My Journey With James: Dr. No Through Thunderball

Netflix has a majority of the James Bond films and I have decided to watch them all starting at #1 and this is my journal. I don't want to so much review the films as just discuss them in a somewhat complicated stream of conscious on these first four films. Also, spoilers.

I didn't like From Russia With Love that much. I am not saying it was bad, it was just okay. It suffers from having a complicated plot with uninteresting characters, which is also true of Daniel Craig's second bond film, Quantum of Solace. The main villains of this film were rather boring compared to Bond's other antagonists. With Dr. No, Dr. No was acting behind the scenes the entire movie until the last act. At his super badass underground island base, which was a mix of island culture, Chinese people, and bizarre HazMat outfits, Dr. No was revealed to be a half German half Chinese super scientist who lost both of his hands in a nuclear accident that has now left him with bizarre and creepy super strong robot hands. He also dresses like a total weirdo. Now compare that to the bland crazy Russian lady or the silent assassin named Red from From Russia With Love and it is like comparing Rebecca Black to Michael Jackson.

Continuing on with badass villains, Auric Goldfinger from Goldfinger is a fat German gold smuggler whose plan is to "place an atomic device containing cobalt and iodine into Fort Knox, rendering the gold radioactive and useless for 58 years, increasing the value of his own gold and giving the Chinese an advantage resulting from the ensuing economic chaos." (1)  That's fucking insane. On top of all that, he has a henchman who kills people with a bladed hat. I have a very strong bias towards this film. It was the first James Bond film I ever saw and I watched it a young age and it has had a profound impact on me. Between the "I expect you to die, Mr. Bond" scene and the legendary scene where he kills a woman by covering her in gold, you cannot get much better than Auric in my opinion. Unfortunately, the ending of the film is lacking and kind of drags which is the opposite of Dr. No.

Gives me chills every time.

Moving on to the last film I watched, Thunderball. Right off the bat, this movie lets you know it's going to be bonkers. James Bond kills an assassin dressed as the grieving widow of the assassin himself and then to escape, Bond puts on a jetpack and flies away. From there is just escalates. The main villain, Emilio Largo, is an eye patch wearing, leather faced Italian man obsessed with sharks. The plot of film continues the insanity where Largo has an associate become the girlfriend of a NATO fighter pilot so that Largo could have another henchman get plastic surgery to look exactly like the fighter pilot to replace him on the test flight of a plane that has two nuclear missiles on it. Once hijacked, the plan is flown into the ocean (without destroying it mind you) using underwater landing lights. The plane is submerged to the bottom of the ocean where the missiles are removed and then the plane is covered with a camouflage net. And this is also orchestrated from a yacht that has a special door on the bottom of it for the missile carrying submarine thing. Then when you thought it could not get anymore bizarre, the end of the movie is an awesome 20 minute underwater fight with 50 men in scuba gear. 

So if I had to rank these 4 films I would have the following list:
1. Goldfinger and Dr. No - this debate still weighs heavily on my mind
2. Thunderball
3. From Russia With Love.

Works Cited
1. Goldfinder (film), Wikipiedia, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Goldfinger_(film)

Hey, It's Good: Batman Forever

I recently finished Batman: Arkham Asylum which spawned an insatiable Batman thirst forcing me to watch Batman Forever the other night. I feel like this film is unfairly lumped in with Batman and Robin as the Star Wars prequel of the Batman films. While Forever ditched the signature dark and moody tone of Tim Burton's Batman and Batman Returns, it brought a goofy fun comic book feel similar to the television series from the 60s. The film does not take itself seriously and is filled with over acting and comically implosible events which make for a fantastic ride.

Batman Forever stars Nicole Kidman as Dr. Chase Meridian, a psychiatrist who cannot seem to keep her pants on around Batman/Bruce Wayne played by Vil Kilmer. Kilmer's version of Bruce Wayne is hilarious and nonsensical mix of stoic attitude and cheesy one liners. The bizarre contradiction, or rather two faced personality, of Bruce Wayne surprisingly works in this movie. Kidman's hyper sexualized feelings towards Kilmer adds another layer of nonsense. Kidman's first reaction to Batman in the opening scene of the film is taken straight from a porn film as Kidman finds it difficult to ignore her carnal lust and maintain a modicum of professionalism at the crime scene. Chris O'Donnell plays Robin and is bad at it. The scenes with Robin are unbearable fits of 90s teenage angst. He has a leather jacket and earring, rides a motorcycle, and acts like a version of Bart Simpson who listens to Korn. Robin could easily be removed from this film. His story arc is small and has no impact on anyone else in the movie besides himself making me wonder if his inclusion in the film was an after thought.

The real dynamic duo.

But you do not go to a Batman movie to watch the good guys; you watch it for the bad guys. The two baddies of this film are the Riddler and Two Face, both of whom act like the Joker. I assume the creators were sitting around and were like "The Joker is a great character but imagine how awesome it would be if there were two!" Jim Carrey's portrayel of the Riddler is a clear homage to Frank Gorshin's Riddler from the TV series. I do not understand, however, where Tommy Lee Jones got his influence for his over the top portrayal of Harvey Dent (Two Face). Even though both characters were essentially the same person with a slightly different mental impairment, Carrey and Jones make a fantastic team. They both play off each other's own hammy acting and chew the scenery like bubble gum.

Introducing new bad guys into films means you have to explain their origin and this film thankfully does as little as possible to explain either of their origins and focuses on the actual plot of the film. Two Face's back story is literally a 10 second TV clip establishing why he has two faces and why he hates Bruce Wayne. The Riddler's is longer but ties importantly into the overall story of the film so it works.

A lot of the establishing shots are from this angle which were featured heavily in the 60's show.

While Carrey and Jones are fantastic, I think the style of the film is what makes the film so good. I love the way Gotham looks in this film; it is a mix of 40's pop culture and society with modern technology and Blade Runner neon lights and skyscrapers. The props, music, and action sequences, like Carrey, are call backs to the 60's TV show and that is why I love this film.

According to MetaCritic, this film averaged a 50%. I feel like this film suffers from the same thing Crank does and that is people just don't get it. It is by no means an instant classic or an important film of our time. It is, however, fun and I think that is just as important. This film was created to emulate Batman's past and it does so with flying colors.