Battle of the Bonds!

The World Is Not Enough sought to deepen the personas of the people in Bond's world. A means to execute this was to directly involve MI6 in a terrorist attack - a sequence which is seen as a contender for one of the best pre-titles sequence in any Bond film, and a highlight of Brosnan's era. Come along Skyfall again, in an effort to humanise and deepen Bond and M specifically, MI6 is targeted earlier on in the film.

The differences? A new world, perhaps. One pre- 9/11, the other, post-. Bond unwittingly brings the bomb into the building in TWINE to kill a man, whereas an explosion is created for M to see. Technically, one is made with practical effects, whereas the other is digitally created.

Which was more effective?

TWINE.

The CGI in SF looked horrific.

Likewise, TWINE. The model work is great and sets up a plot of intrigue by having Bond deliver the bomb that sets off the explosion.

While you can tell it's a CGI explosion in SF, it's definitely not as distracting as some of the dodgy VFX works we've had, such as skydive in QOS, and the infamous parasurfing scene in DAD (though I find this quite charming nowadays).

Not to mention, the novelty has worn off a little at this point, with an attack on MI6 having already happened, and the fact that M's track record hasn't been all the great since DAD, with Miranda Frost, Mitchell, the Special Branch agent, Vesper (if she approved of this match, assuming her agents screened her), the beginning of SF, etc. (I won't count Alec since he defected before she joined MI6. And Elektra was a personal matter that clouded her judgement).


This is not to say the attack in SF is bad - it creates some mystery and kicks off some of the best drama of the Bond series. The execution of the TWINE attack is simply much better.

The proceeding boat chase in TWINE doesn't get enough love I feel. Coupled with that late 90's techno score and the Millennium Dome, it just bring that tear of nostalgia to your eye.

TWINE for the fact it hadn't been done and partly, prelude to the boat chase.

Now it's mentioned, M's track record is so poor that if real she surely would have been hauled over the coals by some secret select committee and ejected into retirement with a healthy pension. Still, she could've worked Tennyson into it somehow.

I guess that's what they went for in SF, with Mallory intervening and the public enquiry. She still was proficient in the Brosnan era, even if she missed that Miranda and Moon were in cahoots. Though this line always struck me as interesting:

M wrote:

We wouldn't have had a mole at all if you'd disclosed to us the fact that Ms. Frost and Moon were on the Harvard fencing team together.

Were the Americans deliberately covering up that Moon was educated in the States, and the CIA felt partly responsible?

It's only since CR that she appears incompetent. Even with allowing Mathis to be tortured. The M of yesteryear would have told Bond to have a drink and get laid before spouting out accusations.

Of course, I believe the TWINE boat chase is severely underrated on here. I think most fans and the general public do enjoy it, as both an opener to the film as well as an action sequence in its own right. Arnold's music never fails to boost the nostalgia as well as give me an adrenaline kick.

I'd also elect TWINE, although barely plausible it still feels less convoluted and relevant. The Boat chase, or perhaps the pts as a whole outstays its welcome imo.. and that's despite the fact I actually enjoy/prefer the scene's prior with the Swiss Banker

TWINE'S PTS does seem overly long, but I suppose they wanted a grander transition to the title sequence than "Bond abseils downs the side of a bank and skips off."

I would have been perfectly happy with the banker scene as the PTS - it probably would have been a much more fitting opener for TWINE given it's more low key and character driven than its immediate predecessors - but I can't not enjoy the boat chase and it helps create perhaps my favourite PTS in the series. This is the only boat chase in the series that I don't disconnect with - the boat chase in LALD has major pacing issues, TMWTGG boat chase is largely redundant and the QOS one is rather difficult to follow. Actually, FRWL's is quite good. But TWINE's is much better.

CJB is right ... TWINE's PTS originally ended with Bond's escape from the banker's office, but it was felt to not be enough.

The Swiss clearly like their blind cords to be unnecessarily long.

Blunt Instrument wrote:

The Swiss clearly like their blind cords to be unnecessarily long.    

Hope 007 didn't get any rope-Bern.