die another day is arguably so bad that it killed a franchise that had, at the point, lasted forty years and produced hundreds of millions of dollars of profit. it was out of morbid curiosity that this title was picked up, alongside the very first bond flick, dr. no, as part of the "buy bond, get bond" free offer thats currently in commision.
the sight of james bond surfing whilst holding onto a parachute is one that i will not forget in a hurry, though not necessarily for the right reason. add to this the concept of an invisible car (surely the deus ex machina of gadgets) and you have a film that is so bloated and smarmy that its no surprise that the producers went back to the beginning for the next film.
comparisons to joel shumacher's 'batman and robin' (1998) and the manner in which that too killed its respective franchise are apt, as both are great examples of a thoroughly modern phenomenon - the franchise with an ego. its fairly common for a filmmaker or a star to be accused of being self-indulgent with projects, but it was the hyper marketing of the nineties that brought with it the egotistical brand. at least the batman and bond franchises have been saved in recent times, but i cant help but think that this is cycle that will come around every few years with certain franchises.
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