Movie Discussion! - Page 120

Octopussy - Criminally underrated. Admittedly, one has to be a fan of Roger Moore’s slightly wackier Bond era to really appreciate it, but for those of us who don’t take our Bond too seriously, it has everything one could want. Kamal Khan is a great villain and Octopussy a damn interesting anti-hero. The locations are exotic, the action scenes are intense, and Moore plays it beautifully cool. I liked the Soviet plot tie-ins and the finale is simply superb. Granted, the Tarzan yell was a bit much.

Dr. No - Absolutely classic. The slower pace really works here, in my eyes. Suspense is built up nicely before the final island assault and confrontation with one of the greatest Bond villains. I love how the audience gets a sense that Bond succeeds by being very clever (placing a hair on his closet, setting up an ambush for Dent) rather than just being lucky, as some other films seem to convey.

Goldeneye - The best of both worlds. Goldeneye, in many ways, sticks to the tried and true Bond formulas of its predecessors while modernizing the series and introducing a villain with more depth and more personal ties to Bond. The Tank chase scene is brilliant and Xenia Onatopp is another amazing villain. Boris was completely unnecessary, but this is otherwise a great film.

The Spy Who Loved Me - I struggled over whether to place this above or below OHMSS. While both are very good, they’re so different that it’s tough to directly compare them. While OHMSS is one of the more different films of the early franchise, TSWLM could be accused of being rather formulaic. It has the gadgets, it has the girls, it has the nuclear annihilation plot, etc. What makes it great is that, while few of the individual pieces may be novel or unique, they’re spun together beautifully in a very well-paced film. Jaws shines in a way he never really does in Moonraker. Some may roll their eyes at the disco-like themes, but I think they worked.

On Her Majesty’s Secret Service - Highly unique and worthwhile. Lazenby is probably the weakest Bond (though not terrible), but OHMSS is driven by a more interesting plot and love interest than most of its peers. I found the first half of the film a bit weak (and the editing for some of the fight sequences pretty awful), but the second half more than makes up for any initial stumbles. The final fight with Blofeld is especially great.

Casino Royale - Even if I don’t quite like the direction it’s heading, I have to admit that this is a very good “reboot” to the series. The introduction is stunning and the action sequences are some of the best in the franchise. The Bond/Vesper relationship is very well acted and written. That said, I’m not a huge fan of Craig’s rougher, unsophisticated Bond. I also felt that the film tapered off a bit towards the end (weird pacing, thought the scenes outside the hospital were a drug-induced dream sequence or something the first time I watched it). That said, a very solid work that still retains some of the classic Bond spirit (before QoS gets even more humorless).

Thunderball - A fairly strong Bond film. The pre-title sequence and the spa scenes are hilariously great, but the underwater stuff is a bit much and the pacing might be a little off. There’s plenty I like about Thunderball, but I can’t say there’s enough I love to place it any higher.

Diamonds Are Forever - Pretty good. Great villain duos- Mr. Wint and Mr. Kidd, Bambi and Thumper, Blofeld and… well, Blofeld. The plot was interesting and I liked the generally campy tone. That said, the acting could have been better, the locations weren’t very diverse, and there are plenty of Bond films with better action sequences. A flawed but worthwhile entry.

Goldfinger - A little disappointing. Not a bad film by any means, but I was a bit let down by the hype (and the amazing theme song). I thought it was a fairly average Bond film with a lackluster villain. Goldfinger has personality, but he just isn’t menacing. Rather than treat him as a mysterious Blofeld-type character, you’re introduced to this overweight buffoon who is painfully unsubtle about cheating at cards and golf. Oddjob is one of the highlights for me.

Moonraker - Yes, it is over the top, but I can’t bring myself to hate it. Behind Jaws biting through cables, attempted G-force simulator assassination, and a Gondola chase is a classic, fun loving Bond spirit that may not be perfect in execution, but can be damn entertaining. Once they get into space it takes a bit of a nosedive. Protip- having actors move very slowly does not accurately recreate a zero-gravity environment.

You Only Live Twice - Starts strong, but begins to falter 1/3 of the way in. I love Japan, so this movie had a headstart to getting into my good books, but still couldn’t quite make it. It gets pretty crazy, but it isn’t really the “fun crazy” that many of Moore’s films (and Thunderball) capture quite well- the tone is a bit too serious for the material. Large portions in the middle feel like tedious filler (Bond undergoing cosmetic procedures and getting married, for instance) that don’t really advance the plot and aren’t very entertaining. I did enjoy discovering the source material for many an Austin Powers parody.

Quantum of Solace - Ok… clearly weaker than its predecessor. Forgettable villain, forgettable plot, and the action sequences involve too many flash cuts. I like the Bond girl and the whole “Bond goes rogue” thing was interesting to try, but I think Rob Gonsalves’ critique of Casino Royale is much more applicable to its follow-up: "When you strip the 007 films down for action and 'realism,' you lose the soul of those old beloved Bond movies – they might as well be Jason Bourne movies."

For Your Eyes Only - The first 2/3 of this film are actually fairly good (of maybe I’m just a sucker for those recurring Bond skiing installments ), but I think it takes a very sharp nosedive beginning with the atrocious underwater fight scene. Roger Moore’s Bond also feels a little “flat” in this installment for some reason.

Live and Let Die - Bond does Blaxploitation… this can’t end well. It has its good moments, but fails more often than it succeeds. There are two kinds of ridiculous: fun ridiculous and this-makes-no-damn-sense ridiculous. Moonraker had the first, to a somewhat excessive degree, while this has the latter. Does Mr. Big really have a trapdoor for every damn table in every damn restaurant he owns? Is a funeral procession that attracts the attention of 100’s of witnesses really the most efficient way of going about murder? Don’t even get me started on the hick sheriff. I think Solitaire is one of the best Bond girls, but she isn’t quite enough to make this a very worthwhile endeavor.

From Russia With Love - I realize I’m in an extreme minority here, but I just couldn’t see what was so special about FRWL. Unlike with Dr. No, the slow pacing does not work for me. I didn’t find the plot especially compelling, and occasionally I was just plain confused (the scene in the Hagia Sophia). The Bond girl is completely unappealing to me… I don’t understand how/when she somehow ceases acting and falls madly in love with Bond. Yes, the section on the train is quite good, but the rest of the movie is sorely lacking to me. Whoever edited the helicopter scene should be fired- it feels like the same damn flyover shot from different angles played over and over. I’ll have to rewatch this again soon because I just can’t understand how this is often considered the finest film of the series.

The Man With The Golden Gun - Does pretty much everything wrong. I can’t like or respect the Bond girl, as she’s completely whiny and incompetent. The ending is very anti-climactic. Reminds me of A View To A Kill- find a phenomenal actor to play your villain, waste him on one of the worst films in the series.

A View To A Kill - Awful. Just plain awful. Stacey is dumb as a stump, May Day is terrifying (in a bad way) and no one really gives a shit about horse-racing. Above all other flaws, AVTAK commits the most heinous of all crimes a Bond film can commit- it’s often just plain dull. Such a waste of Christopher Walken, the only saving grace in this cinematic wasteland.