James Bond is sent to investigate the connection between a North Korean terrorist and a diamond mogul, who is funding the development of an international space weapon.
James Bond teams up with the lone survivor of a destroyed Russian research center to stop the hijacking of a nuclear space weapon by a fellow Agent formerly believed to be dead.
Director:
Martin Campbell
Stars:
Pierce Brosnan,
Sean Bean,
Izabella Scorupco
James Bond goes rogue and sets off to unleash vengeance on a drug lord who tortured his best friend, a C.I.A. Agent, and left him for dead and murdered his bride after he helped capture him.
A fake Fabergé egg, and a fellow Agent's death, lead James Bond to uncover an international jewel-smuggling operation, headed by the mysterious Octopussy, being used to disguise a nuclear attack on N.A.T.O. forces.
James Bond is living on the edge to stop an evil arms dealer from starting another world war. Bond crosses all seven continents in order to stop the evil Whitaker and General Koskov.
An investigation of a horse-racing scam leads 007 to a mad industrialist who plans to create a worldwide microchip monopoly by destroying California's Silicon Valley.
Director:
John Glen
Stars:
Roger Moore,
Christopher Walken,
Tanya Roberts
James Bond investigates the hijacking of British and Russian submarines carrying nuclear warheads, with the help of a K.G.B. Agent, whose lover he killed.
Pierce Brosnan gives one last mission as James Bond. Starting off in North Korea, Bond is betrayed and captured. 14 months later, Bond is set free, but traded for Zao who was captured by MI6. When back in his world, Bond sets off to track down Zao. Bond gets caught up in yet another scheme which sends him to millionaire Gustav Graves. Another MI6 agent known as Miranda Frost is also posing as a friend of Graves. Bond is invited to a presentation held by Graves about a satellite found in space which can project a huge laser beam. Bond must stop this madman with a fellow American agent, known as Jinx. Whilst Bond tries to stop Graves and Zao, will he finally reveal who betrayed him?Written by
simon
Madonna: As Verity, the fencing instructor, making this the first Bond film to feature a cameo by the performer who sings the theme song. Her uncredited cameo was the final scene shot during principal photography. When James Bond introduces himself to Gustav before they fight, Madonna was originally to introduce him with the catchphrase, "Bond. James Bond." However, it was later decided that fans would prefer the line coming from Pierce Brosnan. See more »
Goofs
The license plates in the Cuba scenes are wrong. This is especially notable with the car that Bond gets from Raoul, which has black plates with yellow-ish lettering, a combination that did not exist in the time period the movie is set in. Black plates designated foreign diplomats and had white lettering. The car should have had a yellow plate with black letters, designating a privately owned vehicle. See more »
Quotes
[first lines]
Mr. Van Bierk:
[stepping out of helicopter]
Look, what is this? I'm supposed to...
[Bond puts a gun to Mr. Van Bierk's head and takes his sunglasses]
See more »
While their English voices and dialog remained unchanged, all of the Korean spoken by the characters was redubbed in the South Korean release to cover up their poor Korean accents. See more »
On a mission in Korea, James Bond is captured and tortured for 18 months. He is swapped with Korean agent Zao for his freedom. However M has swapped him not to save him, but because she believes Bond has cracked and is giving away information. However Bond knows there is another mole in the area and escapes to uncover what Zao is up to and to uncover his Western ally.
I looked forward to this film because I like Bond and easily get caught up in the hype. I think it is just down to the success of the formula and the fact that it feels comfortable to know you're getting a slightly different version of reliable product. For me, familiarity has yet to breed contempt in this series. I wanted to like this film more, although I did enjoy the vast majority of it. It's biggest problem is simply that it tries too hard and wants to do too much. The plot is OK and is a brave start showing our hero broken and in prison, but from there it does try and do way too much. It was good to relate the pre-credits scene to the rest of the film but the film seems restless unless it is having a major bit of plot happening - too many little twists or new bits of plot that stopped the film flowing. The plot is OK at heart but the little additions of diamonds, ice palace, weapons in space, DNA alteration, electrical suits all gets a bit much.
The film's direction is also a bit frantic. A little bit of Matrix creeping in and sudden rushing cameras etc. It isn't needed, indeed they make the cake feel over egged, like the director didn't trust himself enough to a good job and needed gimmicks etc. On top of this there are three or so cgi shots that are really poor (and I mean Mummy Returns poor). It doesn't help that the theme song is one of the worst ever but I could get past that as the action under the credits helped distract from it. The action is all good on the whole but there didn't seem enough room for them and all that plot - also everything was overdone. We don't need matrix type effects in Bond - all we need is a certain amount of flair and well designed shots etc. I sound negative but I still enjoyed this despite the weaknesses cause at the end of the day the formula still works even with the monkeying around.
One of the main reasons is Brosnan himself. he is getting better every film. He does some bad puns but never to the mocking extent of Moore and he also does the dangerous element of Connery. Even when the film starts to get silly he remains strong in the lead. Berry is wasted and is a distraction more than a good addition. From the cringe worthy first scene with Bond (trading smutty one liners) onwards she has no character worth speaking of. Her dialogue is innuendo and not lines, her acting is all in the twitch of her lips as she flirts and that's it. To look at, she does the job, but i thought we'd gotten past Bond girls that are eye-candy and nothing more. Pike is given a more frosty role and does pretty well despite being very cold when viewed beside the flirtatious Berry. Stephens hams it up as Graves. He starts well but the plot spin on his character (esp. the electric suit stuff) takes away from his credibility as a bad guy and he ends up as a cartoon type rather than a real threat. Yune on the other hand is a real good villain - a gimmick (his face) but also presence and real menace without hamming it up. I had hoped he would be the focus but alas no. Dench is good and Madsen is an interesting addition - but perhaps he wasn't the best choice for the head of NSA given the type of roles he is best known for - how many other people could only see Mr Blonde? Cleese does well as the new Q and brings his comedy into the role well, making it similar to the spirit of Q without being a copy. Madonna's cameo is as bad and as pointless as her theme song.
Overall let me stress I enjoyed this film but couldn't help but see the many flaws. It simply tries too hard in almost every area - plot, writing, action, direction. The formula is all there but it feels like they want to up the ante in every way, only at the basic level does the film feel comfortable in it's own skin and relaxes, for most of the time you'd think this was a new film desperately trying to start a franchise as opposed to a long running series.
105 of 174 people found this review helpful.
Was this review helpful to you?
| Report this
On a mission in Korea, James Bond is captured and tortured for 18 months. He is swapped with Korean agent Zao for his freedom. However M has swapped him not to save him, but because she believes Bond has cracked and is giving away information. However Bond knows there is another mole in the area and escapes to uncover what Zao is up to and to uncover his Western ally.
I looked forward to this film because I like Bond and easily get caught up in the hype. I think it is just down to the success of the formula and the fact that it feels comfortable to know you're getting a slightly different version of reliable product. For me, familiarity has yet to breed contempt in this series. I wanted to like this film more, although I did enjoy the vast majority of it. It's biggest problem is simply that it tries too hard and wants to do too much. The plot is OK and is a brave start showing our hero broken and in prison, but from there it does try and do way too much. It was good to relate the pre-credits scene to the rest of the film but the film seems restless unless it is having a major bit of plot happening - too many little twists or new bits of plot that stopped the film flowing. The plot is OK at heart but the little additions of diamonds, ice palace, weapons in space, DNA alteration, electrical suits all gets a bit much.
The film's direction is also a bit frantic. A little bit of Matrix creeping in and sudden rushing cameras etc. It isn't needed, indeed they make the cake feel over egged, like the director didn't trust himself enough to a good job and needed gimmicks etc. On top of this there are three or so cgi shots that are really poor (and I mean Mummy Returns poor). It doesn't help that the theme song is one of the worst ever but I could get past that as the action under the credits helped distract from it. The action is all good on the whole but there didn't seem enough room for them and all that plot - also everything was overdone. We don't need matrix type effects in Bond - all we need is a certain amount of flair and well designed shots etc. I sound negative but I still enjoyed this despite the weaknesses cause at the end of the day the formula still works even with the monkeying around.
One of the main reasons is Brosnan himself. he is getting better every film. He does some bad puns but never to the mocking extent of Moore and he also does the dangerous element of Connery. Even when the film starts to get silly he remains strong in the lead. Berry is wasted and is a distraction more than a good addition. From the cringe worthy first scene with Bond (trading smutty one liners) onwards she has no character worth speaking of. Her dialogue is innuendo and not lines, her acting is all in the twitch of her lips as she flirts and that's it. To look at, she does the job, but i thought we'd gotten past Bond girls that are eye-candy and nothing more. Pike is given a more frosty role and does pretty well despite being very cold when viewed beside the flirtatious Berry. Stephens hams it up as Graves. He starts well but the plot spin on his character (esp. the electric suit stuff) takes away from his credibility as a bad guy and he ends up as a cartoon type rather than a real threat. Yune on the other hand is a real good villain - a gimmick (his face) but also presence and real menace without hamming it up. I had hoped he would be the focus but alas no. Dench is good and Madsen is an interesting addition - but perhaps he wasn't the best choice for the head of NSA given the type of roles he is best known for - how many other people could only see Mr Blonde? Cleese does well as the new Q and brings his comedy into the role well, making it similar to the spirit of Q without being a copy. Madonna's cameo is as bad and as pointless as her theme song.
Overall let me stress I enjoyed this film but couldn't help but see the many flaws. It simply tries too hard in almost every area - plot, writing, action, direction. The formula is all there but it feels like they want to up the ante in every way, only at the basic level does the film feel comfortable in it's own skin and relaxes, for most of the time you'd think this was a new film desperately trying to start a franchise as opposed to a long running series.