Rating: ***1/2
Cast:
James Bond: Pierce Brosnan
Eliot Carver: Jonathan Pryce
Paris Carver: Terri Hatcher
Wai Lin: Michelle Youh
M: Julie Dench
Directed By: Roger Spottiswoode
I must confess, in many regards, I don't care much for most James Bond movies. I don't like any of the older movies, and I hate the movie The World is Not Enough
But I love this movie. I don't know exactly why. On the surface, it seems like every other James Bond movie, and I constantly wonder how the bad guys can keep missing him, but I really liked it. I guess I would say I'm a sucker for gadgets - I LOVE the BMW Brosnan drives in this movie, and it in fact is one reason why I want to buy one myself one day (if I ever get the cash), and I find much of the dry wit to be hilarious (not to mention some of the Bond women... I am a guy after all!)
The Plotline: A very seemless and believable plotline exists in the movie. There is a little section at the start with Bond barely escapind death from a missile attack, but I believe that is to draw the viewer into the movie (with good effect). The real plotline concerns a conflict between Britain and China, which results when a British ship sinks in 'international' waters, the victim of a Chinese attack. At the same time, two Chinese fighter jets are shot down... supposedly by the British. Neither side knows what's going on and suspects the other. In fact, both attacks are carried out by a 'stealth sub' owned by Eliot Carver, international media billionaire who is going to use this as a media story. In the resulting investigation (as both sides inch towards World War III), 007 is called in to investigate Carver and his operation and he goes about his own kind of 'research'. This involves meeting up with old flames (Teri Hatcher), meeting new flames (Michelle Youh), and operating cool gadgets (like his cell phone, and my favourite, the remote-controlled BMW). I won't say how the movie ends, but because there's a third Bond movie (and because common sense dictates it) Bond wins in the end, and goes on to a new mission.
There's my plot synopsis. Now, what did I like about this movie? The action scenes were WELL done; very gripping, and dramatic; I honestly didn't know what Bond was going to do next. The acting was surprisingly good. All of the actors seemed to avoid pretentious talking, and act their parts seemlessly. Bond of course is self-aware of what he does in his life, and I feel Brosnan is the quintessential Bond (rivalling Connery), despite what wags might say. The plot was also good as well. I believed, in this present day and age that something like this could happen (as scary as this might be).
Predictably, there were some things I didn't like. I thought much of this movie was just product advertisement. BMW, Range-rover, Rolex, etc., appear everywhere in this movie, along with tons and tons of other advertisement labels. We get enough commercials on TV and now before movies, I wish people would give it a break. As well, I get really annoyed at the lack of realism in fight scenes in movies nowadays. I highly doubt that Bond is that lucky, to have 10 guys unload a clip from AK-47s at him while he's running, and none of them hit him, yet he takes one shot, and kills one of them... too unbelievable. As well, although they cut down on this from what they did in Goldeneye, Bond and Wai Lin seem to have ever-ready guns that never run out of ammo... at least most of the time. I was pleasantly surprised to see Wai Lin and Bond reload once during the movie... near the end.
Anyways, as I said, I liked this movie. So watch it. You'll have to abandon your look for a deep plotline, because it just isn't there. But that's ok. It wasn't intended to be like that, and sometimes, its better to abandon yourself to nonsense for awhile. - K.R