Die Another Day

[Shuriken]

In case anyone's interested, the next James Bond movie due out in November, Die Another Day, has an Asian/Pacific director. Lee Tamahori, the director, is a Maori from New Zealand — in other words, he's ethnically Polynesian. He made a breakthrough film in New Zealand called Once Were Warriors, which starred Maori actor Temuera Morrison, who would go on to play Jango Fett in Attack of the Clones. Of course, Die Another Day features Rick Yune and deals with Asian content. Maybe Tamahori will treat the Asian subject matter with greater sensitivity than a non-Asian director would, but I won't be surprised if it turns out to be You Only Live Twice redux.

[SunWuKong]

Originally posted by Shuriken@Sep 10 2002, 02:16 PM
In case anyone's interested, the next James Bond movie due out in November, Die Another Day, has an Asian/Pacific director. Lee Tamahori, the director, is a Maori from New Zealand — in other words, he's ethnically Polynesian. He made a breakthrough film in New Zealand called Once Were Warriors, which starred Maori actor Temuera Morrison, who would go on to play Jango Fett in Attack of the Clones. Of course, Die Another Day features Rick Yune and deals with Asian content. Maybe Tamahori will treat the Asian subject matter with greater sensitivity than a non-Asian director would, but I won't be surprised if it turns out to be You Only Live Twice redux.
since he's not exactly a very famous or well known director, he'd probably be completely subject to the whims of the producers.

[Shuriken]

Originally posted by SunWuKung@Sep 10 2002, 07:37 PM
since he's not exactly a very famous or well known director, he'd probably be completely subject to the whims of the producers.
Good point, SWK. Now that the Bond producers are employing established "name" directors such as Roger Spottiswoode (Under Fire) and Michael Apted (Coal Miner's Daughter, Gorillas in the Mist) to helm the films — without any major thematic or stylistic changes — Tamahori's contribution will probably be just another undistinguished entry in this uniform series.

[achtungbaby]

What's the early buzz on this? All I know so far is that it's Bond v. the North Koreans. There's got to be a North Korean woman, right?

[Shuriken]

Originally posted by achtungbaby@Sep 17 2002, 07:25 AM
What's the early buzz on this?  All I know so far is that it's Bond v. the North Koreans.  There's got to be a North Korean woman, right?
If you'd like to know more about DAD, you can go to the official Web site at http://www.jamesbond.com (http://). I don't see any Asian women in the pictures on the site.

Rick Yune's character is named "Zao." Is that a Korean name? It doesn't sound particularly Korean.

Here's a little trivia for you: I once read an early draft of a script for the film that became Tomorrow Never Dies, the Bond movie with Michelle Yeoh. If you made it all the way through that film, you might remember that the first time we see Bond after the titles, he's making out with an attractive Danish college professor, a character we never see again. Well, in the draft of the script that I read (provisionally titled "Harmsway," the villain's original name), Michelle Yeoh's character had not yet been written into the story. And instead of making out with a Danish professor, Bond is making out with a Chinese professor who is never seen again. The scene ended with the Chinese woman wearing only lingerie beneath her professor's robe. So, if you didn't like the idea of Bond romancing an Asian woman who was kicking ass along with him, just remember: it could have been worse...

[achtungbaby]

Originally posted by Shuriken@Sep 17 2002, 10:01 AM
So, if you didn't like the idea of Bond romancing an Asian woman who was kicking ass along with him, just remember: it could have been worse...
Thank God! Hollywood is merciful, yes...:) I probably shouldn't take James Bond too seriously anyway.

[deez nuts]

I would imagine he'll be macking it with Halle and probably some random asian woman too.

[kimpossible]

So, if you didn't like the idea of Bond romancing an Asian woman who was kicking ass along with him, just remember: it could have been worse...

Let me play devil's advocate for a bit. Women in Bond movies are almost exclusively evil or troublemaking tits with guns that can be universally tamed by Mr. Bond's penis.

Why would Asian women be treated like actual people when you have white chicks named Pussy Galore and Octopussy?

[deez nuts]

Heh she does have point.

As for me I'm not really concerned about whom Mr. Bond will be smooching with, in this upcoming movie. It is a Bond flick afterall. My main concern is how the Koreans would be portrayed and depicted, despite the fact that the North Koreans are the villains.



<!--EDIT|Chasiubao_Boy|Sep 17 2002, 09:47 PM-->

[ren28]

Originally posted by Hello_Hapa@Sep 18 2002, 02:28 AM
So, if you didn't like the idea of Bond romancing an Asian woman who was kicking ass along with him, just remember: it could have been worse...

Let me play devil's advocate for a bit. Women in Bond movies are almost exclusively evil or troublemaking tits with guns that can be universally tamed by Mr. Bond's penis.

Why would Asian women be treated like actual people when you have white chicks named Pussy Galore and Octopussy?
That statement about Bond is funny as hell but very true. He always ends up in bed with the woman. I guess that's his trademark.

[achtungbaby]

This is why I say I'm not sure whether to take the Bond series too seriously. I'd be nicer if the series took itself less seriously (like Austin Powers), but oh well.

[SunWuKong]

as far as a bond film goes, i didn't have a problem with "Tomorrow Never Dies". Michelle Yeoh looked really cool. the only thing that really really irked me was that she threw those throwing stars. what kind of secret agent uses throwing stars? oh yeah... she's asian...

[Shuriken]

Originally posted by SunWuKung@Sep 18 2002, 06:54 AM
as far as a bond film goes, i didn't have a problem with "Tomorrow Never Dies". &nbsp;Michelle Yeoh looked really cool. &nbsp;the only thing that really really irked me was that she threw those throwing stars. &nbsp;what kind of secret agent uses throwing stars? &nbsp;oh yeah... &nbsp;she's asian...
Don't forget that the other name for a "throwing star" is shuriken!!!

Here's something that really irked me about Tomorrow Never Dies: A major portion of the film is set in Vietnam, and one of the signature chase scenes has James Bond and Wai Lin (Michelle Yeoh) riding through the streets of "Saigon" (as the movie calls Ho Chi Minh City). However, the movie was actually shot in Thailand. During the chase scene, Bond and Wai Lin ride past many billboards and steeet signs. And all of those signs are in either Chinese pictograms or Thai script!!!

Didn't anyone working for that movie know that, due to decades of French colonization, the Vietnamese write their language in the Roman alphabet (just like the Western European languages do)??? One or two signs in Chinese would have been understandable (after all, Vietnam does have its own ethnic Chinese community), but for the signs to be exclusively in Chinese or Thai seemed like a real oversight...unless the filmmakers thought that signs in real Vietnameses just didn't look "Asian enough."

Oh, I forgot: all Asian cultures are indistinguishable from each other. My bad. <_<

[SunWuKong]

Originally posted by Shuriken@Sep 18 2002, 02:25 PM
Originally posted by SunWuKung@Sep 18 2002, 06:54 AM
as far as a bond film goes, i didn't have a problem with "Tomorrow Never Dies". Michelle Yeoh looked really cool. the only thing that really really irked me was that she threw those throwing stars. what kind of secret agent uses throwing stars? oh yeah... she's asian...
Don't forget that the other name for a "throwing star" is shuriken!!!

Here's something that really irked me about Tomorrow Never Dies: A major portion of the film is set in Vietnam, and one of the signature chase scenes has James Bond and Wai Lin (Michelle Yeoh) riding through the streets of "Saigon" (as the movie calls Ho Chi Minh City). However, the movie was actually shot in Thailand. During the chase scene, Bond and Wai Lin ride past many billboards and steeet signs. And all of those signs are in either Chinese pictograms or Thai script!!!

Didn't anyone working for that movie know that, due to decades of French colonization, the Vietnamese write their language in the Roman alphabet (just like the Western European languages do)??? One or two signs in Chinese would have been understandable (after all, Vietnam does have its own ethnic Chinese community), but for the signs to be exclusively in Chinese or Thai seemed like a real oversight...unless the filmmakers thought that signs in real Vietnameses just didn't look "Asian enough."

Oh, I forgot: all Asian cultures are indistinguishable from each other. My bad. <_<
but Saigon is now known as Ho Chi Minh City.

and i didn't notice the thai scripts in the background. i'll have to pay closer attention the next time i watch it... which will probably be never...

[SunWuKong]

looks like they have a japanese (or japanese american) director. unless i'm mistaken that Tamahori is a japanese surname. and thank god there's no asian female sex object. well at least not as a leading character.

[Shuriken]

Originally posted by SunWuKung@Sep 30 2002, 08:22 AM
looks like they have a japanese (or japanese american) director. unless i'm mistaken that Tamahori is a japanese surname. and thank god there's no asian female sex object. well at least not as a leading character.
Go back to my first post, please...

[SunWuKong]

Originally posted by Shuriken@Sep 30 2002, 03:26 AM
Originally posted by SunWuKung@Sep 30 2002, 08:22 AM
looks like they have a japanese (or japanese american) director. &nbsp;unless i'm mistaken that Tamahori is a japanese surname. &nbsp;and thank god there's no asian female sex object. &nbsp;well at least not as a leading character.
Go back to my first post, please...
hahhah shit you mentioned already that he's maori. and i even commented on that too! sorry i forgot. i read so many posts on YW.

[Shuriken]

I've just learned that the Bond producers are thinking of spinning Halle Berry's character in "DAD" into her own movie series. After "Tomorrow Never Dies" came out, I wrote to them suggesting that they do this with Michelle Yeoh's character, but that idea obviously didn't sound good to them. Now, they're doing it for Berry. I'd still rather see them do this for Michelle Yeoh... :angry:

[SunWuKong]

Originally posted by Shuriken@Nov 18 2002, 01:30 PM
I've just learned that the Bond producers are thinking of spinning Halle Berry's character in "DAD" into her own movie series. After "Tomorrow Never Dies" came out, I wrote to them suggesting that they do this with Michelle Yeoh's character, but that idea obviously didn't sound good to them. Now, they're doing it for Berry. I'd still rather see them do this for Michelle Yeoh... :angry:
well Halle does have an Oscars and the black market is bigger than the asian market. you're talking to producers now, it's all about the $$$.

[kimpossible]

Originally posted by Shuriken@Nov 18 2002, 10:30 AM
I've just learned that the Bond producers are thinking of spinning Halle Berry's character in "DAD" into her own movie series. After "Tomorrow Never Dies" came out, I wrote to them suggesting that they do this with Michelle Yeoh's character, but that idea obviously didn't sound good to them. Now, they're doing it for Berry. I'd still rather see them do this for Michelle Yeoh... :angry:
Yeah but I heard that Halle's series is going to be done just because she did a bang up job with the character. On the other hand, this is more your field of expertise.

[BeTheReds]

I don't know about Berry's character, but In TND Michelle Yeoh's was way too see thru and transparent and predictable. A Chinese spy girl movie made for a US audience just wouldn't light my fire at all. What would the plot be?

I think it would be good tho to have her as a re-occuring bond character.. like Jaws

[SunWuKong]

all i know is that the throwing star that michelle threw near the end of tomorrow never dies was cheesy as hell. there she was with all her high tech toys and she threw a throwing star... they might as well have hit a gong for the background sound when she killed the guy.

[achtungbaby]

KoreamJournal has a feature on Rick Yune in its latest issue. I never had much of an opinion before and I personally try and refrain from obsessing over celebrities, but based on some of his comments, he seemed a bit of...an ass?

[SunWuKong]

Originally posted by achtungbaby@Nov 18 2002, 10:39 PM
KoreamJournal has a feature on Rick Yune in its latest issue. I never had much of an opinion before and I personally try and refrain from obsessing over celebrities, but based on some of his comments, he seemed a bit of...an ass?
rick yune's an ass?

he's like a wallstreet trader turned model turned actor, right?

shit i'd be snobby as hell if i had that going on.

[TyroneK(prettypretty)]

Just because it's understandable that someone's an ass doesn't mean it's acceptable.

For example, I know a bunch of sharp-looking traders (and just met a former CK male model turned high powered corporate lawyer last night). They weren't jerks.

[scott]

I try to reserve judgment regarding Rick Yune because at least he is a good looking Asian actor who is in some mainstream movies (even if the parts are not great).

But I've heard so many bad things about him from people who've met him or heard him speak at conferences. One in which he actually addressed the audience with "Don' be a playah hatah. Hate the game, not the playah." ==OOO Which kind of cracks me up.

Can't stand Halle Berry myself. Sorry, I just don't get it. I would prefer Angela Bassett or even Brandi (who is the cat's pajamas).

I am wondering how bad the Asians will look in this movie, since the North Coreans themselves are some of the villains I hear (except Zao doesn't sound Corean to me).

I miss Oddjob (which is why I play Kung Lao in Mortal Kombat -- for the hat).

[Shuriken]

The following is a message that I posted on the Yolk magazine message board in response to "Asians Return in Bond," an article in their latest issue that uncritically overviews the Asian characters and performers in the James Bond films:


Because Yolk is an Asian American magazine, I would have hoped that your article about Asians in the James Bond movies would have been more critical. To me, the Bond films have always looked like parables of Western supremacism, ultimately affirming the notion that the Western elite should lord it over the entire world. Accordingly, the Asian characters in these movies appear highly compromised, as either vicious villains, subaltern sidekicks, or female sexual conquests. These films seem to view Asians, at best, as one-down from the figure of the all-conquering Western male or, at worst, as a malignancy to be destroyed. As much as I liked Michelle Yeoh's pugilistic presence in Tomorrow Never Dies, she ultimately affirmed the idea of the Asian woman as sexually compliant to the white man. Asia is a woman to be conquered by the virile West.

If Hollywood audiences regularly saw action heroes of color — male and female — gallivanting around the globe and bedding down with subordinate white partners, this might not be such an important issue. But Tinseltown's vision of the action hero betrays a racial and sexual double standard. Hollywood may import Asian action stars like Jackie Chan, Jet Li, and Chow Yun-Fat, but their characters never represent a world-encompassing authority — and they remain resolutely non-sexual. Until we see greater racial diversity and racial equality among Hollywood's action heroes, it's too early to celebrate the Asian presence in the James Bond films.

In the first Bond movie, Dr. No, 007 defeats an Asian villain and beds a woman of color. In the latest installment, Die Another Day, Bond defeats an Asian villain and beds a woman of color. The only difference is that the non-white characters are now actually played by non-white actors, and the movie is directed by an ethnic-minority filmmaker. Otherwise, this "Bond for the new millennium" looks depressingly like the old one.

[luv]

I went to see Die Another Day on opening night. Overall, I guess I have to say its a pretty good movie. However, (a big however) they really took that Asian villain thing to an extreme -- but thats not what I found to be wrong with it.

The Korean villain gets DNA transplant to become a white (English) supervillain -- so I guess Asians don't even cut it as supervillains. errgh?

Rick Yune, I concede, is a pretty good looking guy, but his face is pretty busted up in the movie. Car chase sequence (his car has as many gadgets as Bond's does) was pretty good.

[SunWuKong]

went to see it tonight
overall i thought it was a cool movie
a few thoughts...

1. the "car fight" scenes kicked alot of ass!!!

2. halle berry was fucking cool and the scene where she dove off the cliff was awesome.

3. halle berry's death by slow-moving laser... cliche! but i'm sure there are hardcore bond/spy movie fans out there that loved that stuff.

4. the actor that played general moon is will yun lee, actually a HK actor who has been around for a looooong time. i'm from HK and while i thought it kicked ass to see him in the movie, they ended up having a north korean father-son pair conversing in english. now come on, how much money did they spend on the production? couldn't they get korean speaking people to play those parts? hell, couldn't they just train those two to speak the 10 or 20 korean lines??? they can do better than that.

5. more about will yun lee... he's been around for a loooong time in HK media. in "Legend of the Condor Heros" and "Return of the Condor Heros", two old school TV series that are pretty much legendary in HK, he played dong cheh, one of the 4 greatest kungfu masters who was able to administer butt-kickings with one hand behind his back. everytime he came on the screen, all i thought about was those two TV series! hahhah!

[SunWuKong]

Originally posted by KuroBishounen@Nov 25 2002, 06:30 AM
Whoops!

Checked IMDB...(that isn't the actor I'm thinking about)...

Actually, the actor who played Colonel Moon's father, named: Kenneth Tsang...

http://i.imdb.com/Photos/Ss/0120008/1-12.jpg
ahhh ok. didn't know what his english name was. must have read the credits wrong. this guy has done aloooot of TVB tv series.

[SunWuKong]

oh forgot to mention one tidbit. the comment that bond made at the beach, "i'm just here for the birds." i was the only one in the theater who got the joke and laughed, and i'm not even british!

birds == girls

[luv]

So no one was disturbed by the makeover thing?

I have great respect for Kenneth Tsang, wish his role was bigger, his English really isn't that bad compared to some.

[SunWuKong]

Originally posted by luv@Nov 25 2002, 09:07 PM
So no one was disturbed by the makeover thing?

I have great respect for Kenneth Tsang, wish his role was bigger, his English really isn't that bad compared to some.
yeah but it's funny because to me, his accent was so obviously a HKer english accent.


:D

[Shuriken]

Originally posted by SunWuKung@Nov 25 2002, 03:42 PM
oh forgot to mention one tidbit. the comment that bond made at the beach, "i'm just here for the birds." i was the only one in the theater who got the joke and laughed, and i'm not even british!

birds == girls
There's another level to the joke: Ian Fleming, the author of the Bond novels, got the name for his hero from a book about birds that was sitting on his table at the time he was writing his first thriller. The book was written by an ornothologist named James Bond. The "real" James Bond died only a few years ago.

[mydnyht]

Wow.... I'm not really into action movies, so maybe that's why I dislike it so much, but... THAT MOVIE REALLY SUCKED!!!! And I really didn't like the way they were reffering to the bad guys, who happened to be Korean. The whole thing was really racist and sexist.. all they did, really, was have sex and blow things up... not to mention all the awful word puns.

[Hiroshi2]

Haven't seen that movie yet, don't plan on actually, because like you, I'm not terribly fond of action movies. But I'm seriously getting tired of hearing Madonna's new song for the movie (which has the same name).

[SunWuKong]

moving and merging...

[achtungbaby]

ick...can't read this thread. i might still wanna see the movie.

[applehead]

Honestly, i've never liked bond movies.
i personally think they all suck.
but.. then again, i don't like action movies..
yeah, they all suck.

oh but this one i'll watch 'cause madonna does a cameo.. when it comes out on video though

[shaka.brah]

I saw the Bond movie over the weekend and I didn't think it was too bad. Actually it was pretty good. I really like the second scene, when supposedly James Bond surfed in on a giant wave ... That sequence was shot on the Northwest side of Maui at a place called Jaws ...

[MellowDrama]

Originally posted by luv@Nov 24 2002, 06:25 PM


The Korean villain gets DNA transplant to become a white (English) supervillain -- so I guess Asians don't even cut it as supervillains. errgh?


We're not even good enough to play our own stereotypes anymore. <_<

I'll gladly pass on this film. Heck, I don't even wanna DL this on DivX;)

[deez nuts]

Originally posted by MellowDrama@Dec 3 2002, 01:28 PM
Originally posted by luv@Nov 24 2002, 06:25 PM


The Korean villain gets DNA transplant to become a white (English) supervillain -- so I guess Asians don't even cut it as supervillains. errgh?


We're not even good enough to play our own stereotypes anymore. <_<

I'll gladly pass on this film. Heck, I don't even wanna DL this on DivX;)
Get it on bootleg and stick it to the man!

[TyroneK(prettypretty)]

I liked it. Then again, I've seen all the movies multiple times. I grew up on that stuff.

Halle Berry played a much larger role than I thought she would, which was both good and bad. Some of her lines at the end of the movie were just painful. Plus, it seemed like they were trying too hard to make up for the sexism of the rest of the movies. Still, she's beautiful and was convincing in her action scenes.

Pierce Brosnan finally got a hold of the balance between anger, humor and non-chalant ability that James Bond always needs. Hope he gets one or two more movies to exploit that better grip on the character.

Plus, the sequences were more inventive this time around. The credits advance the story, the fight with the lasers in the background was very inventive too.

Anyways, it's on par with Octopussy (my favorite Bond from the past 20 years). Not quite Spy Who Loved Me Level. Definitely nowhere close to Connery's films.