The first one in the franchise, and it’s great ‘fun’.
I read some of the reviews after this viewing and it’s almost universally panned, the main theme that it wastes its premise, though my hero Roger Ebert liked it.
He’s correct. It’s spooky, unpredictable, for the most part well acted for a teen flick, and Candyman is in it.
And Steve Stifler features but unfortunately doesn’t li ….
For sheer entertainment alone this is a 5/5 but it’s suffused with added value because of its influence on its 007 progeny. More so than Dr. No (1962), this is the prototypical Bond, all the ingredients coalescing but not at the expense of plot or pacing. It’s a Bond 101, and few subsequent entries have been up to scratch.
Stunning vistas, flawlessly executed set pieces, it’s at its core a glorious spy thriller with intentional, which always helps when the jokes are not by accident, comedic elements that aren’t too outlandish. Even a scene as basic as Bond checking into a hotel and casually scouring the room for listening devices somehow dazzles.
And Lotte Lenya whacks Robert Shaw in the stomach with a knuckleduster.
Several things about this movie annoyed me prior to watching it: it’s a reboot of a disaster flick that isn’t any good, it features that immensely vexing bloke from Top Gun: Maverick (2022), and I hate films about the weather – aside from Groundhog Day (1993), which is weather as MacGuffin.
Barrels resembling Quint’s annoyed me. It’s an opening wee scene and a protagonist introduces herself via one of these vlogs and there are barrels in the frame. At least be subtle in your references.
Dialogue was from the dustbin and I could predict almost every other line a character was about to say.
Some of it is good – the effects are splendid. There is at least chemistry between the leads.
But one of the characters is the spitting image of Noah Tannenbaum from season three of The Sopranos, so this loses half a star.
1.5/5.
I went to school with a lad who would scream, “The bridge is out, the bridge is out.” This was conducted at random intervals, my introduction to True Lies (1994).
Ludicrous story but pure entertainment and James Cameron gets away with it, mainly for the esoteric banter that is Bill Paxton. The lad defines enthusiasm and lights up every bit of celluloid he’s in. He has been missed.
It’s coarse and childish and it’s 1994. Stick to Bill Paxton and the action. Skip or mute anything with Tom Arnold.
And marvel at the other Arnold on a horse … in a shopping mall.
2/5.
The take-home image is of Bobby De Niro and his cool-as-milk beard. And his cool hat.
It’s not exactly a funny movie (not a single laugh was had) but more of a witty satire that stays just on the right side of absurd because you can genuinely see this stuff happening for it sort of has happened.
Politicians and their helpers are mostly reptiles and will do anything to win power – history tell us this, and Wag the Dog (1997) exposes the techniques spin doctors use and the cynicism of distraction, PR in its essence, if you will. It also draws our attention to the collusion between the media and the political class. More films should do this.
Denis Leary is highly annoying, though. He doesn’t seem sincere. His persona is a grating act and I don’t get his appeal or why he is in films.
But he’s not in this much.
Thank fuck.
Wanderings and ... wonderings. 