Every actor to play James Bond for multiple movies ends up with one film not-so-loved by the fanbase. Sean Connery had Diamonds Are Forever, Roger Moore had films like Moonraker and A View To A Kill. Even Timothy Dalton had a rough start as Bond in The Living Daylights but vastly improved in a sequel.
However, none of those films gets the same amount of disdain as Pierce Brosnan’s Die Another Day and Daniel Craig’s Spectre. It’s true that both films feature massive detractors but also very different kinds of detractors due to their very different styles of filmmaking. So which one is worse than the other? And what did each movie get so wrong?
Die Another Day: It Ruined Moneypenny
For the first three Pierce Brosnan films, Samantha Bond had perfected her Miss Moneypenny. However, Die Another Day puts the final nail in its coffin by dragging Moneypenny down with it. Using the virtual reality glasses that Q had developed for Bond’s training, Moneypenny lives out a lust-filled fantasy in which she becomes a Bond girl.
Many fans agreed that this was very unlike Moneypenny’s character. Moneypenny’s whole dynamic with James Bond is that there is sexual tension between the two but Bond always strikes out. Why she doesn’t have an interest is usually never explained but that’s part of the charm. So it feels like a slap in the face when the character is completely reversed in the last few minutes just for a cheap gag.
Spectre: Overused MI6 Characters
Everyone loves the MI6 regulars in Bond films who always steal the show when on screen. The filmmakers seemed to want to capitalize on this in Spectre as Ralph Fiennes’ M and Ben Whishaw’s Q along with Naomie Harris’ Moneypenny join Bond in the final battle. Q also makes several appearances throughout the film and while it’s nice to see the MI6 gang in action, it felt forced.
Especially since no other MI6 agents are with them and M himself is getting into the action which is very unwise for someone in that position. Now, this would be fine if the MI6 regulars happened to have some standout action/thriller scene but no, most of it is still just Bond at work.
Die Another Day: Too Much Science Fiction
Granted, James Bond up until that point in 2002 had never really been grounded in hyper-realism. Plenty of James Bond films of the past went for campiness and over the top action, even some of the best Bond films. However, there is also such a thing as going too far, and Die Another Day jumped the shark.
From the palace made of ice, the villain’s RoboCop-esque suit, virtual reality, etc. Bigger does not always equal better and Die Another Day tried way too hard to go as big as possible while failing in every way. This is why a more grounded approach was taken for Casino Royale.
Spectre: The Romance Fell Flat
James Bond is infamous for his way with women but there have been some Bond girls who truly win his heart. Tracy in On Her Majesty’s Secret Service for example or Vesper Lynd from Casino Royale. She was Bond’s greatest love and her death was heartbreaking.
So fans were utterly baffled at the idea that Madeleine Swann in Spectre was apparently supposed to be Bond’s new true soulmate. Sadly, Léa Seydoux had little to no chemistry with Daniel Craig and the romance between the two characters felt non-existent. Many fans hope this is fixed with their return in No Time To Die.
Die Another Day: Cartoonish Villain
Bond villains are some of the ultimate showmen and are often delightfully over the top. As mentioned, there is such a thing as too much and Gustav Graves was just that. The idea that Gustav Graves is actually a Korean soldier who reconstructed his face and voice to be a perfect British man was ridiculous on its own.
However, it gets worse as Toby Stephens is meant to play things up as hammy as possible. He is intended to be an anti-James Bond but mostly just feels like a cartoon parody of a Bond villain. This is a shame because Toby Stephens is a great actor as shown with Black Sails and Netflix’s Lost In Space reboot.
Spectre: Boring Plot
As bad as Die Another Day can be, it is also entertaining due to how bad it is. It’s a lot like 1997’s Batman & Robin where under the right circumstances, it can provide laughs. Whereas Spectre suffers from probably the worst sin a Bond movie can make: it is rather dull throughout.
It starts off well enough with a huge battle in Mexico but after that, most of the plot moves at a snail’s pace. The villain’s big evil scheme is rather basic, the romance is lackluster, and even Daniel Craig seems disinterested throughout. Even in the big action sequences, nothing stands out like in Skyfall or Casino Royale.
Die Another Day: Terrible CGI
A lot of digital effects from the early 2000s don’t hold up all that well. In Die Another Day‘s case, the CGI implemented wasn’t even good for the time. The laser beam effects look cheesy and the electricity powers the villain gets in the climax look worse than the Emperor’s lightning from Return of the Jedi.
Even Halle Berry’s Jinx diving off a cliff looks like a videogame cutscene. However, the worst offender is the infamous tsunami surfing sequence where Bond turns into a wiggly cartoon. Pierce Brosnan was not a young man anymore in Die Another Day but there had to have been better options.
Spectre: The Worst Blofeld
Everyone knew Christoph Waltz was Blofeld from the moment he was announced. So the character’s identity hidden as Oberhauser throughout the film led to a weak twist. Still, Christoph Waltz is a decorated actor so fans still hoped that he would deliver one of the best versions of Ernst Stavro Blofeld.
Sadly, Waltz is wasted on a bland character who never gets to do anything memorable. This is supposed to be James Bond’s equivalent to the Joker from Batman; instead, it was not only a pitiful Blofeld but a forgettable villain. That is except for one aspect that stands out on its own.
Die Another Day: Rehash Of Other Bonds Movies
One could argue that Die Another Day was the fortieth anniversary of James Bond and it wanted to tribute what came prior. That’s a fair argument but when the entire movie is nothing but retreaded ideas from other films? It mostly just comes off as an unoriginal cash grab.
From the lasers straight out of Goldfinger, the satellite weapon from GoldenEye, the beautiful Bond girl walking out of the ocean, and even the villain being sucked out of an airplane, nothing felt unique. This is especially apparent when Skyfall celebrated James Bond much better ten years later.
Spectre: The Brothers Twist
On the opposite side of the spectrum, Spectre attempted to add something new to Blofeld. Blofeld was supposedly behind every villain from the other Daniel Craig movies; a twist that made little sense. On top of that, Blofeld was given a new origin story: he and Bond grew up as stepbrothers.
Not only was this twist unnecessary but it doesn’t really add anything to the plot by the end. Bond never reacts to the fact that they are brothers and their banter never changes as a result. If anything, it makes Blofeld’s motivation seem like that of a man-child since he’s doing everything because his father loved Bond more. This was the straw that broke the camel’s back and fans lost all hope for this Bond villain.
