Post by Eddie Love on Dec 22, 2009 20:03:22 GMT -5
Let's get one thing clear up front -- two actually, first being that was another great show -- but otherwise, am I correct to assume that no one is actually suggesting DAD is worse than AVTAK? Tom seemed to flirt with the notion up front, but didn't follow up, so my nerves were relieved. So, while you hated DAD we're all agreed it's above the low water mark created by Tanya Roberts & Co? (At the very least in DAD they took the trouble to cast an actor in the role of James Bond.)
I'm not really defending DAD, but here are some points that mitigate slightly in it's favor and certainly rank it above AVTAK. I pretty much hate the second half of the film, which Tom rightly notes is a joy-killing orgy of CGI. (I can't believe you failed to mention the ice-surfing scene towards the end. Maybe that was the film's allusion to AVTAK, if not it's overall badness.) However, I think this fault should be placed squarely with the film's producers more than the creative team behind the camera. They green-lit the excesses the director must than execute -- as you guys convinced me was the case with the latter Burton Cycle Batman movies. Call it Schumacher's Law. Otherwise, I think Lee Tamahouri does a pretty stylish job with the first hour of the film -- and this includes the over-the-top fencing scene. (I really like the Cuba scenes.) And for some reason these early scenes really feel like Brosnan's performance is capturing something of the character from the books. I also like that all the villains are younger than Bond, and I think Rick Yune and Stephens are both good -- though Stephen's is saddled with some crazy beats. (BTW, he's the only Bond villain to have played James Bond as he voiced 007 in a terrific BBC Radio adaptation of Dr. No.) I also like the overall music score.
You make the case that Eleckra King is revealed as a villain too soon, but you have to admit the reveal of the villain here is kept as a real surprise.
You guys clearly have Halle issues and I agree she's a distraction and given too much to do action-wise. She also seems to have had much of her (lame sexual) dialogue re-dubbed and never conveys any sense of danger and is in fact too cute. But, come on -- clearly Bond does bed Miranda Frost, so the notion that Halle insisted on being his only conquest seems like the kind of crazy conspiracy theory someone like me would come up with. (Plus the first X-Men came out in 2000 and she didn't win her Oscar 'til 2002. Sorry, I have to say some of this as she's a real favorite of my wife.)
Having said all this I hate the invisible car almost as much as Tom does and it's why I hated this movie when it first came out. If I've warmed to it since, it may be because of it's stand-alone awfulness. It doesn't serve as a harbinger of dreck to come -- DAF -- or stand as a symbol of a decade of missed opportunities -- AVTAK.
I'm not really defending DAD, but here are some points that mitigate slightly in it's favor and certainly rank it above AVTAK. I pretty much hate the second half of the film, which Tom rightly notes is a joy-killing orgy of CGI. (I can't believe you failed to mention the ice-surfing scene towards the end. Maybe that was the film's allusion to AVTAK, if not it's overall badness.) However, I think this fault should be placed squarely with the film's producers more than the creative team behind the camera. They green-lit the excesses the director must than execute -- as you guys convinced me was the case with the latter Burton Cycle Batman movies. Call it Schumacher's Law. Otherwise, I think Lee Tamahouri does a pretty stylish job with the first hour of the film -- and this includes the over-the-top fencing scene. (I really like the Cuba scenes.) And for some reason these early scenes really feel like Brosnan's performance is capturing something of the character from the books. I also like that all the villains are younger than Bond, and I think Rick Yune and Stephens are both good -- though Stephen's is saddled with some crazy beats. (BTW, he's the only Bond villain to have played James Bond as he voiced 007 in a terrific BBC Radio adaptation of Dr. No.) I also like the overall music score.
You make the case that Eleckra King is revealed as a villain too soon, but you have to admit the reveal of the villain here is kept as a real surprise.
You guys clearly have Halle issues and I agree she's a distraction and given too much to do action-wise. She also seems to have had much of her (lame sexual) dialogue re-dubbed and never conveys any sense of danger and is in fact too cute. But, come on -- clearly Bond does bed Miranda Frost, so the notion that Halle insisted on being his only conquest seems like the kind of crazy conspiracy theory someone like me would come up with. (Plus the first X-Men came out in 2000 and she didn't win her Oscar 'til 2002. Sorry, I have to say some of this as she's a real favorite of my wife.)
Having said all this I hate the invisible car almost as much as Tom does and it's why I hated this movie when it first came out. If I've warmed to it since, it may be because of it's stand-alone awfulness. It doesn't serve as a harbinger of dreck to come -- DAF -- or stand as a symbol of a decade of missed opportunities -- AVTAK.