It's been a month since my last cinematic style (shameful!!! but exams got in the way) and while casting around for my next topic I had so many good suggestions - I still havent forgotten either Bianca's wish for a Gosling/Drive dissertation, nor Madeleine's pick L'auberge Espagnole, which is next on my list of films to see - but as I was sitting down to write this all I could think about was Bond, James Bond. I'm yet to see Skyfall and the anticipation is near crippling me, so I thought I'd look back at the style of what I think is an under-appreciated Bond girl. Denise Richards. Sure, she's no Ursula Andress (that bikini!) or Honor Blackman (that wrap top!) or Carole Bouquet (those green eyes!) or even Eva Green (that purple dress!), and I'm kind of jeapordising my own argument by talking about all the other great bond girls - and there are so many more! Talisa Soto!!! Sophie Marceau!!! - and I know that she was named the worst bond girl ever but don't you think that was kind of harsh? Seriously. There have been worse bond girls. Like. Whoever played Holly Goodhead in Moonraker. Just, Moonraker in general was a bad Bond movie. And if people have a problem with Denise Richards as a nuclear physicist then why doesn't anyone have a problem with Tanya Roberts as a geologist in A View to Kill - also another bad Bond movie. Answer me that, huh?
The thing is, I like The World is Not Enough, and I like Brosnan as Bond, and I like Denise Richards as Christmas Jones. I may be the only one, but hey, the 90s were good to me, and I'm rather fond of them. Besides, this series isn't really about acting or skill, it's about the wardrobe (otherwise I better find some reasons for why Alexis Bledel is in it) and man Denise Richards has a good wardrobe in this. The Bond Girl is supposed to be a pretty face, anyway, the distraction from the poker game. And what a distraction! Richards' first get up in army green tank top, shorts and hiking boots was that Lara Croft kind of sexy way before Angelina Jolie got her hands on it. She graduated from that to a non-descript military grade shirt, baggy black slacks that would make even Bassike proud and, like any good 90s nuclear physicist, a g-shock. Then - my personal favourite - all Britney in Stronger, with the tight cropped tee, the little baby blue sports jacket and a silver pendant winking against her clavicle. All that, and she scrubs up nicely, too. Her obligatory party dress isn't a floor-sweeping ballgown but a babydoll sequinned mini with all of that fantastic hair hanging down one side. All of them well executed, all of them both pure 90s thriller fodder and reasonably practical - it's those combat shorts and hiking boots, she's a scientist after all - at least more so than the wardrobes of some other Bond Girls.
And I guess I like her sheer American pluckiness when squared off against Sophie Marceau's fur-wrapped Elektra. It's like... the difference between champagne and coca cola. Sometimes you want one and sometimes you just want the other. So she's not a great actor. Whatever. Most of my favourites aren't. What we need of stars, especially in blockbusters like James Bond, is a pretty face and a nice outfit. And Christmas Jones gives us both.
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