(no subject) [Collected Thoughts]

I finally saw the latest James Bond--Die Another Day (?). I was very underwhelmed.

First, I wasn't happy with Jinx. I liked the *idea* of her, the American, female equivalant of Bond, but she didn't come across right, maybe because it was Halle Berry and maybe because she needed rescuing. I'm not sure.

Also--COMBAT SURFING??? the parasailing off the glacier? That was too over the top. Plus I didn't care one bit about the bad guys.

But mostly, no torturing of James. That's just wrong. Plus I did not LIKE the credit sequence. Not enough women in it too much James being tortured.

Okay, I didn't like the actiony bits for being too unrealistic but I didin't like the torture for being too realistic. Evidentally I need to make up my mind. But, that's how I felt. That and the chase through the ice palace too way too long. Die Another Day just had too many damn story arcs.

I also saw The Transporter. Which I liked better than Die Another Day. It was a lot more fun, it didn't have too much stuff going on. Pretty simple. Hot laconic guy transports stuff. Reluctantly gets dragged into saving girl. Lots of fight scenes and car chases.

I loved the fight scenes and the chase scenes. Plus Jason Statham was shirtless quite a bit. I'm shallow, it was fun.

I also saw the Bourne Identity but I'll have to see that again because I watched most of it when I was babysitting so I wasn't so much watching it as keeping one eye on it while I read, told stories, and kept the kid from torturing the cat. But it seemed okay.

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I agree about the actions scenes, mostly because they were too obviously CGI. Still, I liked the movie overall.

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I hate CGI abuse. I watched some of the Bourne Identity commentary and the director/producer kept talking about all the places they used digital effects and this was all before Bourne even makes it to the embassy and I felt like saying "did you think about shooting real footage?"

Which is probably catty.

Also Die Another Day had weird use of slo mo. Some movies use it really well, but Die Another Day just used it in random weird spots where it didn't enhance anything and just left me confused.

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But mostly, no torturing of James. That's just wrong.

Huh. See, I *liked* the movie because of that -- I thought it made it just a little darker than all the previous Bond movies.

I can do without Halle Berry, though.

The torturing of James did make it kind of darker but I got distracted by all of that with the dumb action sequences and the plot that I couldn't follow.

Also anyone calling a space project Icarus should just subtitle it: Doomed to Fail.

I saw James get torutred by I never understood how much time had passed and he really didn't seem to act much differently when he was going after Gustav/the Korean bad guy than in other movies.

I was more sympathetic to Sean Bean's character in whatever Bond movie that was. I've trouble keeping the new names straight.

Also anyone calling a space project Icarus should just subtitle it: Doomed to Fail.

No kidding! That made me laugh out loud in the theater -- I saw it with Ellen S. -- and we were the only people laughing at the unfortunate name.

I was more sympathetic to Sean Bean's character in whatever Bond movie that was.

That was Goldeneye, I'm almost positive.

How funny. Those are the same two DVDs my roommate rented last night.

Watched DAD while he was gaming. I felt pretty much that same way you did - eh.

Haven't watched Transporter, yet. That should be fun.

Cereal to add:

I was also a little bothered that the plot to Die Another Day seemed to be "Let's remake License to Kill with Pierce Brosnan instead of Timothy Dalton."

I haven't seen the Timothy Dalton movies in a while, I'll have to rent them and watch.

I hate to say it but I think the Bond franchise is running out of ideas.

Let me know what you think of The Transporter.

It was only mildly similar in that both movies feature a Bond who is no longer working with MI6 going out on a vengeance streak.

In License to Kill, Bond quits to avenge the death of another agent at the hands of Columbian drug smugglers.

So, it's a little different, but it's that whole Bond is a free agent, looking for vengeance, that takes up a big part of both movies.

I'm very much looking forward to Transporter. Love Jason Statham. I probably won't get as much out of him going shirtless as you did, but it's all good.

The action sequences are really great, be sure to check out the extended action sequences on the dvd.