James Bond in China

In the extraordinarily unlikely event someone does not know this about me, I am a serious James Bond fan. Although before arriving in Beijing I could list all twenty-one of the James Bond films, in order, by actor, and year, I could not have told you that James Bond had never before been shown in the People’s Republic of China. Of course, it made sense: James Bond movies likewise were never shown in the Soviet Union until that nation’s collapse because of the anti-communist slant of most of the Bond pictures. With Pierce Brosnan’s movies portraying the Chinese military ready to destroy the British navy, and an aggressive North Korean enemy, I suppose I can understand why Bond would not find a ready audience in the Chinese censorship boards.

It was with delight, then, that I read that the twenty-first, and newest, Bond film, Casino Royale, had been cleared by the Chinese censors to be shown in China. Of course, bootleg copies of all the previous Bond films existed on every street corner, and a complete set of the 007 movies was permanently on display in Peking University’s gift shop. Casino Royale marked the first time Bond would officially grace the silver screen in China–one of only fifty or so western films shown each year.

While this next paragraph will probably destroy what little credibility as a “serious” student and observer I had going into this blog, I think it necessary to fully understand the personal significance of this particular viewing. Starting with multiple viewings of Tomorrow Never Dies in 1997, I had made it a point to see each new Bond film on opening day, and then several more times with various friends and family. The most recent film, Pierce Brosnan’s Die Another Day, released in 2002, I had seen four times in theaters. Thus, with a four year wait between Bond films, a new James Bond in Daniel Craig, and what looked to be a fantastic adoption of Ian Fleming’s first novel Casino Royale, I was quite excited come November of 2006. During fall semester, I found time to visit the theater four times to see Casino Royale–great, but not compared to Die Another Day, which was a fundamentally weaker movie. I knew I had to see Casino Royale at least once more, and when I read that 007 was coming to Beijing, I had my opportunity.

The film premiered in mid-February, and the day after the premiere, I read in China Daily, the English-language propaganda piece, that Daniel Craig and Eva Green themselves were in Beijing the night before to promote the movie. I thought it somewhat funny that the closest I had gotten to an official James Bond event was in China, but suppose it was good that I hadn’t found out, lest I had tried to board a city bus to find the theater and ended up hopelessly lost.

I did have my chance, however, that next Friday. Four of my friends agreed to join me, and after getting some directions to the biggest English-language theater in town and an odd moment where we chased one of the girls down a street as she searched for a drink, we hopped in cabs and drove off. Sure enough, at the “UME Theater Complex,” a massive corner building with blue neon lights, was the Casino Royale poster proudly displayed for all to see.

Films in China, depending on location, are roughly western priced. The ticket for an English language film, in a major theater, in their biggest screen, ran to seventy yuan–which, I had to keep reminding ourselves, was still less than ten bucks, beating out D.C. prices. Smaller theaters had student discounts or lower prices, but such places did not show in English. The ticket box was much more high-tech than I would have guessed. After ordering the number of tickets, the agent asked us where we would like to sit, pointing at a graphic of the theater’s seating layout, with shaded seats representing the already-bought seats. We selected row number two, and walked in.

It was amazing–easily the largest traditional movie screen short of an IMAX that I had ever seen. It was so big, I had to cran my neck back the entire film just to see the entire screen. But let me say this: James Bond, on a stories-high screen, with surround sound, is awesome. For the native folk, Chinese subtitles were helpfully displayed at the bottom.

Although the media had touted the film as “unedited,” I caught a few subtle changes. Most prominently, a line by “M” was changed from “I miss the Cold War,” to “I miss the old days.” A sequence where Bond enters an embassy was digitally altered to make the building a company. Finally, several of the most violent or intense fight sequences were trimmed by a second or two. Although I caught them (perhaps a sadder commentary on me than on the Chinese censors), it did not diminish the movie. I am glad that the Chinese were finally able to experience James Bond in theater, as it was meant to be seen.