Rate The World is Not Enough

[Kevin Roegele]

What did you think of Pierce Brosnan's third 007 movie?

 

[Agentsands77]

I voted for 1/5 - Lame.

Not a lot of people will feel that strongly about it (though the Bond fanbase has a section of people who, like me, absolutely abhor this film), but I honestly think it's one of the worst films I've ever seen. Appallingly scripted, acted, and boring as all get-out.

 

[Kevin Roegele]

I recall it was very popular when it came out in 1999, with many praising it's more complex than usual characters. Personally, apart from the boat chase, I found the action scenes to be amateur and the production design horrible.

The emphasis on character drama was a response to the more action-based Tomorrow Never Dies. But which is better; an action movie with good action but average character interaction, or an action movie with real drama between characters but terrible action? Ideally you want both. With TND, enough is done to make the viewer care about the characters, so the action is exciting. In TWINE, the characters are built up very well, but the payoff is so bad because the action is limp.

 

[Agentsands77]

I recall it was very popular when it came out in 1999, with many praising it's more complex than usual characters.

Some liked it, some didn't. I recall my paper's film critic giving it 1 out of 5 stars.

Personally, apart from the boat chase, I found the action scenes to be amateur and the production design horrible.

That's really part of the problem; the Q Boat chase is fun, but the rest of the film is dreary and drab and the action scenes are terrible, terrible messes.

 

[pointman]

TWINE as has been said had a great opening but it fell shortvery quickly. I'd give it a 3 because it could have easily been a much better film but it was overall, badly executed, a shame really. Films like this is why Goldfinger is so hard to surpass or at least to aspire to.
The bond movies had no real competition within its genre so I suppose it was easy for the studio to just throw out a mesh of colours and mindless action that'll "entertain" for about 2 hours. Now, we have shows like, 24 and the Bourne movies that are keeping the Bond movies on its toes and it shows in CR from what we've seen.

 

[Kevin Roegele]

Back in '99, TWINE looked positively ancient as an action movie compared to The Matrix and The Phantom Menace.

 

[pointman]

Yeah and thats because it was as though they didn't know what they wanted the Bond movies to be. It was like, they wanted nothing but all out action but then they wanted some serious drama pieces. The studio were clueless as to how they should have meshed the 2 together to produce a hot movie.

 

[Two-Face]

I gave it 3/5 but Densie Richards was annoying and couldn't act, I mean what Babara & Micheal were thinking. story was good but could have been great one liners like "somebodys gonna have my ass" WTF???

 

[Kevin Roegele]

I gave it 3/5 but Densie Richards was annoying and couldn't act, I mean what Babara & Micheal were thinking.

Annoying girls who are pretty but can't act are a staple of the Bond series.

 

[ChrisBaleBatman]

4/5 for me. I think it was very good. I thought it was better than TOMORROW NEVER DIES.......but not as good as GOLDENYEYE.

 

[pointman]

Goldeneye isn't even all that great imo and its abundantly overrated.

 

[Kevin Roegele]

Goldeneye isn't even all that great imo and its abundantly overrated.

Of all the movies I've ever come across, I've never understood why GoldenEye is so popular. I've tried so hard to see what everyone else sees in it, but to me it's simply an average movie.

 

[Agentsands77]

Of all the movies I've ever come across, I've never understood why GoldenEye is so popular. I've tried so hard to see what everyone else sees in it, but to me it's simply an average movie.

I think it's a combination of nostalgia and the N64 video game that bore its name. In 1995, Bond was back. That was a cool feeling - he'd been absent for quite some time, and audiences were thrilled to see him return in such an digestible format. I think it's also quite beloved by the younger generation because it ends up associated with that N64 game. That game was an iconic moment for a lot of today's youth, and thus they tie the game and movie together.

That's not to say the film is devoid of quality - in many ways, the film does hold up pretty well. It's fairly flawed; the spectacle doesn't really deliver today, it feels a little-low budget, and some of the pacing is off. But it does have quite a bunch of iconic, memorable moments and characters that put what was to follow to shame (Xenia Onatopp, for instance). In that way, it stands out even more when people think back on the recent history of Bond.

 

[pointman]

Of all the movies I've ever come across, I've never understood why GoldenEye is so popular. I've tried so hard to see what everyone else sees in it, but to me it's simply an average movie.

My sentiments exactly.

I think GE is so loved because after 6 years people were glad to see Bond back and because it was a departure from Dalton's darker Bond movies, which to some, didn't feel like Bond movies at all. Audiences were glad to see a Bond film of pre-dalton familiar territory, so they just lapped it up and were praising it like there was no tomorrow.

 

[Two-Face]

GE is the best Bond film since Goldfinger, which is second in my list. Pierce Brosnan as James Bond did it for me I mean he's best Bond since Connery.

You have car chase - which Bond drives an Aston Martin DB5 (I'm not sure)
You have ex-mi6 agent against 007 and good looking women.

Now in 1995 I was 12 years old and it is true I loved N64 Goldeneye game, that game is a classic, no Bond game has beaten it in my opinion.

 

[Agentsands77]

You have car chase - which Bond drives an Aston Martin DB5 (I'm not sure)

IMO, that car chase is mediocre. It's nice to have Bond driving the DB5 and to have that whole homage to OHMSS, but on the whole, I think it's terribly dull. In fact, despite the film having a lot of quality in areas, I just feel that a lot of the film feels... well drab and dull. There are moments of great suspense, but there are also very long passages that aren't particularly fascinating and where Bond gets lost in the shuffle.

Personally, I'd rank a whole lot of Bond films above GOLDENEYE, which I'd place directly in the middle of the pack as far as Bond films go. A film with great moments, but one that really isn't an entirely satisfying whole.

But I do think GOLDENEYE is more an anomaly than anything - as far as Bond films go, it's one of the Bond films that feels the least like a Bond film. It has a very unique style and tone. Most people proclaim it as a return from the Dalton years back into familiar Bond territory, but I don't think that's quite true. GOLDENEYE feels like a third Timothy Dalton film, just with some of the Moore-like spectacle thrown into the mix (GOLDENEYE's first draft was written entirely for Timothy Dalton, so this makes sense).

 

[Kevin Roegele]

But I do think GOLDENEYE is more an anomaly than anything - as far as Bond films go, it's one of the Bond films that feels the least like a Bond film. It has a very unique style and tone. Most people proclaim it as a return from the Dalton years back into familiar Bond territory, but I don't think that's quite true. GOLDENEYE feels like a third Timothy Dalton film, just with some of the Moore-like spectacle thrown into the mix (GOLDENEYE's first draft was written entirely for Timothy Dalton, so this makes sense).

Absolutely. The speech on the beach, "It's what keeps me alive" - is pure Dalton.

 

[Agentsands77]

Even more than that is pure Dalton. In tone, GOLDENEYE is even bleaker than Dalton's two entries (THE LIVING DAYLIGHTS and LICENCE TO KILL still had fairly vibrant moments... you'd be hard pressed to really find any of those in GOLDENEYE). If you take out the quippage, the plane stunt, and the tank chase, GOLDENEYE is pretty much a Timothy Dalton Bond flick. It definitely would have been interesting to see Dalton in GOLDENEYE (or Sean Bean, who I wish had been cast as 007 rather than 006).

Further tying GOLDENEYE to Dalton, promotional materials cited the evaluation Bond is undergoing immediately following the title sequence as his evaluation to get back into the service after the events of LICENCE TO KILL. Trivia seekers will also be interested that John Rhys Davies' General Pushkin played a role in Michael France's first draft of GOLDENEYE.

I guess what bugs me about Bond is that he doesn't drive the action on in GOLDENEYE, and for a story all about *him* it shouldn't be that way. He gets ordered around by Natalya, for example, and that's just not how it should be (IMO, at least). Sometimes, GOLDENEYE even feels like "The adventures of Natalya Simonova and her friend, James Bond." I wish Bond had been the one driving the story forward, and the one whose perspective we followed.

 

[DACrowe]

I thoroughly liked it. IMO it was on the better Bond movies, by that I mean in the top 10. It is definetly Brosnan's second best behind GE.

I hear people say they turned Bond into a metrosexual or he was too compassionate in this one and blahblahblah, but at the same time I think they'll have even a harder time watching scenes in CR where Bond will fall madly in love and indeed cry, something Brosnan never did, even when he shot Elektra King in the head (or throat maybe? she did grasp it if I remember).

Anyway, I felt Brosnan gave a strong performance as Bond with the confidence of the first two but a bit of weariness from experience before he grew as bored as we did with DAD. While I find some action scenes were amazing (one of the best pre-titles in the series, great missile silo scene and of course Bond killing Elektra) others fell flat (the skiing scene and choppers with buzz saws especially).

However, outside of Denise Richards I thought the acting was above average for a Bond movie and the character depth of the villains in Elektra and Renard was great. More of Judi Dench's M and seeing some of her flaws and humanity too also made the film better and though I prefer GE, I felt Brosnan always played Bond as a man fractured since the end of the Cold War and he hides it. This was the only one of the four that let him really push that line. He got a few scenes here and there in GE and one great scene in TND when he kills Paris' assassin, but overall he never really got to flex his acting muscles in a Bond film like Craig is getting to do (something that drove Connery away too).

But his disenchantment with Elektra and his compassion for her (with a sharp stopping point at the limit) was well done enoguh to elevate this into the top 10.

I know the fact that two of the action set pieces were sluggish and the added depth to Bond turns some fans off but I felt it was an attempted breath of fresh air for the franchise. It was a compromise between the addicts for action of old (who won completely in DAD and TND) and those who were waiting for a CR type. Not as good as CR but a step in that direction and overall a solid good action movie with the second best Bond in the series in my humble opinion.

 

[DACrowe]

Oh and on Goldeneye.

Now this to me is a CLASSIC Bond movie. Rigiht up there with Goldfinger and From Russia With Love.

Now I know the video game made its status even greater (as one of the best N64 games ever and indeed one of the best shooters ever. Even if the gameplay and graphics are dated beyond belief now every now and then when I replay it a little, it is still INCREDIBLY FUN)....but I digress.

The movie was Bond's return after six years and it was done in such styloe. After the drab LTK and boring TLD (both of which starred a trying-too hard and miscalcullated Dalton) Bond needed a jolt of life.

And this movie hit ALL the right buttons, kinda' like how I hope CR does. It tackles the end of the Cold War head on. It has Bond fight Soviets, called dated, laughed at and mocked by MI6, former KGB and CIA alike. He proves his worth again. Brosnan carries such charisma and flavor for the role it is a joy to see. At the same time he adds a level of worn regret under the surface that he only hints at in certain scenes and no more needs to be said. The story zips along with incredibly well paced storytelling and is just a fund ride that never gets boring. The movie takes its time to lay out the pieces and can go long stretches of the film just letting characters interact and develop with one another and no need of a big explosion set-piece. It is interesting enough seeing Nataalya repeatedly betrayed, Bond embarassed and Brosnan and Coltrane (one of the highlights of TWINE as well) interacting. Not to mention the great "sex scene" between Bond and Jassen which goes down as a top moment in teh franchise.

And the action itself is great. You have the fantastic pre-titles sequences that re-introduced Bond to an audience that grew bored of him a decade ago and brought him screaming through the end of the Cold War and into the present with a new streak of coolness. The car chase was very Bondish and fun at the beginning. And the tank chase is another highlight in the very long series as probably the best chase in the series come to think of it. There is something so funny about seeing a tank chase someone down the streets of St. Petersberg and the cops chasing the tank around a circle..

Add on one of the best villains in Alec Trevelyan the series has ever seen. He has menace and a hint (if so briefly) of sympathy. He is a two-faced monster and the establishing personal connections between the hero and villain (particularly the "brother" plot thread) always makes it better (****, Raimi has done it for 3 movies now). Seeing Bond and 006 fight at the end is heart pounding and brutal and completely satisfying. As is most of the action that is shot with a kinetic energy missing in all other Brosnan entries. Add on a tone of loss from the Soviet Union's fall and "obsoletness" but backed with Bond still kicking ass and getting the girl....

it really was the perfect Bond movie for its decade and time. That is why it is so good.

 

[DACrowe]

P.S. When did Natalya ever order Bond around on anything> He saves her ass twice, beds her and lets her do her own thing while he makes sure she is out of sight when he settles his grudge with Alec. The only time she orders him around is to give him map directions at which point he mocks "yes sir."

Now the villain pushed the plot a lot but Bond was still most definetly the main character and if the beginning really did anything it said Bond doesn't particularly take orders from anyone though.

 

[Kevin Roegele]

Terrible music, though.

 

[The Chairman]

I was about 8 or 9 when I first saw it, and I thought it was a masterpiece, as any young film fan with a taste for nonstop action and violence would think. As I got older and learned to analyze certain elements of film, I soon realzied that TWINE is lacking in certain areas. The acting is appalling, except for Pierce, Dench and Robert Carlysle (and to an extent Sophie Marceau), Christmas Jones is one of the worst Bond girls ever, and the plot overall is fairly weak.

That being said, it's still a really fun movie. The opening sequence is awesome, and it's well paced and entertaining enough to rate a 4 / 5 for me, even if it lacks in a lot of department. Like how, unlike Goldeneye, the N64 game sucked.

As for Goldeneye, after Goldfinger, it's tied with The Spy Who Loved Me as my favorite. Brosnan is the best Bond since Connery, the story, characters and pacing are all excellent, fantastic action sequences, etc. It's one of the best for sure.

 

[Agentsands77]

I hear people say they turned Bond into a metrosexual or he was too compassionate in this one and blahblahblah, but at the same time I think they'll have even a harder time watching scenes in CR where Bond will fall madly in love and indeed cry, something Brosnan never did, even when he shot Elektra King in the head (or throat maybe? she did grasp it if I remember).

It's never been about the fact *that* Bond fell in love. It was *how* he fell in love in TWINE, which was handled utterly incompetently and out of character with how we know him to be. That's my issue with it. I've always wanted Bond to be human and to be relatable, just as I've always wanted the Bond from CASINO ROYALE who falls in love and gets his heart broken. But it's all in the execution, and I think TWINE fails in almost every capacity about making that relationship believable and poignant.

If I had bought the screenplay's setting of the romance and bought the performances, it would have worked. But I bought neither. I think the script is appalling with such overwrought moments and cringeworthy dialogue that undercuts the drama. Furthermore, isn't it a betrayal of Bond's character to have him so in love after a one-night stand that the bad girl can kill her father, play Bond like a fool, capture M, torture Bond, plan to kill millions of people, and he'll still feel so bad about killing her that he'll lean over her body afterwards? That doesn't quite click for me. Bond wouldn't *like* killing a woman, but he certainly wouldn't lean over the body of somebody who played him like a fool and tortured him.

I think Brosnan and Marceau turn in the worst performances of their respective careers (Brosnan's delivery of "There's no point in LIVING if you can't feel ALIVE" when he confronts Elektra makes me cringe every time).

And anyway, CASINO ROYALE's Bond isn't too compassionate. This Bond doesn't touch tears on computer screens. He's tough and something of a bastard and his love affair is handled in kind. I appreciate that.

Brosnan carries such charisma and flavor for the role it is a joy to see.

I think he's charisma-less in GOLDENEYE. He certainly has much more of a presence in his other Bond flicks - in GOLDENEYE, he feels like a non-entity. Furthermore, everybody else is turning in such good work, I think Brosnan gets overshadowed. He gets overshadowed by Sean Bean, by Famke Janssen, and even by Izabella Scorupco.

It was certainly miles better than his melodramatic work in THE WORLD IS NOT ENOUGH, but falls behind his very calm and confident work in TOMORROW NEVER DIES and DIE ANOTHER DAY (DIE ANOTHER DAY, for all its numerous flaws, really does feature Brosnan's best work in the role).

The story zips along with incredibly well paced storytelling and is just a fund ride that never gets boring.

You see, I've always found everything from when the Tiger helicopter gets hijacked to Bond and Xenia's meeting the bathhouse pretty dull and overlong. That whole section should have been tightened up and shortened a great deal. It's just a lot of very talky moments in very drab settings.

The car chase was very Bondish and fun at the beginning. And the tank chase is another highlight in the very long series as probably the best chase in the series come to think of it.

As I said before, I don't think too highly of the car chase. Rather dull and slow-paced and overlong. Not to mention the music is absolutely horrible, worse than it is at any other point in the film.

And the tank chase being the best chase in the series? I thought it was rather dull - a scene that based entirely on spectacle and the gag of a tank driving through the streets, but without any tension or genuine thrills. I think GOLDENEYE delivered in other action scenes (for example, the 006/007 showdown, one of the best fistfights in the franchise), just not that one.

This is all my opinion, of course.

P.S. When did Natalya ever order Bond around on anything> He saves her ass twice, beds her and lets her do her own thing while he makes sure she is out of sight when he settles his grudge with Alec. The only time she orders him around is to give him map directions at which point he mocks "yes sir."

"Why are you standing around? Get us out of here!"

But it's not just Natalya. Bond seems ordered around by a lot of people in GOLDENEYE, rather than cutting his own path. Bond should be an instigator, not a follower, especially in a film where the dramatic core is all about him.

 

[Two-Face]

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