believable, and this one isn't. It's a fun ride, but as Bond films go, it's clear that they'll need another reboot, which is a shame after doing so well with GoldenEye.
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