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ROBERT COTTON
I like the idea behind Moon/Graves far more than the execution. The first time I sat through DAD I thought Grave's cocksure performance barely functional. It wasn't until later, looking the film over that I started to find Graves workable. His shoulders first walk, his sudden "model on the runway turns to the camera" looks started to grow on me. I started to look at these physical actions as how Moon THINKS westerners carry themselves, therefore he exaggerates these motions to make himself fit in. It gave me a new respect for the actors involved. Still, the dynamic between Moon and his father would have worked far better had the character assumed the stance and manner of his previous incarnation. That being said, Moon/Graves still works, but only to a point. Zao was incredibly unimpressive. Please, a good dermatologist could get those freaking diamonds out with a chemical peel. Just awful. Miranda Frost was useless to me. She fulfilled a plot function and seemed half thought through. BILL KOENIG Z Z Z Z Z Z z z z z z z z... PAUL BAACK No disrespect meant to Will Yun Lee and his character Colonel Moon, but Gustav Graves is the real villain of this piece. DAD was the first out-and-out science fiction Bond film since 1979's Moonraker, and Toby Stephens' excellent, though flamboyant, acting in the role has sadly been overlooked by most fans. It's not an easy thing to compete with all the explosions, CGI cartoon sequences, and general noise level of this outing, but he mostly holds his own, and comes out a reasonably good villain for the series. I think his legacy will be the one-day classic sword fight sequence; his place in James Bond history is secure.
Zao is among the creepiest-looking of Bond villains. Unfortunately, he's not given much to do that Miranda Frost is a welcome return to the femme fatale model of Bond villain. Played by the lovely Rosamund Pike, Frost lives up to her name as an icily beautiful female spy who can bed and betray 007 with equal aplomb. "Sex for dinner, death for breakfast" is printed on her business card, I believe. |
ED WERNER
I agree with most people, that this film is actually two separate films, one before the ice palace and one after. However, Moon/Graves is consistent  throughout the whole movie. Brilliantly played by Will Yun Lee (Moon) and Toby Stephens (Graves), they combine to produce a truly memorable villain not seen much since the sixties! The two fights between Bond and Graves, at Blades and in the Antonov plane, are very well executed. The dialogue between Bond and Graves crackles with an unmistakable chemistry. The movie has some major faults, but Graves, though maybe just a little over the top, is definitely is not one of them.
TOM ZIELINSKI This one gets a bit complicated, what with the gene therapy clinic that can change a person's appearance necessitating two actors as the same villain. No matter, Will Yun Lee (Moon) and Toby Stephens (Graves) both shine as one (two?) of the best realized villain(s?) in the entire canon. DAD does have some problems in its second half, but the villain(s) are not the reason. I loved this film when it came out. Still do. Rick Yune is very good as the henchman working for Zao/Graves with the added elements of having been disfigured at the hands of Bond, and his conditional release from a British prison in exchange for Bond's. This adds a depth of character not often if ever seen in a Bond henchman, and works very well. Zao's appearance, diamonds embedded in his face, is as strikingly memorable as it is unlikely.
The delicately beautiful Rosamund Pike is |
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