More James Bond. Feels like I began the Brosnan quadrology a month ago, so I had to go back and read what I wrote on letterboxd.
Goldeneye 3/5
I expect to get roasted for this: nostalgia has been kind to GoldenEye; watching it again, I'm far less inclined. It is not a bad movie, but it is entirely overrated.
The first act is a mess: uncertain tone, awkwardly cut, and lifeless. It races through exposition without establishing momentum, mistaking volume and velocity for narrative drive.
The film steadies somewhat with the (re)arrival of Sean Bean, who supplies a hint of menace and gravity. Supporting characters are basically caricatures, and the action sequences sprawl without purpose. The tank chase now feels overlong and ridiculous. The screenplay strains for seriousness it never tried to earn, repeatedly pulling the rug out from under itself with unexpected tonal lurches.
Tomorrow Never Dies 2/5
Might be the most ‘ok’ 007 film of them all. Not quite as bad as its reputation, and it at least has some vibrancy and colour. As Bond villains go, Elliot Carver is among the weakest. You can see what they were aiming for at the dawn of the internet era, and there’s uncomfortable symmetry with the world today, but Carver lands as a thin, unconvincing antagonist.
The World is Not Enough 2/5
If you're able to mentally excise the really bad parts– treat them as outliers–then taken as a whole, I guess the movie sort of works. Oddly, this is probably Brosnan's finest, nuanced turn at bat, like he was really settling into the role of James Bond. I already talked about Marceau, Richards, and Carlyle (great, terrible, absent). “I thought Christmas only came once a year” jeeeesus chr--right, ignoring the bad parts.
Die Another Day 1.5/5
I actually like Toby Stephens here, but the character he plays is a joke. It doesn't help that the writers pulled this script straight out of their ass: the leap from North Korean colonel to British-Icelandic business magnate in 3.4 seconds isn't the foundation you want to build on.
Halle Berry was OK. Her Cuba scenes were . . . watchable, much less so in Iceland. Also, I'm pretty sure no one involved in this film's production has ever been to Iceland--but now I'm just being pedantic.
I'm now nine 007 films in (11 if you count the two I haven't reviewed yet), and so far zero Bond villains have been pedophiles. Huh.
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