Someone said this film would have been better titled Buy Another Day. I don’t know if the joke works, but the sentiment sure does. From when I purchased my ticket (and received a 40 in. x 6 in. Omega watch brochure, with special edition James Bond/Barbie Giftset $5 off coupon) to the moment I left (and was handed a sample stick of new longer-lasting Juicy Fruit gum), it was an orgy of product placement.

I counted 9 brands being hawked. Sony gets tops marks for variety (a surveillance camera, flat-panel PCs, and VAIOs all around) but the real winner would have to the Ford Premier Auto Group. James drives an Aston Martin again (Q is even considerate enough to name the make and model) and the baddie drives a tricked-out XKE. (BMW is moving on to be the star of its own movies.)

But what of the film? Well from the start, the sense was a little different. When The World is Not Enough was shooting, there was controversy over whether Bond should ski or snowboard during some scenes. One faction wanted to play to the youth market, the other the martini crowd. Bond skiied, but post-XXX, it seems the debate is settled: here he is first seen surreiptiously surfing in to a rendezvous, and a bit later we find him doing something else even more ludicrous. So, the kids won. With a vengeance.

Also: The title sequence is I believe the first ever to actually have plot action take place during the credits. There’s a fair amount of camera moves a la Danel Mindel. And the plot? Hmmm. That I can’t remember.

This entry was posted on Friday, November 22nd, 2002 at 11:17 pm and is filed under Film.. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.