Monday, November 27, 2006

The Last Word in Watches

So... the new James Bond. Having been to see it on the weekend with Tess, I've got a couple or three observations.

Firstly, it's darker and more of a thinking man's Bond than most of its predecessors. Ok, so the thinking man's aspect might be taking it a bit far, but it did feel more like Sunday Times than News of the World. But not so far as the Guardian on Saturday (excessive use of big words and an inflated opinion of itself, and yet I still buy it. Especially if there is free DVD that I've not heard of and probably won't watch).

Secondly, ropes and testicles? Right... Was that in the original Ian Fleming novel?

Thirdly, it has some of the less subtle product placement I've seen movies. From the Sony Ericsson phones (I feel somewhat disappointed with my new SE K750i - it doesn't do half of the things Mr Bond's does), to Richard Branson in the metal detector followed by the Virgin planes landing, to the conversation on the train that went something like this:

Vesper: Nice Watch
Bond: Thanks
Vesper: Is that a Rolex?
Bond: No. It's an Omega.

It's almost as blatant as the Steve Martin/John Candy exchange in Planes, Trains and Automobiles, where Martin exchanges his Rolex and $17 for a cheap hotel room. Candy tries to follow suit....

Hotel Clerk: Do you have seventeen dollars and a nice watch?
Del: I've got two dollars... and a Casio.
Hotel Clerk: I'm afraid I'm going to have to say goodnight...

2 comments:

Matt said...

like the way you slipped that in there on the first line.....

Anonymous said...

Craig and I went to see it on my birthday - Jo babysat for my birthday pressie (oh the lengths one has to go to to see a film these days..!) .. I quite enjoyed it. We concluded that this was the lost love that turned Bond into a misogynist. Poor James. Poor subsequent women. Agree about the product placement - I cracked up to see Richard Branson getting metal detectored.