DVD Review HTF REVIEW: "Die Another Day" Special Edition (HIGHLY RECOMMENDED) (with screenshots) (1 Viewer)

[John H Ross]

I think you're right. As much as I like Pierce Brosnan, I think your suggestion that he tries too hard is correct. Since Goldeneye he has seemed a little too "self-aware" of the role he is playing. The same can be said for David Arnold who's scores for TND, TWINE and DAD contain some of the most egotistical writing I have ever heard!

Timothy Dalton was brilliant and I wish he'd stayed longer in the role. I love both TLD and LTK for different reasons, and Dalton was excellent in both. TLK was a superb thriller, which is what Bond is supposed to be, and needs to get back to. This over-the-top action nonsense (with CGI no less!) is just pandering to the 18-25 crowd.

It's interesting that Dalton's fave Bond film is From Russia With Love, while Brosnan's is Goldfinger. I think you can see the difference in their own films...

John

 

[Luis S]

Dalton looked and acted like the ass-kicker Bond should be. Brosnan is to,I dont know wimpy?Pretty? I guess he does all right,but as Britton said Dalton had that deadly look about him. I wish he would have done more Bond films.:frowning:

Luis S

 

[Ken_McAlinden]

I think Pierce Brosnan is a fine Bond, but the writing on "Die Another Day" was the worst in terms of plot and dialog since "Moonraker". Were it not for game performances by everyone but the villains, it would have been a total disaster. I loved the way it started, too. It looked like they were going to take the franchise out of its comfort zone like with "License to Kill", but then all of a sudden it turned into "Batman & Robin" with sex.

Regards,

 

[Kip Lackey]

I've been meaning to chime in on this discussion. I think for me the "favorite" Bond idea comes from my first experience of seeing Bond in the theater. It was Roger Moore in "A View to A Kill". Oh, I love (and own) every other Bond film but this holds a special place because of the experience.

On Dalton: I like the grit he possesses. He can truly get pissed off and exude a vengeful side that adds to the Bond character. Maybe it's the situations he is placed in but he does that better than any other Bond actor.

All in all, I just truly enjoy the Bond franchise. I mean, 20 films. Just incredible. Sure there are some semi-rehashes and bad acting but the principle behind Bond is the same: extraordinary villians, hot women, fast cars, great gadgets, and the suave, debonair man who lives the life the rest of us men would love experience!

 

[Dan Hitchman]

Dalton coulda been a contenda! Really! Take a look at his villianous role in The Rocketeer he took after departing from the franchise. He chews up the scenery! Watch him as a youngster in The Lion In Winter. Great stuff! I've also seen him in films where he displays good comic timing as well. He's not a bad actor by any means.

I always wonder if Dalton was misguided by the new blood of directors of those early post-Moore Bonds into playing the role wrong?

Too bad.

I still like Moore's comic portrayal. In fact, he was one of the only Bonds to come from a Royal Shakespearian background (Dalton too). He had no idea how he wanted to play the role, but after reading some of Flemming's pot-boilers he chose to give it a "wink and a nod" to the books' cheesiness (women characters with "sex" dripping from their names, evil villians, etc.). He didn't think you should take it seriously, so the audience shouldn't either. Have some fun instead. Sean was definitely suave and uber cool, but a bit too "alpha-male" and overly serious (which worked sometimes, but not always).

The Spy Who Loved Me and From Russia With Love are my two all-time favorites-- guns, spies, babes, Q designed gadgets aplenty, witty dialog, memorable side-kicks, exciting chases, beautiful locales, SPECTRE and the KGB, and the wonderful Monte Newman 007 theme sprinkled throughout!

This new Bond film looks like it took its cue from xXx, than any previous Bond films. Dumb, dumb, dumb. And with crappy CGI in place of many real stunts (the staple of the franchise).

Why can't we get a mix of Moore and Connery and bring back SPECTRE (they've tried every other type of villian and this was his nemesis)?

Dan

 

[Bill>Moore]

I'm a little surprised to see so much fuss about the captions/subtitles. I think the only DVDs I've watched captions with might be the first couple of Trek ones with the text commentary. Do that many people watch these movies with subtitles or captions on a US relased film in 5.1?

As for EE, I never really noticed it. Or if I did, it was momentary and I didn't pay much attention. Yeah, I saw the stuff mentioned in the link about EE, but I had to sit there and look at a still picture. If it's moving and it's there for a few seconds, I'm sure I won't notice it nearly as much. Just something I'm not terribly worried about. You can assuredly bet that anybody I know wouldn't have the slightest idea what I was talking about if I brought it up.

I thought DAD was pretty entertaining. By this point, the franchise ain't what is used to be, but I liked the film a lot more than Goldeneye and The World Is Not Enough.

 

[Damin J Toell]

I'm a little surprised to see so much fuss about the captions/subtitles. I think the only DVDs I've watched captions with might be the first couple of Trek ones with the text commentary. Do that many people watch these movies with subtitles or captions on a US relased film in 5.1?

It's not standard subtitles for dialogue that are at issue, but text that appears on the screen, for example, to name a location. This text was part of the print when exhibited theatrically.

DJ

 

[Basi Nanda]

The only burned-in subs that MGM decided to leave alone were the ones that had a special key clicking sound associated with them (Example: chapter 30) giving an effect as if they were being typed by a computer. All other burnt-in subs were replaced by player generated ones.

My other pet peeves about this disc are:

1. Audio button not enabled. I would like to switch between audio tracks and the director's commentary using the audio button on the remote. Why is this simple thing not being enabled?

2. They could have used the angle button to switch the pop-up informational bubble text on and off.

3. Subtitle button not being enabled.

 

[Charlie Essmeier]

I bought this set today, and I'm astonished at how difficult they've made it just to sit down and watch the movie. I got past the fake cover, the shrinkwrap and the three "security" stickers. At least it wasn't padlocked.

It's a two disc set, so I figured I could just drop in the first one and watch the movie, preferably with the DTS track. Can I just press "play" and go? No. Well, perhaps there's a single "choose your audio" menu. Noooo, that's too easy. First, I've got a commercial. Then I've got to "activate" the disc. WTF? Activate the disc? What does that mean? That thing just sat there waiting to be "activated."

Then there are some menus that aren't too intuitive. Does MI6 Datastream contain the DTS selection menu? Maybe. After all, I'm interested in streaming data. But no, it's not there. Does Q Branch contain the hidden link to the DTS track? That's as good a place to look as any. No, it's not there, either. Where is it? It's hidden under "Language Decryption." Of course. I should have known. So I select DTS and hit enter. Can I watch the movie now? No, it wants to know if I want subtitles or not. I do not.

I finally get to see the film, with the DTS track. Oh, and they've thrown in a lipsync problem at no extra charge. Great. Back to the Dolby Digital track. At least I know where to look for it now. Stop. Play. Start over.

Honestly, could this format possibly be made any harder to use? Does anyone really enjoy plunking around with their remote to figure out how to find the most-needed features?

If they had more titles available in that format, I'd chuck my DVD player tomorrow and swap it for a D-VHS player. Anything to sit down, press "play" and watch the movie.

DVD has to be the least user-friendly audio or video format ever devised.

[/rant]

Charlie

 

[Basi Nanda]

DVD has to be the least user-friendly audio or video format ever devised.

It is really the fault of the DVD producer. There are so many good discs out there (Criterions, MI2 etc) which just show the menu as soon as you drop the disc in.

Charlie De Lauzirika has produced many fine DVDs for Ridley Scott before. I wonder what happened to him here with this disc.

I would like to hear Charlie's comments on this, as he is a member in this forum.

Edited to add:
As we know now, Mr. Lauzirika was not the producer of this disc. Please disregard the comments I made about him here.

 

[Basi Nanda]

BTW, the lip sync problem is not there on the DTS track of my disc.

Perhaps it is just a bad batch of DVDs?

 

[Derek Iverson]

Perhaps it is just a bad batch of DVDs?

Or the DVD player...

 

[Joshua_Y]

Then I've got to "activate" the disc. WTF? Activate the disc? What does that mean? That thing just sat there waiting to be "activated."

All 007 discs have this...

 

[James Reader]

They could have used the angle button to switch the pop-up informational bubble text on and off

Not when it's a subtitle!

 

[Basi Nanda]

Not when it's a subtitle!

James,
These are not subtitles. These are blue colored popup boxes and occassionally "incoming video transmissions" which take over the screen with interviews from actors etc. It would be nice to be able to turn this thing on or off using a button without having to navigate thru 10 different slow moving animated menus that test the limits of your patience.

 

[Charles de Lauzirika]

It is really the fault of the DVD producer. There are so many good discs out there (Criterions, MI2 etc) which just show the menu as soon as you drop the disc in.

Unlike most of the discs I've produced, my contribution to "Die Another Day" is limited strictly to the supplemental content. When you deal with a huge franchise like the Bond films, there are a lot of people who have a say over the way the disc is put together. I probably should have known better when I signed up for this disc, but my love of the Bond films blinded me to that. Believe me, I have problems with the final result as well -- but having said that, I still think "Die Another Day" is a fine disc.

 

[James Reader]

Basi, they are subtitles, that's why if you fast-forward the disc you cannot see them. If it was angles, you would see them. (and notice how subtitle track 10 is preselected when activated - one you cannot normally cycle through on your remote, as well as the subtitling selection being disabled when this feature is activated)

A subtitle on a DVD is a simple 4 colour bitmap which can, if need be, cover the whole of the screen. In practice, the maximum number of colours you will see on a subtitle is 3, as the 4th colour is always transparent. The boxes are semi-transparent as each colour can also have a transparancy value. I must admit, this is the best use of 'visual' subtitles I've seen, the fading in and out being particularly impressive.

(See the visual subtitles on "Ghostbusters" or the "MIB" discs, or the infinifilm selection on a New Line Infinifilm disc for other examples).

 

[Nelson Au]

I have not seen all the extras or used the text commentary feature yet, but so far, the only complaint I have is the ability to switch audio formats via the remote as is possible on past discs. I like to switch the audio commentary on and off on the fly rather then use the menu to get there.

I suspect it is due to the DTS capability on the disc and the issue is some may not have DTS, or the fear that the DTS track could damage some processors if activated while in DD mode. Just a guess.

 

[Basi Nanda]

I still think "Die Another Day" is a fine disc.

Charlie,

I definitely agree with that. It is the first 2 disc Bond special edition title with a DTS track, and I absolutely love it. I only wish that they could have avoided some of the easily avoidable flaws in it, such as the menu navigation and the removal of the burnt-in subs.

I am sorry I mistook you to be the producer. I love the work that you have done with all the Ridley Scott DVDs. When I saw your name in the supplemental material as the producer, I assumed that you might have been the producer of the DVD as well. I apologize.

 

[Basi Nanda]

Basi, they are subtitles

James,
I understand now. Thanks for the information.

So it is not possible for the producer to make this feature capable of being turned on/off via a button?