A subreddit to discuss anything and everything related to Ian Fleming's James Bond 007.
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Reading this thread, it appears most James Bond fit the bill according to the comments lol
That's the secret of Bond's longevity. Coasting on a Gentleman's C for 60 years.
Never really got into Diamonds Are Forever.
It has a bizarre feel to it. It's basically a Roger Moore film, but Sean Connery is in it.
I prefer to think of it as a Tom Mankiewicz (sp?) film starring Sean Connery. The lead actor isn’t always the reason a film may not be to your liking, people.
That is one the best ones, all the old school Vegas that has since disappeared
Jill St. John??!!
Wint amd Kidd??!!
I always had a nostalgia like for DAF. Maybe it was just kind of the flip side of the hippie era. Maybe the kind of over the top story line and maybe Jill St John. She really hit it as a Bond Girl. The Bond I thought was full was Bond in For Your Eyes Only. Thought that was boring.
I don't know if it's controversial to say but I always had DAF towards the worse end of my ranking.
No, I think there's a lot of Bond fans who rate DAF towards the bottom of their rankings.
For me it's probably my worst film as Die Another Day has improved in my eyes in recent viewings.
Octopussy is this for me. So much of the film feels like it's on autopilot, from the rather lackluster plot, to Moore phoning in his performance, to side characters that basically just fill in stock roles (such as Vijay).
There's nothing particularly horrible here but it nothing on screen ever pops. Even the Q gags are feeling stale at this point.
I don't hate Octopussy, I'll happily have it on humming away in the background but it fits your question perfectly
Yeah, honestly knowing the 'contest' it had with 'Never Say Never Again', I'm fairly sure the film was just rushed out purely to have something to compete with it, and was probably put together with the 80s equivalent of AI script writing. Just hit all the usual tropes and points, don't innovate on anything, just do the absolute raw bare minimum required and call it a day.
Only good elements are the opening number by Rita Coolidge and Moore's acting in the circus scene. Vijay was likeable but died too quickly to give us any good scenes, and Octopussy was an interesting idea for a love-interest (can 007, a glorified 'policeman' as Dr No put it, fall for a dastardly jewel-smuggling criminal?), but they didn't do anything with it, and she ended up just being kinda forgettable as a result.
The Bond girl of the film being in no uncertain terms a dangerous criminal involved in the very conspiracy 007 is investigating has so much freaking potential. No twist, they both know where each other stand right away. Knowing the premise going in I was absolutely pumped for my first watch
And they just do sweet fuck all with it.
Yeah this is my 2nd choice after FYEO. I think a big mistake was not making Octopussy the legitimate villain. I like Orlov but Kamal Khan feels generic and completely unthreatening. A strong performance by an unexpectedly cast female villain (ala Tina Turner in Thunderdome) and this movie could have slayed.
Honestly, with how much of the plot was cribbing from 'Goldfinger', I really think they should've borrowed ideas from Anya Amasova for Octopussy's character. Have her start out as a jewel-smuggling villain who Bond is working to stop (to protect good old Britain and her delicate economy, of course), only for her sidekick Kamal to be the real villain of the plot, with Bond and Octopussy teaming up to stop him while still despising each other and making snide quips about how they'll kill the other as soon as Kamal has been dealt with.
Then by the end they've warmed up to each other enough that they're at least willing to part amicably... after a few more hours of 'polishing the jewels' together. Roll credits.
Strange, for me fyeo is far and away Moore's best bond.
While I agree on the "autopilot": A movie with Maud Adams and Kristina Wayborn as Bond girls can impossible be average ;-)
I just happened to watch this one last night, and I agree 100%. It's not awful, but it's just.. there.
I’ve seen all of them multiple times and I hardly remember anything about Octopussy besides the clown part
This sub loves Octopussy and I've never understood it. It sucks.
I would argue that the opening sequence pops
The more I think about it now, the more I want to change my answer to Octopussy.
I came here for this
Came here to say this. I always sort of enjoy it and then forget what happened almost immediately.
100% agree — this was going to be my answer also
I will respectfully, heavily disagree with your take. Octopussy is one of (maybe the most) misunderstood films in the canon. It’s a true Cold War thriller (oddly the only one of Moore’s tenure). It’s got a great, over the top villain in Orlov, a Bond girl that is actually much closer in age to Roger Moore (Maud Adams), and an incredibly tense climax in which Bond must somehow convince an entire room of people that they are about to be killed by a bomb while dressed as a clown. Octopussy is one of my most rewatched films alongside Tomorrow Never Dies.
I had an argument with an Indian woman about Octopussy once. We were at a 007 party, and she told me that she was dressed as 'the main woman', a busty Indian woman. The day after, I tried watching the movie, and couldn't even get through it, despite the evident promise of busty Indian women in it.
Saw Corbin opening night and all my friends were so excited, I almost remember the pizza more clearly than the film
Painfully is a strong word, but if I had to pick one: TMWTGG (other than Christopher Lee’s performance and a handful of other scenes)
I think I’d agree. Has all the ingredients to be one of the best, but somehow manages to be boring way too often
That is the absolute median film of the franchise. Some fun moments and performances, but it’s really just ok at best.
ugh the initials. I have no idea what you're talking about
Spectre. I was so excited to see it and I can’t think of a movie that has disappointed so much as that one.
I think all the praise about Skyfall’s cinematography went to Sam Mendes’s head because it feels like every shot in Spectre is trying to be a “wow what a beautiful shot” with no regard for pacing and excitement. Action SHOULD have some quick cuts. We don’t need a million wide shots of the train slowly going through the desert during this already overlong and slowly paced movie.
It drags on at the end too and is at least 30 minutes too long.
Its fundamental problem is the exact opposite of "It insists upon itself." The film doesn't feel like it's trying much: Bond's untouchable during the action sequences, the plot is predictable, there's little chemistry with the main Bond Girl, the villain doesn't get much to do, etc.
And they had that giant explosion that was (at the time) the biggest ever put on film… and it’s just so boringly shot. Bond and Madeleine just stand there watching while the explosion goes off in the background but it all feels so mundane and underwhelming.
Really bothered me that Bond got tortured in such a way that was supposed to destroy his hand-eye coordination etc. - Yet he immediately shoots up the entire lair and escapes in a show of skill eclipsing the rest of the series.
It completely wasted the opportunity to have him be vulnerable and have one of the most capable bond girls actually be useful for a change.
They absolutely wasted Bautista. They set him up as smart and cunning in his first scene and then he got reduced to standard henchman status
I saw it in the theater and it’s the first time I’ve ever felt bored during a Bond movie.
Thunderball is neither terrible nor particularly good. TWINE is too dull to be called average.
" Oh hell, let's just do what we always do. Hijack some nuclear weapons and hold the world hostage. Yeah? Good!"
Dr. Evil had it right. When you can't think of anything better, and don't want to go into outlandish cartoon territory, just steal a nuclear weapon and hijinks ensue. TWINE dared to be dumb, in my opinion.
I loved Thunderball when I was a kid. I thought it was the quintessential Bond movie. Now, it feels very paint-by-numbers
But the babes are all timers
Thunderball at least has whom a lot of us consider hands down the #1 Bond Girl.
Edit: Grammar.
I almost want to say NTTD sadly. It’s definitely ahead of Spectre and QoS for me, and it’s easy to watch and kind of unique for the Craig entries. But that also makes it feel a bit weird and the cinematography isn’t as mesmerizing as Skyfall & Spectre (with Mendes directing). Craig’s acting is great but his death, which I was actually looking forward to, kind of just feels tacked on and not totally earned.
Safin could’ve been cool but isn’t good, with a potentially cool villain plot just feeling confusing, like we missed something. It doesn’t help that Malek just mumbles his lines without being at all intimidating. Additionally, it’s weird to have this be the first Bond to have their movies somewhat linear, and do things like kill James Bond and give him a daughter, and the villain has no chemistry/personal connection with him.
I don’t hate this movie, and enjoyed it in theaters, it’s just kind of weird lol.
For my money, it’s Thunderball.
It has some good characters and moments like Fiona Volpe and the Jetpack scene, but I thought Largo was a boring villain, the plot felt pretty straight-forward, and the climactic fight in the water, while not bad, felt slow and restrictive.
The underwater scenes are SO SLOW. That's whats kills all the momentum of the film
People today don’t appreciate how difficult those underwater shots were to pull off. You are literally witnessing a world record. They had the most people under water at one time ever.
No doubt, but it drags by todays standards.
Finally someone else agrees. Thunderball is enduring
Man I used to think it was the worst, now it’s near the top for me!
Only bond film I fell asleep to during our watch of every installment.
Huh I think this is one of the best ones.
I personally find the first two connery ones slow and the last ones kinda lame. Goldfinger and thunderball is where it’s at for me
I agree
I think it’s worse than average.
Quantum of Solace
Truly the first 30 minutes are the best. Too bad a writer strike cooked that movie. They could have actually followed Vesper/Mr White and instead we got lost with Dominic Greene and the general. Good but pointless plot.
Yep that was exactly how I felt about the film too. Great opening but the rest of the film drags.
It's interesting you say it drags because I'd personally go with the opposite. Quantum always felt to me like it jumped around from scene to scene so quickly that nobody had any idea what was going on the whole film.
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Love Quantum. I will die on this hill.
Watch it again, the film is lean and great fun.
I hated that movie. When I saw it in the theater I could barely tell what was going on. Too much shaky cam.
Tomorrow Never Dies. Great story, great villain, mediocre henchmen, mediocre chemistry between Bond and Lin and half of the movie are shoot-outs. (Seriously, this "overuse" of automatic weapons in the Brosnan movies really downgrades them for me.)
I want to agree with the mediocre henchmen point, and I definitely see it with Stamper, but Dr. Kaufman will always be one of my favorite henchmen.
He’s just a professional doing a job.
He is a professor of forensic medicine. Believe me, u/TheDorkKnight53, he could shoot you from Stuttgart und still create ze proper effekt.
He is especially gut at ze celebrity overdose!
So am I
He can shoot you from Stuttgart und still create ze proper effect!
Wow, I respect your take but Tomorrow Never Dies is peak Bond for me.
Probably my favourite too
TND is so good on paper; and they some how managed to meh the heck out of it. Low budget, choppy editing, bad dialogue.
While not painfully average, and not a bad film, You Only Live Twice. It was the first film that felt like a series of action scenes that feel very dull. Ken Adams production design and Freddie "Lawerence of Arabia" Young's cinematography are excellent...but everything else just falls flat.
It's the first Bond movie to not have the directorial spirit of Terence Young or the storytelling style of Ian Fleming. I always thought it felt like it was made by people who felt like they knew what Bond movies were like without actually having seen any of them.
I’ve always found FYEO rather forgettable without actually being bad and have probably watched it fewer times than any other pre Dalton film. Might just be because it’s a bit more adult than the other Moore pictures though, so it didn’t leave the same stamp on me as a young kid watching repeats in the 80s.
Kicking the guy off the cliff is Moore's best moment as bond.
Had no head for heights.
Which is funny considering how much he HATED that.
I've also read he disliked Bond pushing that kid into the water but I don't remember in which film that happens.
I don't really buy FYEO as a serious, adult film. Just look at all the Bibi Dahl silliness, the "ah, l'amore!" line being uttered after Moore and Carole Bouquet awkwardly sit next to each other for 3min, Bill Conti's disco score and the matter of a certain delicatessen in stainless steel.
Sure, Cold War-espionage, "détente!" and all of that. It's an okay movie, I really like the climbing scene, the ski chase and the killing of Locque. That one is very Fleming-esque in design. But the end product is rather uneven.
I blame that on the direction. John Glen does a nice job of directing action sequences, but his tonal balance was always off, which became especially apparent during the Dalton era.
That score slaps though.
I’ve watched it a bunch of times, but still occasionally have trouble with remembering the plot.
Yeah, exactly that. A lot of it just feels like rehashed scenes and settings from other films somehow. Not even Bond films in some instances!!
I love every Bond film (almost). But FYEO feels like the first one in the series where truly nothing new was added. Other than perhaps a (somewhat refreshing) return to Earth after the excesses of TSWLM and Moonraker.