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This actually could have been an absolute banger of a movie, but somewhat poor character choices in the script, plot issues, ridiculous action (again), and finally, choreography issues all pulled this movie down to mediocrity. Shame because, with an awesome movie title like that, I really wanted to like this film along with wanting to like it due to the antagonist, but we'll get to that in a minute.
Since talking about the character choices in the script requires spoilers for some of the characters, I'll discuss that last. For now, let's just move on now to the plot issues. Specifically, this story is confusing and not very well executed, making it hard to care about where it's going. This is especially egregious because it serves to partially hamper a character's development in the film, but once again, more on that later. In any case, a better explanation in certain parts of the film would have been better, or perhaps even better, trim down the plot altogether and make things a bit more simple.
Moving on to the ridiculous action, I feel like it's a bit worse than GoldenEye, because at least GoldenEye had SOME good action in it, especially towards the end. This movie at least doesn't have five billion mooks coming after Bond just for Bond to calmly gun them down, but even so, it's just not quite enough at all. And linked directly to that, I feel like the choreography in this film lacks... Speed. Weight. It just seems stiff and fake. Which is weird because I KNOW they can do better than this. I seen't it.
It's not all bad at all though. Most notably, the casting choices were mostly excellent. The actor for Renard probably could have done a better job though. Which brings us to the main problem of this film and the biggest issue for sure. The character writing. First off, let's talk about Denise Richards as Dr. Christmas Jones (lol). Now, apparently, when this movie came out, Denise got a lot of flak for playing the "worst Bond girl to date." Completely fucking absurd. While it's true that I certainly wouldn't label her as the best Bond girl at all, it's not because of the actress. The issue is that she is simply not given enough development. She's introduced a little late, and the scenes she is in don't give her enough of a chance to really shine. And it's not like there isn't room in the plot for her because there definitely is. All in all, a baffling decision and a waste of a good actress.
So, yeah. That's the movie. Very neat song by Garbage though at least. Maybe Tomorrow Never Dies will be better. Oh, and a little wildly irrelevant fact, I think this may be the only movie I've seen that promoted and used Windows 2000. (Not Mistake Edition.)
Since talking about the character choices in the script requires spoilers for some of the characters, I'll discuss that last. For now, let's just move on now to the plot issues. Specifically, this story is confusing and not very well executed, making it hard to care about where it's going. This is especially egregious because it serves to partially hamper a character's development in the film, but once again, more on that later. In any case, a better explanation in certain parts of the film would have been better, or perhaps even better, trim down the plot altogether and make things a bit more simple.
Moving on to the ridiculous action, I feel like it's a bit worse than GoldenEye, because at least GoldenEye had SOME good action in it, especially towards the end. This movie at least doesn't have five billion mooks coming after Bond just for Bond to calmly gun them down, but even so, it's just not quite enough at all. And linked directly to that, I feel like the choreography in this film lacks... Speed. Weight. It just seems stiff and fake. Which is weird because I KNOW they can do better than this. I seen't it.
It's not all bad at all though. Most notably, the casting choices were mostly excellent. The actor for Renard probably could have done a better job though. Which brings us to the main problem of this film and the biggest issue for sure. The character writing. First off, let's talk about Denise Richards as Dr. Christmas Jones (lol). Now, apparently, when this movie came out, Denise got a lot of flak for playing the "worst Bond girl to date." Completely fucking absurd. While it's true that I certainly wouldn't label her as the best Bond girl at all, it's not because of the actress. The issue is that she is simply not given enough development. She's introduced a little late, and the scenes she is in don't give her enough of a chance to really shine. And it's not like there isn't room in the plot for her because there definitely is. All in all, a baffling decision and a waste of a good actress.
And now, finally... The antagonist and villainess. And the biggest disappointment in this film for sure. Elektra King (lol) is played by Sophie Marceau, and she does a damn good job bringing the character to life, but just like the good doctor, Sophie gets betrayed... By the script. And with the script we got, Sophie is going to kill millions of people becauseeee... Daddy seemingly stole her dead mother's inheritance and didn't pay the fake ransom for Elektra. Fucking really?
I absolutely love the idea of a woman with a dark past seducing Bond (which, by the way, is almost completely skipped over in the movie) and trying to get him to join her. And while that's sorta what we got, her motivations for doing what she does in the first place (daddy issues) are completely unbelievable and she is, in actuality, written to be TOO cold to Bond in the end. A seductress is one thing, but what if the seductress actually cared at least some about the person they seduced? It would have made for a FAR better villainess.
Going further with this, what if her motivations weren't dumbass daddy issues, but were actually trauma-based? What if Elektra's desire to dominate and conquer actually arose from a deep scarring pain and powerlessness she experienced while actually kidnapped? What if there was actual PASSION behind her? A woman with a burning lust to conquer because of both incredible pain and desire driving her forward? And what if Bond had to face that? Could he? After all, there's no point in living if you can't feel alive... Well... I guess we'll never find out.
Oh, and her death was poorly done too. She gets shot in the stomach and immediately silently dies as if someone shot her in the head. So weak.
I absolutely love the idea of a woman with a dark past seducing Bond (which, by the way, is almost completely skipped over in the movie) and trying to get him to join her. And while that's sorta what we got, her motivations for doing what she does in the first place (daddy issues) are completely unbelievable and she is, in actuality, written to be TOO cold to Bond in the end. A seductress is one thing, but what if the seductress actually cared at least some about the person they seduced? It would have made for a FAR better villainess.
Going further with this, what if her motivations weren't dumbass daddy issues, but were actually trauma-based? What if Elektra's desire to dominate and conquer actually arose from a deep scarring pain and powerlessness she experienced while actually kidnapped? What if there was actual PASSION behind her? A woman with a burning lust to conquer because of both incredible pain and desire driving her forward? And what if Bond had to face that? Could he? After all, there's no point in living if you can't feel alive... Well... I guess we'll never find out.
Oh, and her death was poorly done too. She gets shot in the stomach and immediately silently dies as if someone shot her in the head. So weak.
So, yeah. That's the movie. Very neat song by Garbage though at least. Maybe Tomorrow Never Dies will be better. Oh, and a little wildly irrelevant fact, I think this may be the only movie I've seen that promoted and used Windows 2000. (Not Mistake Edition.)
