I think you were a bit unfair to Izabella in your
analysis of Goldeneye and way over generous to Famke Jannsen.
Natayla is the only character that gets any real development in the film, from
an innocent and lost victim at the start to a very independent, thinking and
valuable ally - not at all a "typical" Bond girl!! Wasn't it _great_ when she
decked Boris?? Lots of my friends have commented on how refreshing it was to
see an actress who wasn't just there to look pretty and end up in bed with JB
at the end!
As I told Shawn Fuller, writer #1, my
feelings regarding Izabella have been tainted by seeing her out of her role.
I will have to see the film again to readjust my judgement.
As to that last comment, do you know of any woman who hasn't ended up in
bed with Bond at the end?
By contrast, Xenia Onnatopp is a _complete_ disaster. Utmost hamminess out
of the Moore era. as bad as Mayday in VtaK!! The way she goes around getting
turned on as she guns people down and "crushing men to death with her thighs"
was just awful. It was blatantly taking the piss which ruined parts of the
film and would have put off many first-time Bond viewers. Unlike Izabella,
Famke did just stand around looking pretty in suitably tight/short attire. If
James Bond does return, I hope she won't!
Whatever the value of the character, you must agree that Famke did an
excellent job in her portrayl! And I also saw the parallel to the May Day
character, but my opinion differs: I like May Day!
And what is wrong with a sadistic female henchwoman? Each henchman has there
own pecularities that makes them "way out there": Jaws, Red Grant, Mr. Witt
and Mr. Kidd, Scaramanga's midget asistant, and others. I think Xenia fits in
with the rest of this group.
Can I leave that acrimony behind and say a big thank you to The Oxford
Stunt Factory for pulling off the best pre-titles stunt ever (even better
than the ski-parachute cliff jump in SWLM) The bunjee jump!! Wasn't it
incredible?? The best one man stunt ever??
I agree totally! Too much emphasis has been placed on the plane chase scene,
when the most beautiful stunt was the awe-inspiring bungee jump!
Effects - were ok I thought. Certainly kept the action moving (whats
wrong with having Bond as an action movie - they were never meant to be serious
spy/espionage films like Patriot Games)
The only problem is that the quality was not very good.
Soundtrack - spot on. We needed the classic Bond sound and Eric
didn't give us it. The instrumental pieces are fine, but anything to do with
action was full of awful white noise.
Trevelyan
Clever to have an equal as an adversary for Bond. Suitably icy
and slightly deranged. Humour a bit lacking though
Gen. Ouromov
v. weak under-used and a bit thin when he did appear. Far
too much under Trevelyan's influence
Boris minus
How can this be your favourite character? a completely wet
computer spod who has a crush on the pretty girl at the desk next to him? Why
did they have to even hang onto him after the destruction of Sevrenya?
Couldn't his co-conspirators have saved us pain and just betrayed and kiled
him? (I'm sure Xenia would have enjoyed it - the only thrill Bors would ever
give a woman!!)
Why is he my favorite? Because he is funny and fun to watch! And after Natalya
decked him, I loved the anger he displayed when he said "Don't ever do that
again!"
Wade zero
quite right. Not the best choice for a CIA operative in
Russia - he sticks out a mile!!
"M" ??
jury still out. We need to see more!
"Q"
better than ever!! Lets hope Desmond lives for a long while yet.
He is our hero!!
Natalya
(see above)
Xenia
(begrudgingly for looking glamorous which all Bond films need, and
for a few funny lines)
last but not least -
Bond himself!!
Pierce has settled in quite nicely I think, and two
more films will set him up as perhaps the definitive Bond as he has the
sophisticated edge that Connery never quite had. He has better humour than
Moore because it's not slaptstick, and he is as fierce as Dalton in places And
he can deliver the one _crucial_ line perfectly "The name's Bond, James Bond"
Yes, he can be fierce. I defy anyone to claim that any of the other Bonds, save
Dalton, could have made the expression Brosnan did when 006 was "shot". Brosnan
can pack a lot of emotion when he needs to, and I hope to see a wider range
of emotions from Bond in the future.
One last comment - is it just me or did Bond kill a lot more people than
usual this time, particularly on his escape from the prison cell? And the two
main villains died particularly graphically, more so than usual. Can we hope
for a stop to this trend?
I feel the same way. There was a little too much violence in the tank
chase scene. Don't you think that the danger to innocent bystanders would have
too great to justify his actions? There is one particularly cheesy scene: Bond
obivously crushes a policeman by driving over the driver's side of a police car.
Then, we see a driver manage to get out of the carnage, with no damage. He
should have been dead!
Also during this scene you can clearly see dummies in several of these vehicles
as they were being crushed. The editing and filming was bad here becuase these
dummies were in the forefront of the scenes.
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