So I had planned on finishing the Hitlist this week, but I just couldn’t go through this week’s column without some 007 love. I’ve been ramping up this week for the new Bond flick, but also wanted to make some progress on my list as well for its grand finale coming up. So this week’s offering is split up.
Before I finally get to this portion of this list though, lets get some Bond out of the way. This coming weekend marks the release of Quantum of Solace, the 22nd official James Bond film and in preparation, some of you out there might be marking the occasion with marathons of 007 awesomeness. That’s at least what I’m doing this week. Considering there are 21 films to get through though, and you may have trouble deciding which films to watch, here are just a few suggestions as to the movies that I’d try to get through before week’s end and try to get you into the right mindset…
1. Casino Royale – This is a pretty obvious one. For really the first time in its history, the Bond series is trying some good, old fashioned continuity, and the events of Casino Royale apparently pick up straight into this new 007 adventure. Also, it might be nice to remind yourself just how awesome Daniel Craig is as Ian Fleming’s unforgettable hero, and also how easy it would be to fall in love with Eva Green.
2. Thunderball – Bond takes on S.P.E.C.T.R.E. in this epic adventure with the proceedings getting too ridiculous. This is a hardcore Connery with the actor at his swaggering best and the women in this one are both vicious and delicious. Come for the incredible undersea battle that finishes the picture, stay for Connery at his most bad ass.
3. License to Kill – Well, I usually don’t recommend Timothy Dalton Bond pictures, but seeing as how Quantum of Solace is a Revenge movie of sorts, the themes of this picture seem to match those of the new film somewhat. Here Bond is tracking down some drug smugglers who tried to take out his CIA contact and friend Felix Leiter. Sure Dalton is the worst of the 007’s, and there’s something about him here that makes him look older than he even looked in last year’s Hot Fuzz, but this one still has some entertainment value if you’re just looking for Bond to be really mean, and get down and dirty as he’s taking out the bad guys.
4. On Her Majesty’s Secret Service – Bond at the most human that he ever was in this series. Sure, most people forget about George Lazenby’s one time as 007, but this one has really aged as well as any of the other Bond films have over the years. In fact, Bond has to be so believably human in this movie and has to convey so much emotion that I wonder if Connery’s forceful Bond would even fit this movie in the end. All in all, this one is the most underrated Bond of them all.
5. For Your Eyes Only – Roger Moore’s films were usually less about subtlety and more about how ridiculously entertaining his movie’s could be. Fortunately, after Moonraker, the Bond producers decided that they couldn’t top 007’s space adventure and decided instead to try and bring him down to Earth. The way they did it was to strip away his gadgets and put Moore in a hardcore Spy adventure where the Russians try desperately to get their hands on some English Intelligence equipment. The result is a rock solid Moore entry with the most bad ass moment of his entire run; cold bloodedly kicking over a car teetering off the side of a cliff, bad guy wishing he’d taken the day off.
6. Die Another Day – Alright, so the end of this one is pretty over the top, with invisible cars and fortresses of ice, but what I really like about Die Another Day is that this 20th Bond Adventure was like a celebration of 007, starting out like a low-key Bond film, ala From Russia with Love or On Her Majesty’s Secret Service and then ending huge like Moonraker or You Only Live Twice. Brosnan to me was always like a combination of Connery and Moore, and here he gets to show off his stuff like never before.
7. From Russia with Love – Connery’s best acting performance as Bond, with 007 having to face off against a S.P.E.C.T.R.E. plot without the army behind him, but instead having to rely solely on his wits and gusto.
8. Goldfinger and The Spy Who Loved Me – I’m recommending these two Bond pictures simply because they are as awesome as 007 gets on screen. Seriously, these two are near perfection and are as fun to watch as any pop masterpieces ever committed to celluloid.
Alright, now that’s a pretty decent lineup for those getting ready for some Bond goodness at the end of the week. Lets hope the movie is even half as awesome as Casino Royale, and we should be ok.
Now back to the hitlist, and here’s what we’ve got so far.
20. The Professor, played by Clive Owen – The Bourne Identity
19. Alex, played by William H. Macy – Panic
18. Terry Tsurugi, played by Sonny Chiba – The Streetfighter
17. Maguire, played by Jude Law – Road to Perdition
16. Hanada Goro, played by Jo Shishido – Branded to Kill
15. El Mariachi, played by Antonio Banderas – The Mariachi Trilogy
14. Jaws, played by Richard Kiel – The Spy Who Loved Me
13. The Terminator, played by Arnold Schwarzenegger – The Terminator
12. Red Grant, played by Robert Shaw – From Russia with Love
11. Jason Bourne, played by Matt Damon – The Bourne Trilogy
10. Jules, played by Samuel L. Jackson – Pulp Fiction
9. Martin Q. Blank, played by John Cusack – Grosse Pointe Blank
8. Vincent, played by Tom Cruise – Collateral
And without further ado,
7. Ghost Dog, played by Forest Whitaker – Ghost Dog: Way of the Samurai
“The Way of the Samurai is found in death. Meditation on inevitable death should be performed daily. Every day, when one’s body and mind are at peace, one should meditate upon being ripped apart by arrows, rifles, spears, and swords, being carried away by surging waves, being thrown into the midst of a great fire, being struck by lightning, being shaken to death by a great earthquake, falling from thousand-foot cliffs, dying of disease or committing seppuku at the death of one’s master. And every day, without fail, one should consider himself as dead. This is the substance of the Way of the Samurai.”
There have been many instances of hitmen on screen who have taken to the Samurai code to find their inspiration (a few of them have appeared on this list and are still yet to come), but few have taken this mantra as literally as Ghost Dog does in this movie. Though he didn’t win many accolades, this is my favorite Whitaker performance, a totally self sufficient bad ass; part Samurai, part Terry Malloy from On the Waterfront, and all dedicated to the will of the Mafioso who once saved his life. This is a quirky flick from Jim Jarmusch (big surprise), but there’s a real heart here, and we get to see the film maker tell this story as if he were looking at the Samurai pictures of 1960’s and 70’s much in the same way that Tarantino does with Kill Bill, just through a lens that’s more geared toward an urban setting.
6. The Bride, Played by Uma Thurman – Kill Bill
“Looked dead, didn’t I? But I wasn’t. But it wasn’t from lack of trying, I can tell you that. Actually, Bill’s last bullet put me in a coma – A coma I was to lie in for four years. When I woke up, I went on what the movie advertisements refer to as a ‘roaring rampage of revenge.’ I roared. And I rampaged. And I got bloody satisfaction. I’ve killed a hell of a lot of people to get to this point, but I have only one more. The last one. The one I’m driving to right now. The only one left. And when I arrive at my destination, I am gonna kill Bill.”
Remember last week when I said that performer benefited more form Quentin Tarantino’s scripts than Samuel L. Jackson? Well, if there’s a second place finisher, I’d say its probably Uma Thurman. In fact, unlike Jackson, who’s been in some pretty high profile hits and had some pretty memorable performances outside of QT’s universe, Uma’s filmography can be downright miserable when you get outside of her Tarantino work. Batman and Robin or Be Cool anyone?
Still, no matter what she does from now on, she’ll always have this film under her belt. What I‘d like see is a Kill Bill prequel, where we get to see the D.I.V.A.S. killing fools on Bill’s orders, because just getting to watch the Bride kick ass like she does in these movies, you know a team of these bad asses would be awesome to watch. As for the Bride herself, to sort of borrow a line from J.T. Walsh in Blade Runner, she’s a goddamned one-woman slaughterhouse, taking out other super assassins as she wills to do so, usually in spectacular fashion, such as a one on 88 sword fight, or by making it more personal, like using the five point palm-exploding heart technique.
Aside from the bad-assery too, is a nuanced performance from Thurman who gives us equal parts cold-blooded killer and meditative scorned lover and mother. This is one of the best female turns of the decade and the best kick ass one since Sigourney Weaver in Aliens. In fact the Bride is so awesome, that you actually forget at times that she is a woman, she’s just killer and one that you can’t help but get behind.
Alright, while I plan on finally finishing the list next week, there is a Bond film coming out, so who knows. At any rate, see you next week.
