Trailer

Saw the trailer for Martin Scorsese's much anticipated Gangs of New York over the weekend. I know not to put too much prophecy into trailers, but the movie looks amazing! The 19th Century wooden New York, the snow, the uniforms, big hats and moustaches, Daniel Day Lewis looks great, DiCaprio looks... like a kid still. I thought it was going to be 19th century Goodfellas, but it looks more like Braveheart mixed with Godfather. My appetite is well and truly whet.

Bondage

I then saw Die Another Day.

Problems with Bond:
1) He never ever ever dies. Everyone knows this.
2) He always gets the girl.
3) It's already peaked in it's current design with Goldfinger.

And the latest Bond film never convinces us that the first two rules will be broken. Yes we have gadgets, cool cars, megalomanic villains, exotic sets... but who cares? You can watch Tomorrow's World, Top Gear, Weakest Link and Wish You Were Here for those. Here are some suggestion to make Bond more interesting.

1) Set it in the 50/60's like Fleming's original novels. The gadget could be modern day devices and not lazy gibberish like an "invisible car".
2) Set Bond in one city, or building over a 24 hour period, or make it real time. He'd have to use his smarts, gadgets and charms in a claustrophobic atmosphere to defeat the villain.
3) Turn Bond into a whodunit. Have it script based instead of action based. Bond sometime reminds me of Sam Spade, violent, ruthless and womanising. Why not turn him into an international hard boiled detective, roughing up weasels and lowlifes in every dirty city, instead of blowing everything up all the time.

These ideas may not sell as many watches or bottles of vodka, but it'll make the movies more watchable.

Having said all that Die Another Day is probably an average clone of a Bond film, if you like that kinda thing.