DuckTales (2017), Season 3

The new DuckTales (2017) TV series is the absolute best! Maybe I'll give it a proper review one day, but I just wanted to geek out about the latest season for a moment.

Jackie and I have been binging the old Chip 'n' Dale Rescue Rangers series... and Ducktales (2017) just gave them an origin story!  Even better, it was a background story going on behind the scenes of a classic spy story, in the same vein as the old James Bond films (which I just spent a whole month binging and reviewing).

They also retconned the DuckTales movie (Treasure of the Lost Lamp) as a one-off episode in this season.  This show rocks!

SPECTRE (2015)

Today, our James Bond marathon unfortunately comes to an end with the 24th and final (thus far) film, SPECTRE (2015).

SYNOPSIS:
James Bond (Daniel Craig) receives a cryptic video in the mail from the late M (Judi Dench): In the event of her death, kill a particular man and see who attends his funeral.  Following her advice, Bond finds clues that lead him to the heart of an international terrorist organization known as SPECTRE.  And its leader, Franz Oberhauser (Christoph Waltz) happens to be a man who knows James Bond very well...

Meanwhile, the new M (Ralph Fiennes); his assistant, Moneypenny (Naomie Harris); Chief of Staff, Bill Tanner (Rory Kinnear); and Head Quartermaster, Q (Ben Whishaw) find themselves at odds with a new player in the intelligence community: Max Denbigh (Andrew Scott), whom Bond nicknames "C."  C has plans to shut down MI6 and the 00 program for good, replacing it with his modern international organization that shares intelligence digitally across numerous countries.  Can James Bond confront his past and stop SPECTRE?  Will M save MI6, or become a forgotten relic of the past?

REVIEW:
With the triumphant return of SPECTRE to the official James Bond franchise, there will be tons of spoilers in this review, so I'd recommend skipping it if you haven't seen the film yet.

The new SPECTRE logo

Continuing the story from the previous 3 films, James Bond goes out on his own to pursue the shady organization that's eluded him thus far.  When he causes a scene in Mexico, M grounds Bond, taking him off active status and ordering him to stay put in London.  He has Q install nanobots in Bond's bloodstream so they can monitor his location and activities.  But Bond isn't done chasing leads, so he asks Moneypenny to be his insider for information, and Q to let him "off the leash" for 48 hours.

Q issues Bond a new Omega watch; standard except for the "really-loud alarm," if you know what I mean.  He also teases Bond with a new Aston Martin DB10, but claims it's been reassigned to 009, since Bond is grounded.  Bond ends up stealing it anyway, and leaves Q a bottle of wine in its place.  We also see the frame of Bond's 1964 Aston Martin DB5.  Q is still rebuilding it since it was blown up in Skyfall (2012).

The Aston Martin DB10 was created just for this film! It's so sleek and sexy...

Bond claimed a ring with a sinister octopus on it off the finger of his first target in this film, and he uses it to enter the meeting place of SPECTRE, where he overhears some of their global plans.  He witnesses a new henchman take over for the one he killed: Mr. Hinx (Dave Bautista), a large silent man with metal fingernails on his thumbs.

Mr. Hinx looming over his prey

Mr. Hinx is an amalgam of two classic henchman in the James Bond franchise: Oddjob, the mute, stout man with a metal-brimmed bowler hat, and Jaws, the mute giant with metal teeth.  Something about a large, imposing, silent man is very intimidating, and Dave Bautista pulls it off.  In a one-on-one fight, Bond finds himself outmatched against the relentless villain.

In my last review, I mentioned that we'd learn more about Bond's past in this film.  Well, Bond eventually runs into Franz Oberhauser, whom he knows as his step-brother.  Yes, after the first 5 or so James Bond films inspired the Austin Powers franchise, now this film will take a page out of Austin Powers' book and make the main hero and villain brothers.

After James Bond's parents died in a climbing accident, he was taken in by Hannes Oberhauser.  It was assumed that Hannes and his son Franz died in an avalanche.  But Franz was actually jealous of the good relationship between Bond and Hannes, so he staged the avalanche to kill of his father, then ran away.  Years later, he's the founder and leader of SPECTRE, spreading chaos across the globe in order to seize control.  And since he ran away, he's changed his name: Ernst Stavro Blofeld, named after his mother's side.

Blofeld tells Bond, "Me. It was all me, James. It's always been me. The author of all your pain."  All the previous villains in the past 3 films were all members of SPECTRE.  And as Bond took them down, Blofeld made sure to hurt Bond.  The death of Vesper, the death of M.  As he put it, "You interfered in my world, I destroyed yours."  So this entire rebooted franchise has been leading up to SPECTRE.

Like the classic films, Blofeld's been behind everything since the start

Kevin McClory, the writer/producer who made a successful legal claim for the rights to the Thunderball (1965) screenplay, passed away in 2006.  In 2013, EON Productions purchased all associated rights from McClory's estate, finally ending the 50-some year dispute.  SPECTRE and Blofeld, along with anything else associated with Thunderball (1965) and Never Say Never Again (1983), finally belong to the official James Bond franchise.  So that's how SPECTRE (2015) got made.  Quantum was made as a replacement organization originally, but with SPECTRE available for use, Quantum became a sub-organization of SPECTRE.

Oh, and remember Blofeld's first physical appearance in the franchise?  You Only Live Twice (1967) revealed his face and he was a bald man with a scar running over his right eye.  Well, SPECTRE (2015) gave him that scar, when a bomb Bond set off cut his face and blinded him in one eye.  Blofeld is in the trailer for the next Bond film, so it'll be interesting to see him continuing to be a thorn in Bond's side.

The sinister scar gets an origin story - and Bond's to blame!

An interesting note: When arguing for MI6, M tells C that you can't rely on drones and computers.  That sometimes you need a person to pull the trigger.  And he mentions that a license to kill is also a license to NOT kill, and when you look your target in the eye, you have to be able to make that distinction.  It's cool that the film ends on that note, with Bond standing over the injured Blofeld, pointing a gun at his head.  While Blofeld eggs him on to "finish it," Bond clears his weapon, then comments, "Out of bullets."  He made the choice not to kill, even though he had every right to.  And that's the distinction between 00 agents and intelligence officers sitting safely behind a computer.

James Bond, having stopped Blofeld, has to make the hard choice

The title theme song, named "Writing's On the Wall," was performed by Sam Smith.  Despite being a softer song, it's pretty emotionally impacting.  Not like the soft, love ballad theme songs from the late '70s/early '80s.  I really enjoy it, even if the artist's singing voice is so high, I can't sing along without dropping two octaves.  You can listen to it here:

RECOMMENDATION:
This film had a good mix of classic Bond and modern Bond that I really enjoyed.  We got to see SPECTRE and Ernst Stavro Blofeld again, plus their secret headquarters.  The stakes are higher, as SPECTRE has agents embedded everywhere and are taking over governments and intelligence communities.  This film brings the rebooted James Bond full-circle, giving a solid origin story for the character and his nemesis.  If you're a big fan of the James Bond franchise like I am, you can't miss this film!

Now unfortunately, Daniel Craig's final film as James Bond was due to be released this month (April 2020), but due to COVID-19 messing up all our lives, the film was pushed back to November 2020.  I was hoping to do this entire marathon to catch up with the Bond series so I'm primed for the latest (and last Craig) film.  But sadly, this is where we have to leave off for the next half year.  When No Time to Die (2020) releases in November, I'll be sure to review it for you all.  Until then, I hope you've enjoyed reading my reviews!

Skyfall (2012)

The James Bond marathon is almost over!  Today, we review the official Bond film #23: Skyfall (2012).

SYNOPSIS:
James Bond (Daniel Craig) and fellow agent Eve (Naomie Harris) pursue a man who stole a list of MI6's undercover agents.  But Bond is shot and presumed dead while the man escapes with the list.  A few months later, agents' real names and their undercover names start popping up on the Internet, and MI6 is bombed.  The target of the attack appears to be M (Judi Dench), by someone from her past.  Her authority is brought into question by Gareth Mallory (Ralph Fiennes), the new Chairman of the Intelligence and Security Committee.  Bond, who has been recovering from his "death" on a beach somewhere, returns to MI6 to find whomever stole the list and save the lives of more agents.  But he's a dying breed; the Minister of Defence wants to put an end to MI6.  The age of spies and hiding in the shadows appears to be over, and with her agency compromised, M turns to the one person she knows she can trust: James Bond.

REVIEW:
There are some minor spoilers in this review, clearly marked so you can skip over them if you like.  With the rebooted films telling a continuing story, it's hard to give a review without dropping some spoilers, as the next film develops off of the previous story.

This film returns to the great storytelling style of Casino Royale.  We get an engaging struggle to start out the film, until Bond is shot and presumed dead.  Months later, the stolen hard drive with the list of undercover agents is finally decrypted and they start popping up on the Internet, 5 names a week.  Feeling partially responsible, Bond returns to MI6 to finish what he started.

Bond, having been shot, drifts unconscious down a river

Bond uses bullet shrapnel in his shoulder to help identify the man who stole the hard drive, then traces his location to find where the list has gone.  His trail eventually leads him to Raoul Silva (Javier Bardem), a rogue agent who uses modern-day technology to make his own secret missions.

Raoul Silva, tempting Bond with a new life away from MI6

There's a running theme throughout this film, that M and Bond are old-fashioned and outdated.  Mallory tells Bond that the spy business is "a young man's game." M is berated by the Minister of Defence for believing that we still live in a "golden age of espionage, where human intelligence was the only resource available."  The world is changing and spies in the field is an antiquated concept now.  So both "old dogs" have to fight, on both sides of the fence, to preserve their way of life.

I like that we get a little more background into Bond's past.  Looking for a safe place to lay low, Bond and M travel to the house Bond grew up in, a lodge in the highlands of Scotland named Skyfall.  We learn that his parents, Andrew and Monique Delacroix Bond died when Bond was a child.  MI6 recruited him and he never returned to Skyfall Lodge.  The next film will explore Bond's past a little bit more, but we'll discuss that in the next review.

M and Bond arrive at Skyfall Lodge, Bond's ancestral home

Bill Tanner (Rory Kinnear), MI6's Chief of Staff, returns to the series.  He made a very brief appearance in the previous film, Quantum of Solace (2008), but he played a bigger role in Skyfall (2012) as M's aide.  He was a regular character in Ian Fleming's novels, but the films have rarely ever used him.  Rory Kinnear is the longest-running actor as Tanner, having played him three times now (once more in the next film).  It looks like the Bond film releasing this year will also have him playing Tanner, so he's got a longer-lasting role in the new series than Felix Leiter, Bond's CIA friend.

Bill Tanner, keeping an eye on M

Q (Ben Whishaw) makes his debut in this film!  Q is now a young tech-savvy kid, who issues Bond a new Walther PPK with handprint recognition technology, so only he can fire it.  He also gives Bond a tiny radio transmitter that sends a distress signal when activated.  Q is also shown to be a computer whiz.  When confronted with a near-impossible encryption to hack, he claims there's only 6 people in the world who can create safeguards like that.  When Bond asks if he can do it, he proudly states that he's the one who invented them.

The new, young Q, hacking an un-hackable computer

Random trivia: Ben Whishaw stated that, despite playing the tech-savvy Q, he actually is very anti-technology in his personal life, not owning a computer or anything.

SPOILERS AHEAD: Skip the next paragraph if you don't want to read it.

The end of this film is both tragic, but also uplifting.  Bond stops Silva from killing M, but M is already mortally wounded from a stray bullet.  She dies in Bond's arms while looking up at him, claiming, "I did get one thing right."  Back at MI6, Mallory takes over as the new M, having his own office styled very much like the classic M from old James Bond films.  Eve, who was doing office work for Mallory, is hired on as his personal assistant.  She was the one who accidentally shot Bond in the opening of the film, so she's spent most of the film pulled from field work, doing administrative duty for Mallory instead.  She wanted to go back to the field, but admits at the end that Bond was right - not everyone is cut out for field work.  Bond says that they haven't been formally introduced yet, and she gives her full name - Eve Moneypenny.  So we have our new Moneypenny!  And a bit of backstory as to why she and Bond have a flirtatious relationship that never goes anywhere.

END OF SPOILERS.

When Bond first met Q, it was at an art gallery, where the two were staring at a painting of a beautiful old warship being towed in for scrap.  It was a symbol for Bond being relieved of duty for being old-fashioned.  The British government is in talks about dissolving MI6, and only Bond and M are really fighting the potential change.  At the end of the film, Bond is standing in M's office, and you can clearly see a large painting on the wall between them, of warships going back out to service; a symbol of Bond returning to duty for good.

An old warship being towed for scrap VS warships returning to duty

The self-titled theme song was performed by Adele and it is beautiful!  I read about her discussing the song and how she felt nervous that she wouldn't be able to make a Bond song befitting the series.  She was told that she was hired to write her style of music, so she should just make it her own.  Inspired, she wrote a song that personally moved her, and it turned out amazing.  Interesting trivia: She was pregnant when she wrote the song, and the pregnancy hormones made her singing voice deeper at the time.  She said she's unable to sing Skyfall now, because it's too low for her normal voice.  You can hear the song here:

RECOMMENDATION:
This is a brilliant return to form, introducing us to the wonderful world of James Bond that Casino Royale (2006) set up, while also expanding on that world and tying it in to the classic James Bond world a bit.  This was definitely an emotional film, and a good continuation for the series. I highly recommend watching it, if you haven't already!

Quantum of Solace (2008)

Today, the James Bond marathon brings us to the very first direct sequel of a Bond film: Quantum of Solace (2008), the 22nd film in the official series.

SYNOPSIS:
James Bond (Daniel Craig) and M (Judi Dench) question the mysterious Mr. White (Jesper Christensen), who informs them that the secret organization he belongs to has people everywhere.  Proving his point, M's personal bodyguard turns on the agents in the room, causing a commotion that allows Mr. White to escape.  Determined to find out more about this mysterious organization that blackmailed Vesper and got her killed, James Bond pursues a trail that leads him to Dominic Greene (Mathieu Amalric), an environmental philanthropist who's also a high-level operative in a secret and highly-influential organization called Quantum.  Through Greene and Quantum, Bond gets closer to learning about the secret organization that's infiltrating governments and threatening to control the world.

REVIEW:
There will be light spoilers in this review.  I will mark them so you can skip over them if you want.

This film picks up shortly after Casino Royale (2006) ended.  Bond is being pursued in his Aston Martin DBS by several cars, with their passengers shooting at him.  Managing to evade them, he pulls in to a secret location in Siena, Italy and pops his trunk to reveal Mr. White, held captive.  M and some other MI6 personnel are waiting to interrogate him, but he taunts them with the fact that they didn't even know his organization exists.  As explained in the synopsis, he escapes thanks to an embedded agent of his organization, and disappears.

Mr. White, being interrogated by M and James Bond

This film is not only the first direct sequel of a Bond film, continuing the story from the first film, but also the first Bond film to not start out with the famous gun barrel scene.  Instead, it's been moved to the very end of the film.  I think they did that for better flow of the story.  Interrupting a gritty, dark storyline for a random gun barrel scene seems kind of out of place.

James Bond is chastised by M for killing everyone he comes across.  They want to question people so they can gather more intel about Quantum, but Bond keeps killing anyone who puts up a fight.  M herself gets reprimanded for having a loose cannon for an agent and is told to bring him in, or else the Americans will put him down.  She cancels all his passports and credit cards, forcing him to meet René Mathis (Giancarlo Giannini) for a hook-up.  Mathis has been cleared of all accusations from the previous film and was given a nice property to retire on as an apology.

Mathis explaining to his girl why she shouldn't give Bond fine wine

When Bond refuses to come in, M sends Strawberry Fields (Gemma Arterton) to retrieve Bond and bring him home, by force if necessary, but Bond continues his determined path toward Quantum.  Eventually, M is forced to come herself and attempt to take him in, but Bond escapes MI6 control, determined to discover Quantum's plan and put a stop to it.

The appropriately-named Strawberry Fields

Something interesting about this film is that the line between good guys and bad guys is blurred.  M and James Bond both see this secret organization as a threat to their very existence as a secret  intelligence service.  But governments look more at the "big picture."  They're told that Dominic Greene is buying supplies for oil pipelines and will provide them with a fraction of whatever he finds.  He's even working with the CIA who want a cut of his oil finds.  The British Foreign Secretary (Tim Pigott-Smith) tells M, "Say you're right... Say Greene is a villain.  If we refused to do business with villains, we'd have almost no one to trade with."  Between the Russians and Americans claiming every bit of oil they can find, England is willing to do deals with shady people if it'll give them valuable resources.  So Bond pursuing him is putting the government at risk.

Regardless of how frustrated she is with Bond, M continues to support his decision, deciding that she trusts his judgment more than anyone else.  With potential moles throughout her organization, she needs to have faith in someone, and the one person going against the grain and fighting to uncover this mysterious organization in opposition to MI6 is the one person she can trust.

As I mentioned previously, the Americans are hunting James Bond because he's a liability.  They're trying to do a deal for oil with Dominic Greene, and Bond is interfering.  Specifically, we see two CIA agents working with Greene - Gregg Beam (David Harbour), and Felix Leiter (Jeffrey Wright).  Bond meets with his buddy Felix to request information on Greene, but their exchange is short, as the CIA is sending in a team to take out Bond.  They're pissed because Bond offered to let them take in Le Chiffre in Casino Royale (2006), but he ended up dead.  Now Bond is leaving a trail of bodies everywhere, and he's after Greene.  Leiter, not convinced that Greene will benefit America's goals, helps point Bond in Greene's direction before the CIA shows up to take Bond down.

Felix Leiter and James Bond, sharing intel over a couple beers

Also along for the ride is a woman named Camille Montes (Olga Kurylenko), who is determined to kill General Medrano (Joaquín Cosío), who Greene's organization, Quantum, is establishing as the next president of Bolivia.  The General murdered her family when she was a child, so she wants revenge.  Her existence in this film is almost pointless, except to give Bond someone to work alongside in the field.  Their separate goals bring them to the same end, and Bond is able to guide the young lady toward satisfying her revenge.  Maybe he understands her plight, what with his ultimate goal being revenge as well.

Camille Montes, meeting General Medrano for the first time since childhood

SPOILERS AHEAD: Skip the next two paragraphs if you want to avoid them.

The thing is, Dominic Greene is fooling everyone.  The plot of land he's acquiring in Bolivia has no oil.  Instead, he's building underground dams to dry up the aquifers, creating a water shortage.  His organization, Quantum, has deposed the previous president of Bolivia and they're putting General Medrano in place as the new president, only asking for this chunk of "useless" land in exchange.  Once the General is appointed, Greene informs him that his organization now owns 60% of all water in Bolivia and the General will sign a contract making them the exclusive water utilities supplier for the nation, or else they'll depose him too and find a new guy to take his place.  Of course, Bond shows up and eventually captures Greene.  He interrogates him, then dumps him in the middle of the desert with only a can of oil.  He bets Greene that he'll walk 20 miles before considering drinking it.

Using the intel he got from Greene, Bond tracks down Vesper's boyfriend in Russia.  In Casino Royale (2006), M explains to Bond that her boyfriend was kidnapped and she was blackmailed into doing what the secret organization requested, or else they'd kill him.  But Bond learned that the boyfriend was actually a member of the organization himself, manipulating the emotions of intelligence members to gather intel.  When Bond finds him, he's dating a Canadian intelligence officer.  Bond informs her that her boyfriend will "go missing" and she'll be blackmailed to give up state secrets to save him. He also points out the Algerian love knot necklace she's wearing, saying he gave it to Vesper too, and she's now dead.  He lets the girl leave and she thanks him.  Despite having found the man responsible for Vesper's betrayal and eventual death, Bond shows a surprising amount of restraint.  He doesn't kill him; instead handing him over to MI6 to deal with.  When M asks if he'll come back to MI6, he tells her he never left.

END OF SPOILERS.

Again, Q doesn't make an appearance, and Bond doesn't get any fancy gadgets.  His Aston Martin DBS V12 is beaten up by the end of the chase scene at the beginning of the film.  And he still carries his Walther P99 handgun.

The title of this film, Quantum of Solace (2008), is the name of a short story from Ian Fleming's 8th James Bond novel, "For Your Eyes Only."  The short story's name is the only thing pulled from the novel; the story itself is told to Bond by a man at a dinner party, about a failed marriage and how, when the "quantum of solace" drops to zero, humanity and consideration of one human for another is gone and the relationship is finished.

Interestingly, the epilogue of this film is similar to another short story in a James Bond novel.  "Octopussy and The Living Daylights," the 14th and final Ian Fleming novel, had a short story titled, "007 in New York," where Bond travels to America to warn an MI6 agent that her boyfriend is actually a KGB agent.

This film is the last one (so far) to pull its title or story from a previous James Bond novel.  Of all the novels Ian Fleming released (two posthumously), there are only four short story titles that have not been used as movie titles yet. They are Risico, The Hildebrand Rarity, The Property of a Lady, and 007 in New York. Although the last one's plot was similar to this film's ending, and The Property of a Lady was the name of the Fabergé egg in Octopussy (1983).

Continuing the trend that the previous Bond film started, this film's main theme song also isn't named after the movie.  It's titled, "Another Way to Die." It was written and produced by Jack White and performed by him and Alicia Keys. The rest of the soundtrack for the film was written by David Arnold.  Honestly, I'm not a fan of this main theme song.  It's energetic and exciting, but just feels... off for a James Bond film.  You can listen to it here:

RECOMMENDATION:
Despite doing well in the box office, this film got a lot of criticism.  Watched in sequence with Casino Royale (2006), it makes sense.  But on its own, it just feels odd.  There are a lot of references to the previous film that you may not remember or understand if you didn't watch them together.  Overall, Casino Royale (2006) was a brilliant film that used great storytelling to keep you engaged, with action as needed to drive the plot.  Quantum of Solace (2008), on the other hand, feels like it tried to go back to the old action flicks.  Lots of explosions and shaky camera scenes, and scattered exposition all over the place.  I've seen it maybe 3 or 4 times now, and watching it in conjunction with the previous film, I think I finally understand the whole plot.  I'd recommend watching it as an extended storyline to Casino Royale (2006), not as a stand-alone film.

Casino Royale (2006)

Welcome back to the James Bond marathon!  Casino Royale (2006), official Bond film #21, is the start of a rebooted series starring Daniel Craig.

SYNOPSIS:
Brand-new 00 agent, James Bond (Daniel Craig), prevents a terrorist from blowing up a brand-new airplane.  MI6 learns that Le Chiffre (Mads Mikkelsen), a known banker of terrorist organizations, lost millions betting against the stocks for the new plane and then quickly set up a high-stakes poker game.  They conclude that he bet his client's funds on the stock market and is desperate to win back the money before his clients notice.  M (Judi Dench), knowing Bond's the best poker player in MI6, assigns him to attend the poker game and clean out Le Chiffre, expecting his angry and violent clientele to take care of him afterward.  She also sends Vesper Lynd (Eva Green), MI6's accountant, to bankroll Bond and pose as his wife.  Will Bond have the skill needed to win a $150 million poker game against a genius player, or will MI6 end up directly financing terrorism?

REVIEW:
This review will have spoilers, just because I want to discuss this film's plot in depth, plus the book it's based on.

This film is absolutely incredible!  The music, cinematography, story, character development... everything about this film is perfect!  This is my all-time favorite Bond film.

It opens in black-and-white, with James Bond earning his 00 status.  To qualify, an agent needs two official kills on his record.  Bond has already killed one, whom we see him struggle with in a flashback.  The second is Dryden (Malcolm Sinclair), Section Chief of MI6.  M learned he was selling secrets and sends Bond to finish him off.  Ending the opening sequence is Bond's first kill, whom he didn't quite finish off, attempting to pull a gun on Bond.  Bond turns and shoots him in a perfect transition to the official gun barrel scene we see at the start of every Bond film.

A modernized version of the classic gun barrel opening, tying in to the plot this time!

What I love about this rebooted James Bond is that he's not just a witty, charming, attractive man who can talk his way in and out of every situation.  His character more closely resembles the dark, gritty, brooding man that Ian Fleming created in his original James Bond novels.  He's highly intelligent, constantly surprising M by sneaking into her apartment, finding out her real name, and using her credentials while hacking into MI6's network from across the globe.  His skill and resourcefulness is so unnerving that M has a tracking chip implanted in his arm to keep tabs on him.

Not the first time this Bond will have a tracking device embedded in his body by MI6...

This James Bond is also arrogant and cocky, betting heavily on his skill to overcome any situation he's in.  It's something I've noticed about past Bond films; his real name and code name (007) are known to everyone, even enemies he's never met, which you would think makes him a terrible spy.  And in a sense, you're right - a good spy is never known and able to sneak in and out undetected, while still obtaining the information they came for.  But James Bond is different.  He doesn't want to waste time on stakeouts or following clues and analyzing intel.  He's very good at piecing together information on the fly and he'd rather confront his enemy face-to-face and lay the (figurative) cards on the table in order to pressure his foe and catch them off-guard, rather than do the "proper" spy way of staying in the shadows.  And he's incredibly good at it.  When time is not on his side, sometimes exposing himself to his enemy gets him what he needs to know much faster than taking the time to research and confirm from a distance.

Bond teasing Le Chiffre with his real name

In Casino Royale (2006), Bond partly explains this to Vesper.  They arrive to their hotel under a pseudonym, but Bond gives his real name to the hotel clerk, telling them his reservation is under the pseudonym name.  He tells Vesper that if Le Chiffre is that well-connected, then he already knows who Bond is and where his money's coming from.  But he's willing to play anyway, so it tells Bond that he's either desperate or overly-confident.  And all he gets in exchange is a name he already has.  Vesper shoots back that now Le Chiffre knows something about Bond - that he's reckless.  Which is very true.

Bond enlists some local help, a fellow MI6 agent named René Mathis (Giancarlo Giannini), who ensures that local corrupt officials are kept off Bond's back while he plays poker.  Also, when Bond bets the last of his money and loses, a fellow player from the table introduces himself, saying they're "related." We're introduced to Felix Leiter (Jeffrey Wright), a "brother from Langley," also after Le Chiffre.  He cuts a deal with Bond: he'll stake Bond so he can continue playing, as long as Bond agrees to let the CIA take Le Chiffre in after Bond's cleaned him out.  He offers to let Bond keep the $150 million winnings, saying, "Does it look like we need the money?"

Felix Leiter, CIA, makes his return for the reboot!

This film is relatively loyal to the original novel it's based on.  Casino Royale was the very first James Bond book, published by Ian Fleming back in 1953.  Unlike the exciting action scenes that we witness in the film, there's actually very little action in the book.  Most of the novel takes place at the card table, playing Baccarat Chemin-de-fer instead of the film's poker.  Le Chiffre is an agent of SMERSH.

As you may recall from one of my earlier reviews, I mentioned that SMERSH was an actual Russian organization in the mid-40s. It's name was a portmanteau: Смерть шпионам (SMERt' SHpionam, a.k.a. "Death to Spies"). Coined by Joseph Stalin, it was intended to be a counter-intelligence agency, protecting the Red Army from infiltration and internal conflict. Ian Fleming included a fictional version of SMERSH as his international terrorist organization in his novels, up until he wrote Thunderball, where the new acronym SPECTRE took over as their new name.

Main Directorate of Counter-Intelligence "SMERSH"

In the Casino Royale novel, Le Chiffre is desperate to make up his money after a chain of his brothels in France were shut down by a new law.  When Bond cleans him out, he kidnaps Vesper and causes Bond to crash his Bentley while in pursuit.  Taking them to his villa, Le Chiffre proceeds to physically torture Bond's genitals while demanding to know where the check with the winnings has gone.  When Bond shows no signs of giving in, Le Chiffre begins to mentally torture him, explaining what his men might be doing to Vesper in the other room.  But then a SMERSH agent bursts in and shoots Le Chiffre.  He tells Bond that he has no orders to kill him, but that SMERSH are only known to give mercy by chance or by mistake.  He carves a Russian Cyrillic "Ш" (SH) into Bond's hand, marking him as a spy in case any other SMERSH agents come across him.  Then he leaves and Bond passes out.

Waking up two days later in a hospital, Bond is nursed to health by Vesper.  They go off on a vacation in France 3 weeks later, and romance blooms.  Bond considers leaving MI6 and marrying Vesper, living a happy life and starting a family with her.  But then a SMERSH agent by the fake name "Adolph Gettler" starts shadowing Vesper, making her super paranoid.  He's a German man with a glass eye patch monocle.  Bond catches her acting suspicious and making secret phone calls, so he questions her.  She insists that she'll tell him everything in the morning.  They make love and Bond retires to his own room.

The next morning, Vesper is found dead in her bed, overdosed on pills.  She left a note for Bond, stating that she was forced to be a double agent for the Russian Ministry of Internal Affairs. SMERSH had kidnapped her boyfriend who served as a pilot for the Polish Royal Air Force, and was blackmailing her to sabotage Bond's mission.  When she fell for Bond, she thought she could run away with him and start over, but Gettler's presence told her she'd never be free, and she was only putting Bond at risk.  Steeling his heart, Bond calls up his liason officer and tells him, "The bitch is dead now."

The film follows this plot pretty closely.  Bond cleans out Le Chiffre, Vesper is then kidnapped, and while in pursuit, Bond wrecks his car when he finds a tied-up Vesper lying in the road.  They're picked up by Le Chiffre's men and brought to a rusty, abandoned ship, where Vesper is led off into another room.  Bond is stripped of his clothes and forced to endure torture to his genitals by Le Chiffre.  Despite clearly suffering, he continues to joke with Le Chiffre about his attempts to "scratch his balls" for him, and Le Chiffre, clearly frustrated, pulls a knife and goes in to castrate Bond.  Before he can, though, Mr. White (Jesper Christensen), a man who's been silently hanging out in the background of the film, bursts in.  Le Chiffre promises he'll get the money and Mr. White informs him that money isn't as important to their organization as loyalty.  He shoots Le Chiffre in the head and Bond passes out.

I can FEEL this scene every time I watch this film. *Shudders*

Bond wakes up in the hospital later, with Vesper and Mathis.  Le Chiffre had informed Bond earlier that Mathis was actually his friend and sold Bond out, so Bond has Mathis taken away by MI6.  When Bond recovers, he and Vesper run away to Venice together and live happily for a bit off some of the poker winnings.  Bond tenders his resignation from MI6, planning to run away and salvage what's left of his humanity with his love for Vesper.  She goes to the bank to pull some more money and Bond gets a call from M, saying that Vesper still hasn't paid back MI6 the money they staked in the game.  Getting suspicious, Bond calls the bank to find that all the winnings are being withdrawn as they speak.  He tracks down Vesper and finds her exchanging the briefcase of money with a man with one eye and some lackeys.  Bond pursues them and kills everyone, but Vesper locks herself in an elevator, which sinks into the water.  She lets herself drown while Bond desperately tries to save her.

Vesper saying her goodbyes as she drowns

M later informs Bond that Vesper was the one who sold out Bond, not Mathis.  Her boyfriend was kidnapped and she was being blackmailed.  M offers to give Bond some more time, but he asks why would he need more time?  Bond tells M, "The job's done, and the bitch is dead."  Browsing her phone, Bond finds a brief message she left for him, naming Mr. White.  Bond shows up at Mr. White's house and shoots out his knee before introducing himself.  And... the rest will be told in the next film.

Blow out kneecaps first, then introductions

Sadly, there's no Q in this film, nor the next.  Bond's only equipment is a 2006 Aston Martin DBS V12, which comes with a Walther P99 handgun with silencer, and a defibrillator.  He also wins a 1964 Aston Martin DB5 from a poker game earlier on in the film, a nod to his classic car from Goldfinger (1964).  This will become his personal car for the rest of the Daniel Craig era.

2006 Aston Martin DBS V12 (left) and 1964 Aston Martin DB5 (right)

Personally, I think Daniel Craig is the best James Bond.  Which is interesting, considering there were protests and boycotts of the series announced when he was picked for the role.  Most people didn't think the blond, waxed Australian man could pull off the character, but all judgment stopped after Casino Royale (2006) released.  He dominated the role, and made the best Bond we've had yet!  I don't think we've had a truly bad Bond throughout this entire franchise, but Daniel Craig just fits the profile best.  I'm a big fan of the original novels, and Daniel Craig's Bond is about as close as we've ever come to matching Ian Fleming's interpretation of Bond, both in personality and in appearance.  I'm really going to miss him after his final Bond film releases later this year.  I don't know how the franchise is going to move on from him.

Daniel Craig's resemblance to Ian Fleming's interpretation of James Bond is uncanny!

The opening theme for this film is one of my favorites, both in music and the opening title sequence.  Breaking from the (usual) tradition of naming the song after the movie's title, this song is called "You Know My Name."  It was performed by Chris Cornell.  The rest of the film's soundtrack was written by David Arnold, who also helped Chris Cornell write the film's theme song.  You can view the opening title sequence here:

RECOMMENDATION:
This is a fantastic re-imagining of the James Bond franchise, starting off strong by telling the original James Bond novel's story.  Everything about this film works so well.  It takes the relatively boring concept of watching people play cards for several days and makes it interesting and enjoyable.  I was on the edge of my seat throughout this film, and to me, this is the pinnacle of James Bond on the big screen.  You have to check this one out!

Die Another Day (2002)

The James Bond marathon continues, but an era comes to an end (both for Pierce Brosnan and the James Bond franchise as a whole) with today's film: Die Another Day (2002).

SYNOPSIS:
James Bond pursues a corrupt North Korean officer, Colonel Moon (Will Yun Lee), who is illegally trading African conflict diamonds for weapons.  Bond succeeds in killing the man, but is captured by his father, General Moon (Kenneth Tsang), who proceeds to torture Bond for 14 months in a North Korean concentration camp.  Bond is released in exchange for Zao (Rick Yune), Colonel Moon's right-hand man.  Despite his 00 status being revoked, Bond escapes MI6's security and goes rogue, pursuing Zao.  The trail leads him to British billionaire Gustav Graves (Toby Stephens), who is about to unveil a massive satellite called Icarus that, using diamonds, can concentrate the sun's rays to provide sunlight 24/7 on a particular location.  Or refract light like a magnifying glass on an ant...

REVIEW:
This is the 20th official James Bond film, which released during the 40th anniversary of the franchise.  As such, it is littered with tributes to previous James Bond films.  We get everything from glimpses of old gadgets, to musical cues from the classic films, to reinvented classic weapons.  Even the plot is partially recycled from the old Diamonds Are Forever (1971) film, where stolen diamonds are being turned into a satellite doomsday weapon.  But instead of creating a high-tech laser weapon using the sun like that film, this new film just refocuses the sun into a powerful mile-thick death ray.  I could write several pages explaining all the tributes and easter eggs in this film, but I won't because I already have a lot to discuss.  You can look up all the connections to previous Bond films elsewhere on the Internet.  I'm sure there are lists made by hardcore fans out there.

The character Wai Lin, played by Michelle Yeoh in Tomorrow Never Dies (1997) was originally supposed to make her return in this film.  As a matter of fact, Barbara Broccoli, the producer who currently owns the movie rights to James Bond, wanted a whole spin-off espionage series focused on her, but MGM Studios eventually pulled the plug on the idea, insisting that EON Productions press forward with the next Bond film instead of worrying about spin-off titles.  Barbara was apparently furious at the decision, but tried to get Wai Lin back into the franchise in the Hong Kong scene in Die Another Day (2002).  But the idea fell through at some point, and they created a new Chinese Intelligence agent to assist Bond instead.

You could've had a female Asian James Bond-type!  But nooo...

R (John Cleese) from the previous film has now taken over Q-Branch as the new Q; suggesting that the former Q (Desmond Llewelyn) has officially retired.  You may remember from my previous review, the 85-year old actor passed away in a traffic collision shortly after The World is Not Enough (1999) released.  The new Q provides Bond with a sonic agitator ring that can shatter glass when twisted.  He also provides a new car.  Going back to the classic brand name, Bond gets an Aston Martin Vanquish V12; dubbed the "Vanish" by Q.  It's decked out with optic camouflage, allowing it to literally become invisible to the naked eye. (Yes, Bond now drives the car version of Wonder Woman's invisible jet. Strap in; we're just getting started with the over-the-top antics.)  It also comes with hood-mounted guns that track and shoot any fast-moving projectiles in front of it, front-firing rockets, and as a tribute to the classic Aston Martin DB5 from Goldfinger (1964), an ejector seat on the passenger side.

Q introducing Bond to his new car.  No, really.  It's right there, on the platform.

When Bond gets around to using his car's gadgets, it's against Zao, who is driving a Jaguar XKR with almost identical weaponry as Bond's car.  Except he also gets to launch mortar shells.  They literally have a shoot-out while spinning and sliding and flipping their cars around on ice.  Probably the craziest car chase scene in any Bond film so far.  They even drive them through the villain's lair, which is a literal ice palace, while the villain is attempting to melt it with his solar beam.

Bond pressuring Zao, while their cars shoot at each other

Like I mentioned in the previous review, '90s action films were big on topping their previous film with the next one, and with this one being barely into the 2000s, it still had that same vibe.  To date, I'd wager it's the most over-the-top spectacle in a Bond film.  Definitely out-does any previous films on extreme action scenes.  There's a scene where Bond tries to out-run the space sunbeam in a jet-powered ski rocket, inadvertently setting a land-speed record.  When he runs out of flat space to travel on, and as the sunbeam quickly cuts a chunk of the glacier off, causing a massive tidal wave, Bond pulls a long panel off the rocket, pulls out the reserve parachute inside, and basically goes kite-surfing on the tidal wave to escape.

Looks more like an amateur DeviantArt painting than a big-budget CGI film

The CGI effects for that whole scene are a mess, and this film overall got a lot of negative attention.  Roger Moore, who previously played James Bond in the '70s-'80s, went on record saying, "I thought it just went too far – and that's from me, the first Bond in space! Invisible cars and dodgy CGI footage? Please!"  Still, despite the negative press, this film ended up the most successful James Bond film up until that point (adjusted for inflation).  And random trivia: the flight attendant who serves Bond his drink on his flight to London is played by Roger Moore's daughter, Deborah Moore.

Deborah Moore, Roger Moore's daughter.

Adding to the ridiculousness of this film is Zao, the North Korean who literally has shards of diamonds embedded in his face due to Bond blowing up a suitcase of them nearby Zao in the intro.  He attempts to go through reconstructive gene therapy, which will change his appearance and alter his DNA so that he's unrecognizable - the perfect way to blend in and disappear.  He answers to Gustav Graves, a British billionaire diamond mogul who is an adrenaline junkie and literally doesn't sleep, save an hour of rest under some bizarre light-emitting face mask every now and then.  The villains are just getting more and more extreme in their back stories.

Zao and Gustav Graves

This film actually introduced me to the whole Korean conflict.  I had just joined the US military a few months before this film released.  I had no idea that there was an ongoing conflict between the two Koreas until I heard about North Korea protesting this film for showing them as villains.  After watching the film, I thought the claim was absurd, considering the North Koreans were shown as very honorable, respectable people, while only two specific North Koreans ended up being the villains.  Innocent, young Coby didn't realize the extremes that North Korea goes to in order to preserve the perception of being absolutely perfect in every way!  6 years later, I would be stationed in South Korea and get the full history lesson on the Korean War and the armistice (a.k.a. temporary truce) that persists, even to this day.

And it's suiting that I'm reviewing this film today, as North Korea's current leader, Kim Jong-un is potentially in grave danger of dying after a cardiovascular surgery.  We'll see what new conflicts may arise if he passes away without a successor lined up.  It's gonna be absolute chaos in his isolated little police-state nation if he dies.  But I digress...

One very interesting addition to this film was the torture scenes.  James Bond is always cool and collected, finding his way out of trouble every time, but this film decided to show the reality of an agent caught by an oppressive nation.  Bond spends 14 months being tortured for information, abandoned by his own agency (as is standard policy; disavow all knowledge).  The only reason MI6 came to trade his life for another was due to intel claiming state secrets were being leaked from Bond's prison cell while he was the only inhabitant living there.  Assuming he cracked, they decided they needed to get him out of there.  Despite the grueling torture and the long, greasy hair and beard, Bond actually looks pretty damn good for spending over a year in a concentration camp.  I guess CGI wasn't good enough yet to make him look scrawny and malnourished.

Even I don't look this good, and I'm IN the military!

Once again, the soundtrack for this film is written by David Arnold.  The self-titled theme song is performed by Madonna and is quite different from other Bond film songs.  We also see Bond's torture scenes continue throughout the title sequence; the first time I can think of where a Bond film continued its story through its theme song.  It's also unique in that Madonna gets a brief cameo in the film as a fencing instructor.  You can watch the film's opening title sequence here:

RECOMMENDATION:
As previously stated, this celebration of the 40th anniversary of James Bond is also the end of an era.  The continuing storyline that's lasted these four decades comes to a halt (not an end) with this final film.  The next film will reboot the series, bringing a fresh new take to the classic 00 agent.  Watch this film if you want to see the most outrageous action flick in the entire Bond franchise!

The World Is Not Enough (1999)

The James Bond marathon continues!  Sorry for the late entry tonight; I tried watching the next film to get a head start on these reviews and I ended up putting myself way behind for today's review.  Today's Bond film is The World Is Not Enough (1999).

SYNOPSIS:
James Bond (Pierce Brosnan) retrieves stolen money for Sir Robert King (David Calder), an oil tycoon friend of M's (Judi Dench).  But it's booby-trapped and blows a hole in MI6!  Bond pursues the trail, leading to Renard (Robert Carlyle), a psychotic terrorist who can't feel anything, physical or emotional, due to a bullet in his brain - a failed assassination attempt from another 00 agent.  Renard previously kidnapped Elektra King (Sophie Marceau), the daughter of Sir Robert King, and held her for ransom before she managed to escape.  Fearing she may be the next target, Bond is sent by M to protect Elektra and her inherited oil pipeline.  But the more Bond gets to know the fearless Elektra, the more he fears that it's M who he should be protecting...

REVIEW:
The roles are reversed in this film; Bond is always told by M not to make it personal, but in this film, Bond is the one who remains neutral while M is the one who is personally invested.  The strong-willed M lets her emotions and motherly instinct take over rational thought and finds herself in the middle of the mission, putting herself in grave danger.

M captured!

It was cool to hear M tell Elektra that Bond was her best agent, although she claims she'd never tell him that.  He doesn't need a bigger ego than he already has.  It shows that she holds some level of respect for him, even if she lectures him all the time.  But also, M gets so close to the action in this film that she actually watches Bond face off with the villains.  Considering M has almost exclusively sat behind his/her desk in all previous films, getting to experience Bond in the field probably gives her a lot more respect for how he handles himself in a real crisis.  He's a cocky wise-ass in the office, but in the field, he gets the job done.

M having witnessed Bond make the hard choice to pull the trigger

Elektra was an interesting character; an innocent girl who was kidnapped and held for ransom.  When she felt like no one was coming to rescue her, she had to grow up and learn how to fend for herself, fighting her own way out of her captor's grasp.  When Bond comments on how she's refusing to lay low while her life's in danger, she points out that her competing oil pipeline makes her a target regardless and she's tired of hiding in fear.  She prefers to show the world she's not scared by standing in the spotlight, despite the numerous threats on her life.  It was an interesting take on a strong female lead; the traumatized woman forced to overcome terrible hardship.

Bond in a battle of wits with Elektra.  Who will break first?

Speaking of strong woman, Bond also meets a physicist named Christmas Jones (Denise Richards) who is very quick to resist Bond before he even gets a chance to lay on the charm.  Fortunately for her, the action picks up quick after their initial meet and Bond doesn't really get the chance to seduce her.  She spends her portion of the film mostly being the brains and helping Bond track and defuse a nuke.

Christmas Jones sizing up James Bond. She's no fool!

This film is Desmond Llewelyn's last role as Q.  Sadly, he passed away in a head-on collision shortly after this film released.  When Bond meets up with him, he's training a replacement Q (which Bond labels "R" (John Cleese)).  R does his best to be serious about his role, but Q treats him as more of an intern and has no problem testing Bond's gadgets on the hapless assistant.  The pair issue Bond a new fully-loaded BMW Z8 and a winter coat that has an emergency inflatable bubble that surrounds the wearer.  Q also berates 007 for stealing and destroying his high-tech boat earlier in the film, as he was designing it for his retirement.  Desmond Llewelyn's final scene in this film was a perfect send-off for his character, which you can view here:

Overall, it felt like this film was trying its best to top the previous one.  '90s action films were a time of over-the-top exploits, and each successor had to out-do the previous.  The action seemed almost comical in this film, with scenes like Bond being pursued down a snowy mountain by several Parahawks (hybrid para-glider/snowmobile) that just spawn out of thin air from above the mountain.  Also, we catch a glimpse of a helicopter with swinging saw blades underneath it, used for tree trimming.  Later on, two such helicopters appear out of nowhere and attempt to slice up Bond, destroying everything he attempts to take shelter in.  My wife and I couldn't help but laugh at the creativity (read: ridiculousness) of the expensive toys used against Bond, and the ensuing action scenes as Bond tries to overcome them.

Two creative and expensive toys used to attack James Bond

You may remember from my On Her Majesty's Secret Service (1969) review, James Bond did a little research into his own family lineage and found the real-world Sir Thomas Bond was his distant ancestor.  Sir Bond's real coat of arms has the Latin phrase "orbis non sufficit" (the world is not enough) emblazoned across it.  This "family motto" became canon in that previous film, and this film is titled after it, thus officially tying Pierce Brosnan's Bond to the previous actors' Bond roles.  Again, the Brosnan era was a modern soft-reboot of the character, but it still had ties to the original James Bond.  The next film will be an end to the Brosnan era, and also the end of the continuing James Bond adventures that began way back in Dr. No (1962).

Bond's family coat of arms from On Her Majesty's Secret Service (1969)

The self-titled theme song for this film was performed by the band Garbage.  Like the previous film, the entire soundtrack for this film was written by David Arnold.  He'd continue to write all of the music for the next 3 films too (except for one future title song).  You can hear The World Is Not Enough (1999)'s main theme here:

RECOMMENDATION:
This film was a fun watch, showcasing more of the '90s action-packed Bond with high stakes.  If you care more for explosions and last-minute saves, this is your type of Bond film!  Heck, even the poster below has Bond walking away from an explosion all cool-like.  I personally prefer the old-fashioned Bond flicks, but there's nothing wrong with getting a little adrenaline boost from a good action flick.  Check it out!