On Human Bondage
Posted: December 2nd, 2002 | 2 Comments »As ever with a new Bond film, the extremes are pushed: showing Bond at both his most vulnerable (looking shaggy in a North Korean prison) and his most invulnerable (he could at least have the common courtesy to duck when people are firing machine guns at his face). We also have a new contender for Silliest Stunt Ever, which is also the first Bond stunt to be entirely of digital origin. You can easily tell which one it is because the compositing’s so awful. (It’s even sillier than the chasing-the-plane-off-the-cliff from Goldeneye, which I notice the new Charlie’s Angels movie rips off.) But still, it was thrilling, silly and stylish, and Rosamund Pike is completely yum. (Yes, okay, Halle Berry is very cute too.)
As ever with any Bond film, the IMDB has tons of trivia for Bond-spotters. Given that this is the 20th Bond and the surrounding 40-years-of-Bond celebrations, there are more references than all but the most ardent fan could get. Sure, you laughed at the “Diamonds are for everyone” line and Rosa Klebb’s shoe, but did you spot Zao’s cars? (And the appearance of the “Field Guide to Birds” was class.) Unfortunately, half of those listed sound less like celebratory references and more like the ideas box rattling near-empty. How many more eat-hot-death-from-orbit macguffins is 007 going to have to disable?
But back to the joy of Bond trivia:
- The “Javelin Jump” was carefully planned by university students using computers…
- … whereas the boat landing on the police car was an accident.
- The jetpack from Thunderball, which turns up in Die Another Day, was real.
- Pierce Brosnan’s first wife appeared in a Bond film 15 years before he did. (And she was already married to him at the time)
- Saint Etienne (along with “about 500″ other people, including Pulp, The Cardigans, Swan Lee and Space) did a theme song for Tomorrow Never Dies.
- Still on TND, Henry Kissinger (who was brought in as a consultant) recommended a change from the original plotline.
- Tracy Bond’s gravestone is engraved with the words “We have all the time in the World”
If you still want more, it’s hard to stress just what an utterly fantastic read this book is.
(The final word on the new film goes to Quinn.)
The one thing that occurred to me about Die Another Day was that it resembled Predator 2 in one important respect.
That is, the climax of the film is about an hour long.
I just kept thinking “Well, they’ve finished *now*, surely?”
btw, I also missed almost all of the product placements, despite having read about them all before seeing the film.
This makes me laugh when I read about how much some people spent to have, e.g. Bond use a particular razor for 3 seconds in the film.
i thought i was the only one who noticed the bird guide. how many people do you think understood? btw, can you explain to me how it that he ducks down and hides behind the *invisible* car?