27 replies to this topic

[Veteran]

23. Die Another Day

22. Quantum Of Solace

21. Diamonds Are Forever

20. On Her Majesty's Secret Service

19. For Your Eyes Only

18. A View To A Kill

17. Skyfall

16. Octopussy

15. Licence To Kill

14. Tomorrow Never Dies

13. Moonraker

12. The Living Daylights

11. You Only Live Twice

10. The World Is Not Enough

9. The Man With The Golden Gun

8. Thunderball

7. Live And Let Die

6. From Russia With Love

5. Dr. No

4. Casino Royale

3. The Spy Who Loved Me

2. Goldfinger

1. Goldeneye

 

 

This was harder than I thought it would be. Feel free to criticise and then I'll explain why you're wrong.

[Twinrova]

I think Casino Royale is literally the only James Bond movie I've seen so here's my list:

 

 

 

1. Casino Royale

 

 

 

[Fin]

3. "Our Man Bashir", Star Trek Deep Space Nine season 4
2. Metal Gear Solid 3 Snake Eater
1. "You Only Move Twice", The Simpsons season 8

What's a james bond.

[Selena]

Yes, but what about the songs?

[Fin]

My list remains the same. Our Man Bashir comes last because DS9 didn't include a Bond song in their parody D=

[Egann]

Oh, god. Rating all the Bond movies is a daunting task. I confess I don't really think of them in terms of a whole series but which actor played Bond.

 

So what you're going to get from me is my favorite from each Bond Actor

 

Bond 1: Sean Connery: Goldfinger

Era Rating: A

 

Connery is probably my favorite Bond because all the movies are good at worst. But Goldfinger takes the cake because the villain actually had a really clever plan. Dr. No and From Russia with Love are close behind, though.

 

Bond 3: Roger Moore: Moonraker

Era Rating: B

 

Moore avoids being the first Bond to make a snoozer flick only by a technicality; I remember nothing about On Her Majesty’s Secret Service. He did make a couple good ones, though. I personally like Moonraker best because...well, I'm a sucker for henchmen redeemed arcs and SPACE MOTHAFUCKAS!

 

Moore is the first time Bond gadgets really started going crazy, though, for better or worse.

 

Bond 4: Timothy Dalton: License to Kill

Era Rating: C+

 

Really, Dalton had some unremarkable stories to work with. There's really not a lot to add.

 

Bond 5: Pierce Brosnan: The World is Not Enough

Era Rating: B

 

Brosnan leaves me torn. This was the first Bond to move in a more serious direction--a move I really like--but it also feels like it needs to be held to a higher standard for that reason. Mechanically all the Brosnan flicks are at least as good as Dr. No and From Russia, but they just don't feel as charismatic, even when they're being light-hearted. You can't meander around the plot and be serious at the same time.

 

Bond 6: Daniel Craig: Casino Royale

Era Rating: A-

 

I have a confession: I actually like David Niven's parody Casino Royale better than Craig's canonical take, but that's because Niven was amazing. The decision to use Texas Hold 'Em poker extensively was a bizzare one which only mostly works--Bond has a history of Baccarat, and while the revised version *mostly* works dramatically. Thing is, it's a Bond 0, so I expect it to be really good.

 

I want to like Skyfall more than I really do. It's only Craig's second Bond movie and the series just rebooted, so it feels odd for us to have a flick about how old Bond is.

 

The thing with the Craig era is that it has overplayed its hand to drama, to the point it's barely recognizable Bond. It's effective, but also a bit too melodramatic. There's also no meandering around the point, which I feel is a good thing. Bond plots have always been on the loose side, but the Craig era ones feel like they've been stuck in a vice.

[SteveT]

How can Skyfall be that low when you have Goldeneye so high?  Skyfall is practically a remake!

[Selena]

Vet, why Goldeneye above Goldfinger? Goldfinger is like... the Bond movie!

 

 

Is it the game? It's the game, isn't it?

[DarkJuno]

As much as I like Goldeneye and Casino Royale, I think my favorite's still From Russia With Love for some reason. Something about it gets me, despite that really bad green screen at the end.

[TheAvengerLever]

Really? Octopussy over Skyfall?

 

Here's a list of my favorite Bond movies in the order that I like them

 

12.The Spy Who Loved Me

11.For Your Eyes Only

10. On Her Majesty's Secret Service

9.License to Kill

8.Quantum of Solace

7.From Russia With Love

6.Thunderball

5.The Living Daylights

4.Casino Royale

3.Goldfinger

2.Skyfall

1.Goldeneye

 

Though that is subject to change order from day to day. The rest of the films I used to find enjoyment out of, but I wouldn't go out of my way to own them, let alone watch them again. They certainly have elements that I enjoy. Christopher Lee's Scaramanga was awesome. Half of Tomorrow Never Dies is intriguing, specifically the stuff dealing with the assassins, and Stamper was a pretty neat character. I'll watch the ones not on my list on television, but I wont go out of my way to view them in any way.

 

And as far as Fleming's books go, my favorites are Casino Royale, Live and Let Die, Moonraker, From Russia With Love, and Thunderball.

 

Seriously though, you didn't care for Skyfall all that much?

Edited by TheAvengerLever, 23 October 2014 - 12:47 AM.

[Kwicky Koala]

A couple of things surprise me about that list Vet, firstly you rank the Dalton films averagely, when I thought you disliked Dalton, and you put OHMSS so low, when I thought you liked that one? Admittedly the latter could be me misremembering, we haven't had a Bond thread in years.

I confess I have a major soft spot for OHMSS, it's perhaps the only film where I feel for Bond as a human being. And the fact it's Lazenby's only film... almost like being in love turns Bond from a cold-blooded Sean Connery to a warm, somewhat vulnerable Lazenby, and then after the ending he goes back to being Connery, grey haired and more cynical than ever.

Goldfinger is very good, it's the first Bond I watched all the way through and sparked my love for the series. Goldeneye is the only Brosnan one I like, probably because of the game giving it nostalgia for me.

Of the ones I've seen (and I haven't watched them over in maybe 10 years) this is how I'd rank them:

19. The World is Not Enough
18. Tomorrow Never Dies
17. Diamonds Are Forever
16. Goldeneye
15. Licence to Kill
14. The Man With the Golden Gun
13. A View to a Kill
12. Thunderball
11. Octopussy
10. For Your Eyes Only
9. Moonraker
8. Dr. No
7. You Only Live Twice
6. The Living Daylights
5. From Russia With Love
4. The Spy Who Loved Me
3. Goldfinger
2. Live and Let Die
1. On Her Majesty's Secret Service

This is mainly nostalgia talking though. And like Button says, most of the films are a mixed bag - there's usually something great in all of them, as well as something not-so-great.

Edited by Kwicky Koala, 24 October 2014 - 03:09 AM.

[Veteran]

How can Skyfall be that low when you have Goldeneye so high?  Skyfall is practically a remake!

 

Nah. The bad guy being a former agent is the only thing in common and of the two only Sean Bean is a believable former agent. Captain Gaptooth is a terrible villain.

 

Vet, why Goldeneye above Goldfinger? Goldfinger is like... the Bond movie!

 

 

Is it the game? It's the game, isn't it?

 

Goldeneye was the first Bond I saw in a cinema. It had a 12 rating, I saw it near Christmas just before my 12th birthday so it was also my first illegal cinema viewing.

 

Goldeneye gets above Goldfinger for a few reasons: female villain, callous dispatching of the big bad and tank chase set to theme music. Goldfinger is only let down I think with the being sucked out of a tiny aeroplane.

 

Really? Octopussy over Skyfall?

 

Seriously though, you didn't care for Skyfall all that much?

 

Octopussy at least has a crazed Russian General. Skyfall has... a fight in silhouette. Octopussy can't get too high up though solely because of the Tarzan call.

 

But no, I didn't like Skyfall at all. It was Home Alone. Actually a failed Home Alone since victory was not achieved. The only good part of Skyfall I found was the ending in the new M's office. I surprised myself not putting it lower down the list.

 

A couple of things surprise me about that list Vet, firstly you rank the Dalton films averagely, when I thought you disliked Dalton, and you put OHMSS so low, when I thought you liked that one? Admittedly the latter could be me misremembering, we haven't had a Bond thread in years.

 

You haven't misremembered, I do like OHMSS and I also have a soft-spot for it, but not in the same sense as I do for Goldeneye. I find it quite hard to re-watch. Lazenby looks the part and does a good job, I just wish his undercover voice wasn't as ridiculous. I also think watching it again reminds me of how the ending was utterly wasted. Not in terms of character development since Tracey is mentioned time and again, but that Bond's revenge is quite poor. He spends Diamonds Are Forever not suitably pissed off, and Blofeld's end is a comedy sequence in For Your Eyes Only (both low on my list).

 

Dalton I dislike as Bond - he's not good looking! He doesn't work as a womanizer. He's okay when pissed off or annoyed, other than that he was terrible, but his Bond films? Both of them are alright and have great plots. I only put Daylights ahead of Licence due to one of the villains being a weasel, their plan being better and Art Malik.

[SteveT]

Nah. The bad guy being a former agent is the only thing in common ...

 

That and being thematically about Bond dealing with the fear that he might be part of an outdated system and trying to prove his relevancy.

 

I would also rank "Tomorrow Never Dies" above "The World Is Not Enough."  To me, it gets points for being the most realistic James Bond movie--the villain is basically Rupert Murdoch.  You also seem to have a much higher opinion of Roger Moore than I do.  I felt like his movies were too heavy on the cheese.

[Veteran]

I admit to having seen Skyfall only once so I've forgotten how much it beats you over the head with Bond's age (strange focus for a reboot trilogy), although I only remember one mention from M in Goldeneye about this.

Moore's movies benefit from the best villains and secondary characters. Moore also dispatches bad guys with aplomb, I can only think of Connery killing Strangeways in Dr. No that rivalled Moore killing the bald guy in Spy Who Loved Me and the guy in the car in For Your Eyes Only.

[SteveT]

I admit to having seen Skyfall only once so I've forgotten how much it beats you over the head with Bond's age (strange focus for a reboot trilogy), although I only remember one mention from M in Goldeneye about this.

 

Well, it was the whole point of Goldeneye's first scene with M.  Also, recall that the movie was released in 1995, and was the first James Bond movie since the USSR collapsed.  The whole identity of James Bond, both the character and the franchise, was tied up in the Cold War.  M only had to say it once, because the audience had been thinking it ever since they heard the movie was happening.  The writers set out to answer the question, "Is James Bond a relic, or can we make him fit the modern world?" because that's the question the audiences were asking.

 

I think the reason they kept bringing it up in Skyfall was because the audience wasn't thinking that question.  They just got a new Bond, he was in good physical shape, his first movie had a great reception, and his second movie was only bad because of the Writer's Strike (and releasing it anyway).  People were happy to see a new Daniel Craig film with actual writers.  It had already been firmly established by Goldeneye that even though it's no longer a Cold War franchise, Bond does just fine fighting terrorists.

 

So they were absolutely thematically similar: Bond and M questioning his relevancy while fighting a threat from a former MI6 agent.  I am perfectly happy to agree that Goldeneye did a much better job of it, though, because the question had a lot more meaning at the time.

[Veteran]

Hmmm, you're hard to argue against because you make too much goddamn sense. I'll fall back and expand on an earlier analogy.

 

Skyfall degenerates into the ending of Home Alone (lay traps in house for nasty men).

Goldeneye degenerates into Die Hard (turns out to just be a robbery).

 

Die Hard > Home Alone.

 

QED.

[SteveT]

No further questions.

[Selena]

Skyfall gets a couple bonus points for the song, but I definitely thought "Home Alone for grownups" when I actually got around to watching it. 

 

 

 

I've got a soft spot for OHMSS, too, but that might actually just be a soft spot for Diana Rigg.

[Egann]

I'm torn on Skyfall. I love how its a serious Bond, I love how the gizmos weren't terribly overpowered and they take them away in the end. I actually wanted to like the villain...right up until he killed the Bond girl in cold blood. It's like the reverse of Goldfinger; instead of the villain NOT killing Bond being laughable, it makes him killing the mandatory token woman despicable.

 

That said, it overplays its serious hand. We get an implied Batman-Bond backstory which doesn't really add much to Bond's character. It just sets the climax in the moors like this is Hound of the Baskervilles. And yeah, there is a lot of Home Alone. It has a really loose meandery plot--like many Bonds do--which doesn't sit well with a serious story idea. It's like it's a clip show of ideas from everyone BUT Ian Fleming.

[Kwicky Koala]

Moore's movies benefit from the best villains and secondary characters. Moore also dispatches bad guys with aplomb, I can only think of Connery killing Strangeways in Dr. No that rivalled Moore killing the bald guy in Spy Who Loved Me and the guy in the car in For Your Eyes Only.

Vet you scoundrel, this thread made me go start rewatching the Bonds! So I just watched Dr. No, and Strangeways was the guy whose death Bond was investigating, you're thinking of Professor Dent for the callous kill.

Also the bald guy in Spy Who Loved Me appears in Dr. No too (well, the actor)! He's behind Bond in the scene where he's having dinner with the Dr. and later holds Bond while another guard pummels him.

[TheAvengerLever]

I've seen the Home Alone criticism bounce around the internet, but has no one ever heard of a siege movie before? Historically they are some of the best action/thriller movies you could watch. Night of the Living Dead, Assault on Precinct 13, Rio Bravo, Seven Samurai, Straw Dogs, etc.

 

Skyfall didn't draw from Home Alone in its finely crafted climax as much as it was building on the history of the siege film. It was a superb movie with superb characterization.

 

But Goldeneye IS the better film, I will give you that. It's just so damn good. That fight between Trevelyan and Bond on the satellite dish is just mesmerizing to watch, and it's probably the best fist fight in the Bond series.

[Selena]

It wasn't a bad film, and I know what a siege movie is. I just wasn't overly impressed.

 

 

Of course, I never cared much for the Craig-era movies. They always felt like they were trying to hard to be gritty and "serious" and angst-ridden. They had their lighter moments, but they're not much different from every other spy thriller on the market. So while they were decent movies, they were just kinda... disconnected from what I associated with Bond.

 

But that's a thing happening a lot**. Not just with Bond.

 

Charming/suave characters are out, brooding angst-ridden characters are in. To the point where once-charismatic characters get personality facelifts until they're brooding and mentally anguished. Khan from Star Trek had this happen to him, too. The original Khan was super-suave and aggressively charming. Always intense and passionate, but dangerously charismatic. The new Khan (in Into Darkness) was really brooding and emotionally constipated and angsty to the point of melodrama. If it weren't for the mutual pride and narcissism, they'd be entirely different characters.

 

Likewise, I find Craig's Bond to be a little too... stuffy and no-nonsense in comparison.

 

.........Although, that ironically makes him more believably English.

 

 

 

 

 

** Notable exception: Anything made by Marvel.

[Kwicky Koala]

So I got done rewatching the first 7 Bonds, which seems a good place to stop for now, and my ranking has changed. Here was the original ranking for the first 7:

17. Diamonds Are Forever
12. Thunderball
8. Dr. No
7. You Only Live Twice
5. From Russia With Love
3. Goldfinger
1. On Her Majesty's Secret Service

Now here is how I see it. This is based purely on how much I enjoyed the films, not really an impartial look:

7. You Only Live Twice

Wow, what a disappointment. I really want to like it, cause it's Bond in Japan, and what we see of the country is beautiful. The script isn't. I hate to say it, but it's boring. The dialogue is really bad, Connery just isn't trying, and the plot meanders. Things pick up a little at the volcano, but not much, and Pleasance's Blofeld is weak. The character was so threatening in FRWL/Thunderball...

6. Diamonds Are Forever

This was a nice surprise. I remember it being bad, and it's definitely flawed, but unlike YOLT, the dialogue works and is often genuinely funny (perhaps the funniest of all these), and Sean Connery is trying this time. For a "fantasy" Bond, this one is good - the plot doesn't make sense of course, but you're never bored. And who could forget Wint and Kidd? I actually want to rank this one higher cause of my pure enjoyment, but I can't quite bring myself to do it.

5. Goldfinger

This one has gone down in my estimation. It's definitely very good and has a great "Bond" feel to it I can't quite explain, but two things hurt it for me: firstly, Bond fails at almost every turn, and secondly, his relationship with Pussy Galore is downright worrying. They have no chemistry so it seems way too much like rape. On the plus side, Gert Frobe is the ultimate Bond villain... but why did he kill all those gangsters???

4. Thunderball

Brought forward by default to punish Goldfinger, this is a film I never really paid much attention to, but it is pretty good. It's too long, but other than that there is good chemistry between Bond and Domino and a decent plot. Largo is a bit too ineffectual, but Fiona Volpe makes up for that somewhat.

3. From Russia With Love

This one neither surprised me nor disappointed me, it was exactly as good as I remembered. Red Grant! The train car fight! Kerim Bey! Just a great film with all the requisite danger for Bond that makes a gripping thriller.

2. On Her Majesty's Secret Service

The soft spot is still there. Lazenby is definitely a weaker actor than any who has played Bond, but his slight woodenness gives him an everyman quality that's at least unique. And the plot is good, the romance sweet, Telly Savalas convincing... good stuff.

1. Dr. No

It's really weird, but this was probably the one I enjoyed the most, even though the Bond it gives us is embryonic - no Q or gadgets, no theme song, etc. But it felt more realistic, in the real world, than the other Bonds and that made it exciting to me. Not totally realistic - why would a mere mook take a cyanide cigarette rather than talk? Are tarantulas really the best method for killing people? And Bond telling Quarrel to fetch his shoes is just awful. But the rest of it is solid. I'm not saying it's the best Bond film, just that it was the one I probably enjoyed most. Even if I don't know why...

[Fin]

So between this thread and Film Crit Hulk's excellent series of Bond articles, I've had these films on my mind for a while and a few days ago I decided to bite the bullet and actually start watching them. Watching You Only Live Twice tonight, here's how the first four stack up.

4. Thunderball
3. Goldfinger
2. Dr No
1. From Russia With Love

Probably blasphemy to rank Goldinger so low, but to be honest aside from the iconic moments a lot of it just fell kind of flat to me. Also, agree with Catterick with regard to the Pussy Galore relationship. Honestly, these early films are kinda rapey in general though. =/ Tatiana Romanova is the best Bond girl so far. She feels most like an actual person with her own stuff going on. Also, From Russia With Love honestly feels the most like a real spy movie. I know that's not really what you should expect from a Bond movie, but damn it makes for a good watch when they actually do it.

Edited by Fin, 15 December 2014 - 10:10 PM.

[Veteran]

I agonised over my order of Dr. No and FRWL. In the end I decided Bond looked more pissed off in Dr. No and I tend to enjoy that part of him the most!

[Fin]

I agonised over my order of Dr. No and FRWL. In the end I decided Bond looked more pissed off in Dr. No and I tend to enjoy that part of him the most!

That's as good a reason as any! What I liked about Dr No was how they had to actually figure out how to make a Bond movie and sell it to the audience, so they spend more time actually establishing stuff and making it work than they do later. You Only Live Twice on the other hand just bored me. It had an everything-but-the-kitchen-sink feel to it which at times made things seem really cool, but mostly it seemed like everyone was phoning it in. I loved Pleasance as Blofeld though, and I have to admit the slow build of Spectre throughout the first five films was pretty neat and seeing it all payoff was inherently awesome, even if I, er, didn't actually like most of the individual films all that much.

Anyway, I just finished On Her Majesty's Secret Service. I really liked Lazenby as Bond! He sucks at delivering one-liners (it always feels so awkward!) but that really didn't matter for this movie. Actually, sometimes the bad one-liners felt goofy and awkward in just the right way and it added to his appeal. I also really admire the filmmakers for taking such a risk with this one. Recasting Bond was always going to be tricky at this point, and not only did they go in like the polar opposite direction of Connery but they put him in a film about Bond settling down and getting married. That was a hell of a risky move. Real shame how abrupt the ending was though. Tracy's death was effecting, but then the credits roll like right away. They really needed another scene after that.

Honestly though, the film kind of won me over with that playful fourth-wall breaking bit before the opening titles. "This never happened to the other fella."

[Kwicky Koala]

Christmas is a popular time to show Bond films here, so I took the opportunity to continue my revisiting the series by working my way through the Roger Moore era.

I must say, although I didn't necessarily identify with Connery's Bond, he was undeniably compelling. The problem with the Moore Bonds as I see it is that there is never really any sense that Bond is in danger. Sir Roger just glides his way through doing very little acting but a lot of punning.

Nevertheless, once the films came to an end I did realise he was very charming in a silly way. Being beaten over the head with 7 films I came to appreciate Moore's Bond while never rating the films over the Connery era, generally speaking. And this is from someone who loves the 70s aesthetic and doesn't really get the 60s one.

Before I watched again this is how I ranked the Moore films:

14. The Man With the Golden Gun
13. A View to a Kill
11. Octopussy
10. For Your Eyes Only
9. Moonraker
4. The Spy Who Loved Me
2. Live and Let Die

And now I rank them:

7. Live and Let Die
It's very hard for me to rank the Moore films since to me they're all flawed, but also all have decent bits in them. This one I loved as a kid, but really, it seems very embryonic somehow. America seemed a lot more charming as a setting in Diamonds are Forever... some have cried racism on this one, I don't know if I'd go that far, but it is very weird and inauthentic seeming. Putting Bond in a Blaxploitation genre would've required serious skill to pull off, and the writers just use it for effect mainly. The villains put in good performances though. Jane Seymour is an interesting Bond girl also. But overall a wobbly start.

6. The Man With the Golden Gun
The kinkiest Bond film, as one reviewer put it. Christopher Lee is pretty great, Bernard Lee is brilliantly irascible as M, and Moore... gets to wear some great 70s suits. I probably only rank this higher than Live and Let Die since I watched this one less as a kid so it seems newer. Also, worst Bond song EVER. It's the only Bond song from the classic era I want nothing to do with.

5. A View to a Kill
Another problem with the Moore Bonds is that they're all trying to be other films, with the possible exception of For Your Eyes Only. This one feels like an American action film from the 80s, with Moore pushing 60. Despite this there's still plenty of fun to be had, with great performances from Christopher Walken and Grace Jones. By this point though there's no real indication that Bond is a spy at all... he's just an ageing Roger Moore transplanted in California. His relationship with the much younger Stacey is pretty funny though (he makes her a quiche!)

4. Octopussy
Weirdly this is both the silliest and the most serious Moore Bond in some ways. The gags are so over the top and silly, but there are also scenes with some much needed tension, such as when Bond is being pursued by US soldiers while dressed as a clown, trying desperately to get to a hidden nuclear bomb about to explode. That's what Bond needs! For people not to believe him, not to fawn over him like they often did in this era. Again, a strong villainous performance by Louis Jordan. But I think India isn't used that well and the woman octopus cult is too fantasy and implausible (as is Q coming into a battle in a hot air balloon). See how hard it is to rank these?

3. For Your Eyes Only
You kind of have to give this one props for trying to do Bond "serious", the problem is it's rather dull. I don't think they got the balance right... style is always a part of Bond films, and after the excesses of the 70s this one seems a bit low budget, bland. There are some decent sequences like the key-hauling and mountain scaling scenes, but also a lot of boring bits like the whole winter skiing which goes on really long. Ugh, this could be number 5 easily. It's so hard to rank these.

2. The Spy Who Loved Me
Surprised? I love parts of this one, like the pyramids scene, but it should be said this highly rated Bond is not perfect by any means. I don't think much of Barbara Bach's performance for example... she seems very sleepy somehow. The final confrontation with Stromberg is quite low key as well. Still, you have to admire the style, score and confidence of this one. Which leads to my final pick...

1. Moonraker
Some say this is the worst Bond ever! Myself I respect it for its supreme self-confidence, late-70s chic, Bond girl I have a crush on, amazing stunts (the parachuting one actually makes me feel ill it seems so dangerous), great cinematography and big budget, a villain that matches Roger Moore in tongue-in-cheek delivery, and one of John Barry's most pleasing and romantic scores, doing great things with a non-top tier song. It's just glorious fun, and for me Moore peaked here. After this his films seemed a little too try-hard. But this one was perfect. Alone among these offerings, it carries me away with it to that fantasy land where I almost don't notice the gaping plot holes.

I've no idea how I'd slot these in with the Connerys and OHMSS...ah well. What is everyone else's take on Roger Moore. I give him credit for not trying to be Connery in any way (and how) but I never really believe he's a spy... and that takes a lot of the tension out of the films, which in turn weakens them significantly. Still, they're all fun romps mostly, just not to be taken all that seriously.

[Veteran]

I really like Moore as Bond because of how invincible he is. I like straightforward, effortless winning from my heroes, especially in movies when you don't need to drag out the drama like you do in TV. I enjoy an arc being the villain's unravelling rather than a hero's journey and that is pretty much what all Moore films are.

 

A View To A Kill gets a low score from me for two reasons: the treatment of John Steed, arguably the only other 'superhero' British secret agent - he dies in a car wash? For shame! The other is Moore's age. His bedding of both May Day and er... earthquake woman(?) are icky. This leads me on to:

 

For Your Eyes Only. The middle of this one is a giant lampshade hang over Bond's sexual adventures. It's out of character for him not to sleep with Bibi regardless of her age, and for him to reject the notion makes us wonder why this hasn't happened before now. It also serves to slap us with Moore resuming sexual adventures in the above.

 

But as I've said previously, all Moore villains are delicious.

 

Kananga - good scheme, good disguise, uses voodoo, tricks CIA with tape recorder. Defies laws of chemistry, biology and physics with death.

Scaramanga - what if Bond was evil?

Stromberg - uses an elevator trap, sharks, refuses to shake Bond's hand, rivals Blofeld for best secret base.

Drax - imported country estate, Hitler in space, best quotes (see below).

Kristatos - masquerades as an ally, only in it for money, likes winter olympics.

Kamal Khan - suave and polite, only in it for money, eats sheep, rides elephants, cheats at gambling.

Zorin - 80s Nazi youth, Lex Luthor inspired scheme, enjoys life even in death.

 

 

 

 

"James Bond. You persist in avoiding my attempts at planning an amusing death for you."

 

"Mr. Bond. You appear with the tedious inevitability of an unloved season."

 

"Just in time for the British's only enduring contribution to westernised society: afternoon tea."

 

(And I didn't need to look those up, I love Drax so much he's committed to memory!)

[Kwicky Koala]

Good points, but I disagree about the sex with Bibi thing. Bond sleeps with May Day and Stacey in AVTAK, who may be the same ballpark age as Bibi, but for one they're more emotionally mature, and for another those were different circumstances:

- Bond beds May Day as a cover, Zorin finds out Bond isn't in his room (since he's been snooping round Zorin's laboratory) and the only way to explain his absence at that point is to jump into May Day's bed, and act like he'd been waiting there for her all evening.

- Bond showers with Stacey after they've been through a lot together, and he's saved her life three times (and made her a lovely quiche!)

Bibi on the other hand just sneaks into his bed and displays a teenage mentality... if he'd slept with her it would just have looked wrong, like he was taking advantage of her. He's done nothing heroic to get to the situation.

[Fin]

I hope nobody minds me bringing this thread back. I watched the Moore era over the last couple of weeks and just watched Dalton's movies last night and just now. I pretty much agree with Catterick's ranking of Moore. Live and Let Die is by far the worst. I'm probably harsher than you, in that I absolutely do think the film is racist as fuck and it honestly makes it uncomfortable to watch. The Man With the Golden Gun is a little better, almost entirely due to Christopher Lee's fantastic performance as the villain, but there's something off. I think I just don't like Hamilton's take on Bond, for one reason or another.

A View to a Kill and Octopussy come next, though I'm not sure which order I'd put them in. Neither is all that great, but there are enough enjoyable moments in each that I'd be happy enough to sit through them if someone wanted to put them on. I'd be tempted to put A View to a Kill higher just because it has Christopher Walken and Grace Jones as the villains and Duran Duran did the title song.* None of these elements are quite played for all they're worth though, and Moore's age really lets this one down. He's phoning it in worse than in Octopussy and it's just harder to ignore that the dude is almost 60. Octopussy of course has the amazing scene where Bond disarms a nuclear warhead in clown makeup. It's an amazingly tense sequence and the clown outfit adds in this delicious surreal streak that makes this the best scene in Moore's entire run. The rest of the movie was... okay? I guess?

Then we get to the good stuff! The Spy Who Loved Me, Moonraker, and For Your Eyes Only are the most enjoyable string of films I've seen so far in Bond. None of them reach the heights of From Russia With Love and On Her Majesty's Secret Service, but they're each delightful in their own way. For Your Eyes Only and Moonraker are my favourites, the former for the amazing finale with Bond actually working with a small group to infiltrate the villain's hideout (and thinking of the rock-climbing stuff in that part reminds me of how awesome the stunt work was in this movie!), and I love Moonraker just for being so representative of how damn absurd the Moore era was. Also Jaws. Jaws is the best.

As for Dalton, I really liked how he played Bond, like a prototypical Daniel Craig. It's weird going from Moore to something grittier, but The Living Daylights was an immensely enjoyable spy thriller, managing to make it onto my list of favourite Bond movies alongside FRWL and OHMSS. Licence to Kill was... not as successful. Both were dark and gritty 80s films, but LtK felt way more generic (Bond goes rogue to avenge his hospitalised partner!). Neither of Dalton's films really felt like Bond movies, but I'll take a dark spy thriller over a gritty Lethal Weapon knockoff. At least the first one is a taking Bond in a sensible direction.

So, I'm about to enter familiar territory with the Brosnan and Craig eras. At this part I think it's worth noting that each actor with the exception of Moore has managed to deliver at least one really fantastic film, and I'm pretty sure GoldenEye and Casino Royale are going to ensure that trend continues. Moore makes up for this by having the most consistently enjoyable era so far. So I'm pretty happy to see that every Bond actor has brought something worthwhile to the role.



* Speaking of which, that title sequence is the most 80s thing ever!

Edited by Fin, 01 February 2015 - 04:42 PM.