24 Season 1 (2001) -- Disc 1 (12:00 AM, 1:00 AM, 2:00 AM)

This is one of the coolest shows on TV. I even picked up a legit copy (think its a Japanese import) with subtitles, so I may show it to my classes. They love drama, and it's actiony enough that they won't be missing a lot if they miss some of the dialogue (it goes pretty fast).

This is a good example of how to do TV correctly. Even though I think the series Peters out a bit after the first season (I mean, how long can you maintain 24 hours as a theme? It gets old), and it is a clear propoganda bit for Homeland Security, but even so it is a really fun ride. The action is evenly spaced in the first three episodes, and the plot has lots of twists and turns, but it keeps them simple enough so you don't get too lost. The first time I watched this season, back with Matt in the States, I came in on about episode 5, so I didn't have a clue what was going on. Still, the plot was engaging and the acting good enough it didn't really matter.

Overall summary of the first three episodes: Jack Bauer, head of CTU-LA (Counter-Terrorism Unit) gets a call that an assassination attempt is going to be made the next day on the first potentially successful African-American presidential canidate. Throw in a subplot about his daughter sneaking out for the night and that he and his wife have just recently gotten back together after being seperated, and that Jack had an affair while seperated with his 2nd in command, Nina; and that Nina and Tony (another coworker) are seeing each other, and that there is a conspiracy inside CTU about the assassination, and that there is another corrupt guy in CTU Interal Affairs that dislikes Jack, and that Jack's daughter is kidnapped as part of the conspiracy... you get the idea.

Good, suspenseful spy vs. spy gig. Lots of American bravado (Jack is a bad business man, working for the good guys, and takes no shit from anyone. He also is a Patriot with a serious captial--if the rest of the word was in 12 point font, the "P" is in like 72 point), and a wonderful job of telling a story in a new and interesting way.

The one problem I saw was that in one of the scenes, Jack and Marshall (Jack's soon to be dead boss) are sneaking through a hallway with bad guys gunning for them, and you see a couple of the camera crew for a brief second at the edge of the screen. For shame, 24 production people. For shame.

Thunderball (1965) -- Bond 4

The movie makers of the Bond franchise hit the peak of their profession with Thunderball, and they knew it. Long considered to be the best Bond film, it has all the essential qualities of the franchise and a care for cinematography that the previous Bond films lacked. The quality of the film color is high, and the camera shots actually seem to be looking for something interesting to do, rather than the typical lack of concern that you see with filming in most early action movies. The underwater scenes in particular are one of the most beautifully filmed, and the final climatic fight scene between the US Coast Guard and the minions of Largo underwater near Miami is a very long, pretty scene with good choreography, no dialogue, with light, mood-appropriate music in the background accompanied by water noises and a few sound effects. It is brilliant. The opening scene is great too--we leap right into action as Bond slays a man with his own initials, a SPECTRE agent named Jaques Bouver. Bouver fakes his own death and then dresses as his widow, leading to Bond fighting a man in drag and killing him with a fire poker (and not by stabbing, but by using it to break Bouver's neck). The Bond escapes on a jetpack.

Bond is witty but not silly, the gadgets still don't get too carried away (although the jetpack is a little borderline), and the plot is pretty solid (with one glaring exception). Best of all, the villain, Emilio Largo, SPECTRE's number 2 man (later parodied in Austin Powers) is a cool enemy and a good foil for Bond. I thought it was particularly cool that the theme song of the movie could refer to either Bond or Largo, and Bond makes several comparisons to between the two men during the movie. Unlike the normal, "We are alike," speech that the villain gives in these sorts of movies, the hero gives it--or at least implies it--Bond knows he is sort of a bad man, even though he works for the good guys.

The basic plot (copied in the knock-off Never Say Never Again) is that SPECTRE steals two nuclear bombs from NATO and then blackmails the alliance for 100 million pounds or they'll nuke a British or American city. Ouch. Pretty solid scheme, except that there is one problem: no matter what you think of the warmongers in the US or among the other NATO old guard, they are paranoid and uptight about the security of atomic weapons. No one takes them on training flights, least of two of them. This was actually something that the remake addressed (although they went too far the other way; no matter how paranoid, the President of the USA does not directly command NATO, so his retina scan would not be required... I mean come on, that would be really clumsy, even for the military).

As I mentioned, the gadgets aren't too crazy. We see a jetpack, the car with bullet shield and rear-mounted pressurized water spray (although we see that Bond's car has a ton of switches, most of them are not used in this movie). SPECTRE has a "gamma gas" they use a couple of times and a motorcycle with super speed and a grenade launcher. There is a breathing appartus that strains water to make air for a few minutes, a mini flare gun, a radioactive pill that acts as a homing device, a wristwatch geiger counter, a camera geiger counter, an underwater camera with infrared film (heh--it holds only 8 shots), and a super scuba kit that has jet propulsion and harpoon guns attached. Largo's crew also have a bunch of underwater equipment, minisubs, and the like.

There are a lot of things to like about this movie. I like that SPECTRE's HQ is in Paris, hidden behind a philanthropic organization that helps refugees find citizenship in other countries. I also like the fact that SPECTRE plays all sides: they scheme against NATO, the Soviety Block, the Chinese, everyone. It is all about money and power, and they aim to control as much of both as possible. A lot of the spoofs from Austin Powers come from Thunderball, from #2 to the execution meeting table in SPECTRE HQ. I also like that SPECTRE may be evil and ruthless, but they value integrity and honor as much or more than "the good guys" do. The ransom they want is also cool: 100 million (at least) in small carat diamonds of the most common variety, to be air dropped in a sealed container into the South Asian seas. And Largo as the granddaddy of all evil things: sharks in a swimming pool. Sharks!

We also see NATO not fuck around either. When threatened with two nuclear bombs, MI6 gathers all the "00 numbers in Europe" together. I kind of wish they left out the "in Europe" part, because there are exactly 9 of them, which is a cool number (can you imagine: "I'm Smith, Roger Smith, 00230"?). Also, when the Coast Guard is chasing Largo's transforming yacht-hydrofoil at the end of the movie, they don't fritz around with talking to the bastard. He just tried to nuke Miami. They are out to blow his ass out of the water, and damn fucking right for doing so.

So far in this series of movies, Bond has been learning from movie to movie. In this one, he has a tape recorder hidden in a dictionary in his hotel room, so that he can check for people who have entered while he was away. He also has a lot of help: several people from the Bahamas office of MI6 help him out with logisitics, and Q makes a field trip to outfit 007. One of these grunt agents, a pretty woman named Paula, makes the ultimate sacrifice when she is captured by Largo, and commits suicide with a cyanide pill to avoid being tortured and questioned. CIA agent Felix Lieter is back again too, and appears particularly sloppy in this episode, although he does provide a lot of help too. M shows absolute trust in Bond as well, even when he is questioned by the Foreign Secretary and the British Air Force over Bond's opinions and hunches.

I'd have to say this is my 2nd favorite Bond film (with Casino Royale being my favorite). This was the moment of the Golden Age of James Bond in film. One interesting thing though; unlike the previous movies, Thunderball does not have a "James Bond will return in..." line at the end of the movie. They took a break from the yearly release schedule and didn't release You Only Live Twice until 1967.

Never Say Never Again (1983) -- Unofficial

While not one of the worst Bond films, Never Say Never Again isn't that much further from the bottom. An unofficial Bond film put out by Warner Brothers with Sean Connery against the rival, legitimate Roger Moore film Octopussy from United Artists in 1983, Never Say Never Again is essentially a knock-off and remake of the earlier Bond film (also starring Connery) Thunderball. The movie, sadly, falls into an uninspiring heap.

The plot involves SPECTRE stealing two nuclear warheads and then holding NATO blackmail for 25% of each member country's annual oil purchases. On going, I assume. Since this is completely out of the question, the only options are to either steal back, destroy, or otherwise neutralize the bombs or have SPECTRE make good on its threat and cause them to explode.

Sean Connery is looking a little gray to be playing 007 in this one. Other than that, he is the shinning star of an otherwise mediocre movie. Kim Bassinger plays Domino, the love interest of the SPECTRE villain in charge of the plot (incorrectly named #1 when he should be #2, but hey), Maximilian Largo. Mr. Bean even makes an appearance in the movie, as a bumbling bureaucrat in the Bahamas. There is also a guy from Q branch, but they don't call him "Q" and they give all manner of jabs at the gizmos he produces, making it sound like they backfire all the time instead of actually save Bond's kiester. Another recurring theme is Old Guard vs. New Blood, and how the free world is now being run by bumbling bureaucrats who believe in parsnip tea and massage therapy instead of the common sense approach of vodka martinis and storming the trenches of real heroes. The Q branch character even makes a comment, "Now that you're back, I hope we're going to have some gratuitous sex and violence."

At the end of the movie, Bond retires with Domino, while MI6 is begging to have him back on duty. Sigh. This movie isn't so bad as it just isn't very good. The magic of James Bond is missing from it. I mean, Connery is still the iconic look of the character, and has the right personality, but the whole mess around him seems detached from the mythos.

Goldfinger (1964) -- Bond 3

They really got on a roll with the early Bond films, announcing the next feature at the end of the current one. Dr. No told us to stay tuned for From Russia With Love, and that in turn told us to stay in our seats for Goldfinger, who didn't want to be left out, so it mentioned Thunderball.

Finally a break from the evil of SPECTRE, Auric Goldfinger is a criminal mastermind obsessed with gold (imagine that). Although he's British, he has a plan to break into Fort Knox and irradiate the gold stored there. In this task, he is assisted by the Chinese, who give him a low-yield nuclear device, and by a number of unwitting American mofiasos (whom are all killed by Goldfinger as part of his plan). The idea is to create economic chaos in the West (which China would dearly love) and to multiply Goldfinger's stockpiles of element Au.

To help in this scheme, Goldfinger has recruited Oddjob, a mute Korean the size of a mountain and twice as strong, with a lethal hat which he throws at his enemies. There is also an army of Asian workers in Goldfinger's factory in Switzerland, and I am uncertain if these are supposed to be Koreans (like Oddjob) or Chinese (like Mr. Ling, the atomic expert sent to help Goldfinger with "Operation Grand Slam"--the atomic bomb in Fort Knox). He also has Pussy Galore (WTF?) and her flying circus of hardbodied femmes.

This movie has it all: the introduction of the Aston Martin (replacing Bond's Bentley from the books) filled with spy gadgets like oil slicks and machine guns, the homing device and GPS tracker, and a laser "that can put a dot on the moon" or cut through metal plating and Bond. There is even a monologue/elaborate death trap for Bond when he is captured by Goldfinger (involving said laser), and the first true moments of the one-liner (which occured in From Russia With Love, but not as a standard device).

From Russia With Love (1963) -- Bond 2

The second Bond movie is a true sequel to Dr. No. Unbenownst to Bond and MI6, SPECTRE has set its sights on the Russian Lektor cipher machine. The why of this is a little unclear, although No. 1 (Ernst Blofeld, although his actual name is never mentioned except in the credits, with the faceless, cat-petting actor's name an intriguing "?") mentions at one point in the movie that he has made arrangements to sell it back to the Russians. SPECTRE also has another goal: seek revenge on MI6's most elite agent, James Bond, who six months prior had killed their operative Dr. No in Jamaica.

Blofeld has Colonel Krebb (No. 3) and Kronsteen (No. 5) working on this assignment. Krebb (you can see her inspiring the Frau Farbissina in Austin Powers) used to be in charge of SMERSH, the Russian counter-espianoge agency, but has recently defected to SPECTRE. Kronsteen is a world-class chess player and criminal mastermind. Between Kronsteen's plans and Krebb's knack at finding good talent on the ground, SPECTRE believes it can accomplish a great boon: ignite the Cold War into something more dangerous, gain a ton of cash, and kill James Bond.

There are several references to the first movie, including the foiling of Dr. No's plans, and Bond's ability to learn from past (like his use of a code phrase--which later gets him into trouble) but one of the most significant is the reintroduction of Sylvia, a woman that Bond seduces for the simple whim of it at the beginning of Dr. No, and whom he is again spending his free time with in this movie. What's this? James Bond attempting something akin to a normal relationship outside the cigar-smoking, martini-drinking halls of the gentleman's spy club?

Where do all of the Bond girls go? What happened to Honeychile Ryder after she escapes with Bond from Dr. No's island? How about Tatiana Romanova, who unwittingly defects to England with the Lektor machine? Is there a sudden shock of betrayal as Bond vanishes into his next assignment, or is it more subtle and insidious than that? Do they realize Bond's traitorous libido and emotional inconstinenty slowly, as he fades from their lives? Honey, although in some ways an innocent, is a killer in her own right and most probably takes care of herself. But Tatiana, a devout servant of Mother Russia until she is tricked by SPECTRE into betraying her country, falls in love with Bond, clutching at him as the only stable thing in her world. When she arrives in England, forced to adapt to a new life under which she will certainly be scrutinzed for any signs of treachery, especially at first, does she see Bond once a week at first--or even more often--and then gradually he calls on her less and less, until she does not have a means to contact him and she is left alone in a foreign land not of her choosing, abandoned? What does she do when she realizes that she never loved him, really; that all of her pleas and emotions were born from the constant stress of the situation, from Bond's handsome and charming wiles (yes, wiles), or from sheer, simple lust? And what about poor Sylvia, who is perhaps the only legitamite possibilty for Bond? Is she also abandoned as his work wears on him, and the constant travel wears on her?

I digress.

From Russia With Love is actually one of the better Bond films. The plot is not diluted with explosions and "Look, it's the bad guys!" squawk. It is apropriate that the movie is set in Istanbul, a city that has left its mark on history in many names and with many cultures. As the crossroad from Europe to Asia, Istanbul is the perfect setting for a complicated Spy Vs. Spy Vs. Spy, with the Russians thinking the British were behind it, the British thinking the Russians were behind it, and with SPECTRE holding a card up its cat-petting sleeve and actually directing all the shots. There are a lot of minor players too: the Russians use the Bulgars for their dirty work, while the British head of operations in Istanbul, Ali Karim Bey uses his many sons as section chiefs to ensure proper loyalty and a pack of Gypsies to combat the Bulgars.

The famous Q is introduced in this movie as well, with the first James Bond spy-gadget. Although still in the realm of possible science (no rocket-launchers in the headlights here), Q brings Bond a special briefcase which contains 50 gold soveriegns, a concealed throwing knife, two ammunition strips, a disassembled sniper rifle, and a tear-gas booby trap. Bond puts all of these items to use in ways that make sense too, so that the gadgets do not appear to be a cheap trick and seem more a part of how a spy does business.

Speaking of how a spy does business: Donovan 'Red' Grant, the primary henchman of Krebbs is a SPECTRE agent of supreme skill, a professional like Bond. He is a blonde, blue-eyed giant, who seems as equally skilled at hidding in plain sight as he is with his obvious physical prowess. He impersonates a MI6 operative and gets the better of Bond. That is one of the cool things about this movie that seems to be missing from the later Bonds--he is falliable. He is a mortal, not a superhero, even if Bond is driven to commit superhuman feats in his efforts to save the world. The early movies portay a possiblity of failure, a "Shit, he's just a guy," sort of attitude. He might be the best of the best, but he is human. SPECTRE's plot fails because of Bond though, because he is the primier agent in MI6 for a reason. He out-thinks Kronsteen (which costs the man his life--No. 1 does not tolerate failure) and out-matches both Krebbs and Grant.

A good watch.

Dr. No (1962) -- Bond 1

The 6th Bond book, Dr. No was the first time Ian Flemming's signature character was presented to the big screen.

This is actually one instance where I like the movie more than the book. The plot of the two is very similar: James Bond is called to Jamaica to resolve the disapperance of Strangeways, an undercover MI6 operative.

Dr. No is missing most of what would later be signature tropes of the Bond franchise: no special spy gadgets and no daring car chases. Sure, Dr. Julius No has a nuclear reactor, a flamethrower tank, and mechanical hands; but Bond does not have these himself.

No himself is a classic example of the supervillain. He has a tragic backstory, a brilliant mind, and a God-complex. Like a good classical villain, there is something about him that is horribly wrong. Often with this sort of character it is a normally virtuous trait turned extreme. For No, his attention to the most minute detail is a defining characteristic, and especially since it is turned to evil pursuits. Dr. No's evil is reflected in the physical too, with his mechanical hands.

The main differences between the novel and movie are in the complexity of the plot. This is pretty normal for adaptations. Also, there is a lot about "Chigros" (Chinese-Negros in Jamaica) in the novel, which isn't really dealt with in the movie. One good thing left out of the movie is the "Death Gauntlet" scene from the novel. In this, Dr. No places Bond through a rigorous test to determine his problem solving capacity and his pain threshold. Pretty stupid sequence, if you ask me.

All in all, a solid movie. A good start to a powerful franchise, and it is understandable how this could have spawned a generation of movies.

Casino Royale (2006) -- Bond 21

Based on the original tale of 007, the newest James Bond movie explains why the character became iconic of not only the spy genre, but also one of the keystone literary figures of the 20th century.

Written in 1952, in the early years of the Cold War, the book Casino Royale does not hold the same cultural relevance with contemporary audiences that it did with the paranoid, Red-fearing people of the day. That is where the new movie excels. The plot and thematic elements of the original story are kept in tact, while updating the context from a standoff between the Superpowers to the War on Terror, the Cold War of the 21st century.

Casino Royale is easily the best Bond movie to date. It captures the grit, realism, and daring of the original story and the original character. I read a recent review of the movie that said Casino Royale does not deliver what fans of the series love, the cheesy, over-the-top gadgets and suave demeanor of later day Sean Connery, Roger Moore, and Pierce Brosnan. The trick is that James Bond's initial popularity was not found in these traits at all. The 007 of the first few books is more bastard than debonair, more likely to choke a man to death in a bathroom sink than spare time for a pithy one-liner. He had gadgets, but they were not the focus of the mission; they were aids and nothing more. This is the James Bond that has been revived in the current movie.

Casino Royale has reset the series. We are no longer assuming that there have been successive James Bonds. Sean Connery and Roger Moore no longer exist in this universe, although I'm sure we are to assume that there have been other 007s. We are looking at the first James Bond, a "blunt instrument" of the 21st century rather than one whose balance was tested against the Nazis in WWII and who fought the Communists in the novels. Fresh slate, dark and brooding.

The plot of the movie closely mirrors the novel. Some of the details have been changed, but only the window dressing; the intent remains the same. Essentially replace Russians with terrorists and you have the differences between the villains.

Synopsis: Bond goes after a financier of terrorists, a mathematical prodigy known as Le Chiffre, who has a penchant for gambling. Le Chiffre has also lost money that does not belong to him, so he stages a high-stakes poker game at Casino Royale to win the millions of dollars he needs back. MI6 sends Bond (with a freshly minted "00" number) to infiltrate the poker game and foil Le Chiffre's plans so that the villain is forced to go to the Brits for protection against the people whose money Le Chiffre has gambled with. With a little help from the CIA (who for once don't look like fools), Bond succeeds in his mission, invents a cocktail (the Vesper martini: 3 oz gin, 1 oz vodka, 1/2 oz Lillet Blanc wine, shaken in a cocktail shaker half-filled with ice. Strain into a cocktail glass (chilled) and add a twist of lemon), is captured by Le Chiffre and tortured in a gruesome, demasculinizing way, is rescued by an unknown agent, falls in love during recovery with the beautiful Vesper Lyd, is betrayed by Vesper to the unknown organization, and watches her die.

The book is different in only the identity of the unknown agent and his organization. In the book it was SMERSH (Russian counter-espianoge force that specialized in killing double-agents and turncoats, the acronym stands for "Smert Shpionam" or "Death to Spies" and actually existed--and according to current events still appears to be around!). In the movies, all references to SMERSH were changed to SPECTRE, although in the novels these were seperate organizations. The current Casino Royale does not name the identity of the secret organization that Vesper worked for, but if this is truly a restart to the series as it seems to be, I am guessing that SPECTRE is rising again as well. SMERSH is somewhat old fashioned for today's political climate, even if it is still exercising its mission statement. But SPECTRE, a criminal orginization of global proporations run by Bond's ultimate nemesis Ernst Stavro Blofeld (the character that was the inspiration for the parody Dr. Evil in the Austin Powers movies), would be ideal. I eagerly await the next installment, codenamed Bond 22 (for the number it would be in the line-up of official films) which is already under production.

Style and Filmography: Casino Royale has great action shots, a deliciously twisted plot where the villain is not the real villain, and a femme fatale that has a more subtle and sophisticated flavor than the typical cheesecake most Bond girls have. Don't get me wrong, I love all the Bond movies and their crazy cheeseball moments. But this movie provides something that is missing from all the others: credability. If that seems out of place for a Bond movie, think again: remember that Ian Flemming was a spy before he was a writer of spy stories. The oddest thing about his novels were not the crazy stunts or the plots within plots; it was the degree of money involved. Most people sell out their country for a few thousand dollars.

In terms of filming, the movie is beautiful. Daniel Craig has the right amount of charm in a tailored suit to look the part of the gentleman spy, and the precise quantity of ass-kicking necessary to make his role of assassin for the crown believable. They even get some great shots of the characteristic Bond martini (which was invented in the first novel in nearly the same way as it is in the movie), and it looks gorgeous with the lemon twist. The fight and stunt scenes are amazing. Craig makes Bond look competant without making him the star of every stunt. The chase and subsequent fight with Mallaka at the beginning of the movie show just how bad-ass 007 is without making him perfect. Mallaka's special thing is his agility, and while Bond can keep up, it isn't Bond's trademark to be an acrobat. The final scene at the embassy is great too, showing that when pushed, Bond is willing to push back and create a way out even if it isn't precisely the one he was hoping for. Improvisation over perfection. I like it.