Very minor spoilers below. Biggest spoiler is simply that the movie sucks. You can read this and not be surprised while watching the movie.
I am a true believer Bond fan. On Friday I took William to see "Die Another Day", the new one. My rank: 6/10. Better than Moore, but nothing like Connery or even the earlier Brosnan Bonds. I was particularly disappointed because the episode was directed by Lee Tamahori, a New Zealand director who "made it big". Unfortunately, I think that everything he's done in the last 20 years has been shit.
Even the car chase on ice that I was so looking forward to was flat. All the action scenes in the last half of the movie were long and dull. The premise was good and timely (it features North Korea) but the execution was so off. The writing was weak. Far too much reliance on sexy backchat and not enough actual thought. There were a half-dozen times in the movie when things magically appeared when they shouldn't have been there, and that drove me nuts.
Madonna's theme song was SHIT. Long long and boring boring shit. I think the British have adopted Madonna the way the French have adopted Jerry Lewis. In both cases there's a good reason why the US doesn't want the "entertainer".
The worst part of the whole movie was the escape from the iceberg midway through the movie. Utterly ridiculous, and with worse special effects than a South Park episode. It was at that point that I wanted to slap the entire franchise senseless.
There were good points, though. The Hong Kong hotel room scene stood out. The fencing duel went on a little too long but was worth it for the carnage. The stand out part of the movie, though, was Halle Berry. Not your average Bond girl because she can act. No wonder they're talking about giving her her own spin-off franchise.
So ... perhaps catch in the $2 theater or as a rental, but there's no need to rush out and see it immediately.
--Nat
Even the car chase on ice that I was so looking forward to was flat. All the action scenes in the last half of the movie were long and dull. The premise was good and timely (it features North Korea) but the execution was so off. There were a half-dozen times in the movie when things magically appeared when they shouldn't have been there, and that drove me nuts.
I agree that this movie needed better editing. It was sloppy. But, my suspension of disbelief was already in high gear, so I didn't care.
The writing was weak. Far too much reliance on sexy backchat and not enough actual thought.
I dunno. I think most Bond films are strong on back-chat and weak on thought.
Madonna's theme song was SHIT. Long long and boring boring shit. I think the British have adopted Madonna the way the French have adopted Jerry Lewis. In both cases there's a good reason why the US doesn't want the "entertainer".
It's not great, but there have been worse IMHO.
The worst part of the whole movie was the escape from the iceberg midway through the movie. Utterly ridiculous, and with worse special effects than a South Park episode. It was at that point that I wanted to slap the entire franchise senseless.
Ok, that was pretty bad. Can't argue that.
There were good points, though
In addition to what you mention, I thought the scene at the end with Moneypenny was hilarious. I also liked how Bond tinkered with some of the equipment from the older movies. Maybe we'll see a director's cut with some better editing on DVD.
