[Just your average movie goer]

Hi all,

I thought with the new Bond film out at the moment, and with 007 back in the limelight, it might be fun to share our opinions about the various films that preceded it. Obviously, there are a lot of different views on the subject. For instance, some people’s favourite Bonds are at the bottom of other people’s lists. Some people like ‘Die Another Day’… um… which I guess they are legally entitled to. So let’s compare notes and see what we think about the various films. Feel free to comment on as many or as few as you like. Here are some of my thoughts…



DR NO

The first Bond film is pretty cool. While it’s dated now and some of it looks pretty B-Grade, it’s still entertaining and Sean Connery is in top form. Bond is a lot tougher in this outing than he is in many of others. Plus, Ursula Andress, while completely superfluous to the story and shamelessly thrown in at the very end of the movie for a bit of window dressing, is quite a treat for the eyes.

The movie does have its down moments though. The “Three Blind Mice” recital at the start of the film kind of throws you, as does the very western-looking Chinese bad guy. I’m not particularly keen on the ‘dragon’ either – I can’t see any good reason for it. Nor can I see any good reason why poor Quayle has to get incinerated by it. In fact, it looks like he was just knocked off so Bond and Honey Ryder could have some alone time. Oh, and the fight between Bond and Dr No when they’re both wearing radiation suits is comical. You could put them both in sumo suits and it wouldn’t look any more ludicrous.

Still, despite these things and the camp nature of the second half of the movie, it’s an enjoyable flick.



FROM RUSSIA WITH LOVE

This is my favourite Bond film and I think I’m not alone in that. For starters, it’s probably the film most grounded in the real world. It also has the best villain in Robert Shaw’s wonderful Red Grant – a villain every bit Bond’s equal and one of the few to get the better of him. He’s genuinely scary too, while being stylish at the same time. There’s also something romantic about movies with dramatic railway journeys. Such journeys have been the set pieces for more than a few good movies.

This film does have its drawbacks too though. SPECTRE is quite prominent in the plot and I’ve always found SPECTRE to be a silly and unwelcome part of the franchise. Blofeld and his white cat are very dated now and even the name SPECTRE sounds silly. Also, our wonderful hero really lets the side down in the scene where the Bulgarians attack the gypsy camp. Throughout the fight, he does the same thing over and over again – namely, going up to a gypsy fighting a Bulgarian and pushing them both over. He’s about as helpful as a hole in the head. Lastly, there is the poison shoe scene at the end of the film. That scene is just… well, sad.

Having said all that though, there’s plenty of great things in the film that more than balance it out. The locations are amazing, the story is rich and interesting. Bond’s Turkish ally is probably the best offsider he has had in any of the films – and he also brings a nice touch of humour to the role. Once again, we have a gorgeous leading lady in Tatiana and this time, we get a few more beautiful women at the gypsy camp. We also get a very good song for the opening credits with the instrumental ‘From Russia with Love’ track – and last but not least, it has Sean Connery.



GOLDFINGER

AKA - James Bond at the golf course.

When asked what the best film of the 007 series is, many people will cite this one. I’m not one of them. I’m more in agreement with those who say this flick is over-rated. The fans do have a lot of ammunition in their case – this is the first time we see the Aston Martin for instance and the film moves at a nice lively pace – but I was left high and dry by this outing.

There are some strange elements at work here. The biggest of these is the American setting which just doesn’t seem like a Bond locale. In the previous movies, Bond always went to exotic and romantic places. Not so, here. In his previous outing, Bond travelled to Istanbul and then went for an exciting ride on the Oriental Express through Eastern Europe. In this film however, he’s putting on the golf course.

Also, the other characters seem tame. Pussy Galore, while having what was probably the most outlandish name in the series, is far from an exquisite beauty. Odd Job, while amusing, would probably look more at home on an episode of ‘Get Smart’ than he does in this. Lastly, while a lot of people think the title villain is one of the best of the series, he didn’t do much for me either. He had some good lines for sure but most of the time, he just seemed like an overweight German with a temper problem. I also got the impression that he must have gobbled down lots of chocolate in his spare time.

Finally, there is the matter of the title song. Simply put, I don’t like it.



THUNDERBALL

AKA – The underwater one.

This is a mess. The story is inane – consisting of a series of pointless scenes in which Bond and the bad guy Largo muck around on an island, killing time until the end of the movie. Bond spends his time swimming just off the beach and avoiding sharks, while Largo spends his time feeding people to sharks in what looks like a private marine park. Actually, with all the sharks, you could be forgiven for thinking you were watching ‘Jaws’.

There’s not much to like about this film. In fact, there are just two things. The first is Domino, the main Bond girl, who is adorably cute and sexy. The second thing is the awkward moment when Bond dumps a dead woman on a bystander and the only line he can come up with is. “Could you take care of my sister for me? She’s a bit… dead.”

Everything else is downhill. Largo is a seriously uncool villain, who looks like a cross between a pirate and someone from ‘Days of our lives’. The underwater scenes that take up too much of the film are long, slow and uninteresting. You can’t tell who’s who most of the time because guys in wetsuits all tend to look the same underwater. They don’t say a lot either. There’s also something a little sick at work in this film. The scene where Largo feeds the man to the sharks seems particularly cruel and drawn out – almost as if the producers are enjoying it. Bond’s female CIA ally swallows cyanide to save herself from torture at the hands of Largo and poor Domino gets tortured, albeit only for a moment’s duration, because Bond needlessly put her in a dangerous situation. However, at the end of the day, the problem with Thunderball is that it’s just a bad movie.



YOU ONLY TWICE

AKA – Bond goes to Japan.

I like this movie and I shouldn’t. There are numerous reasons why I shouldn’t. SPECTRE features very prominently in this. We see Blofeld again, and this time we see his face. He strokes his white cat a lot, he lives in a secret volcano base and unlike his late-friend Largo, he kills his failed subordinates by feeding them to… piranhas! They may even have laser guns attached to their heads – but I’m not sure, since we never get a real look at them. In fact, there’s quite a lot of silliness in this film. We have a ‘Pac-Man’ vessel that gobbles up an American spaceship – and Bond even pretends to be Japanese at one point. I don’t think he could look less Japanese if he tried.

There’s also some more unnecessary nastiness in this film which I think we can safely blame on Roal Dahl, who wrote the screenplay. In particular, I don’t like the way in which the main Bond girl Aki is killed two thirds of the way through the film. This is especially strange since she is simply replaced by Kissy Suzuki immediately afterwards. There’s no reason why Aki couldn’t have done the things Kissy did at the end of the movie and the whole business is quite confusing.

So why do I like this film? It’s a very valid question in light of everything above. There’s a number of reasons actually. The story, while more far-fetched than anything from the previous films, is actually quite interesting. This is also the only Bond film I have seen where we actually get immersed in the featured exotic locale. The film-makers really show Japan in detail and the movie is better for it as it makes the experience that much richer. Furthermore, some of the lead characters like Aki and Tanaka are very good. In fact, I would say Aki is my favourite Bond girl. She’s beautiful, highly capable and she also has a sense of humour. Again, why they killed her off will always remain a mystery to me.

Finally, the opening song is great. It is enticing, it has a rich soothing melody (and coherent lyrics that can be followed) and it instantly sweeps you off to some exotic far away place. In fact, it’s my favourite theme song in the series.

All in all, there is quite a lot to like if you can suspend your disbelief and get past the film’s drawbacks. However, I can also see why a lot of people wouldn’t like it. This is definitely not one for everybody.



ON HER MAJESTY’S SECRET SERVICE

There isn’t that much I can say about this one for the simple reason that I’ve never seen it. In all my living memory, this Bond has never been on television and nobody I know has seen it either.

However, when I looked for some reviews on the internet, I discovered that a lot of people think very highly of it. Some people even cite it as the best of them all. It does its detractors though and in particular, George Lazenby (who plays Bond here for the first and last time) takes a lot of flak – both from people who hated the film but also from some people who liked it.

Not having seen it myself, there’s no way of judging whether Lazenby deserves this criticism or not – but I have a suspicion that he may have just been criticised for not being Connery, which is hardly fair.

Anyway, if anyone has seen it, feel free to fill the rest of us in.



DIAMONDS ARE FOREVER

AKA – Bond’s Las Vegas trip.

After telling everyone that he was never going to do another Bond, Connery is back – and after just one film. While this was officially his last Bond film, he did play the part once more in ‘Never say never again’. However, most people wouldn’t count that one. Firstly, it’s not part of the MGM series. Secondly, it’s just a lousy remake of ‘Thunderball’. Additionally, it was just made by some bitter nobody who somehow had the film rights to SPECTRE and ‘Thunderball’. Lastly, it sucked.

So anyway, Connery is back. Why he bothered though is anybody’s guess. Do you remember how I said ‘Thunderball’ was a mess? Well, this is worse. I have no idea what this was supposed to be about. All I can recollect is a series of silly random crap. There was a lot of Las Vegas stuff, Tiffany Case acting stupid and being annoying, a moon buggy chase, Bambi and Thumper… the list goes on and on. There’s also a scene with Blofeld trying to escape from a ship in the world’s smallest submarine, while Bond has him on the end of a crane and keeps hitting him against the ship’s side. Then to top it all off, we have some pudgy middle aged nerds (who look like they’re from Utah) who keep trying to kill Bond – even after the movie’s all wrapped up.

All in all, this is crap.





LIVE AND LET DIE

The black hole that is the Roger Moore period began with this film. Now, Roger Moore may be all right and I’m sure he’s a nice guy… however, he is not James Bond. He’s too old, too timid and he doesn’t look the part. However, for some reason, he ended up playing Bond in eight films – which means out of all the actors who played Bond, he played him the longest (unless you include Connery in ‘Never say never again’). Fortunately though, it wasn’t much of a waste because the films he was in were generally crap anyway.

Having said that though, his first entry is not that bad and the island setting and the more down to earth plot is actually a little reminiscent of Dr No. If you can get past Moore in the title role (why didn’t he cop all the flak that Lazenby did?), this is not actually a bad picture.

I do have two grievances with it though. The first is a ridiculously and tediously long speed boat chase. It just seems to go on and on. In fact, I can’t help but wonder if the director was just overdoing it because he loved speed boats. The impression I get is that he saw the things somewhere, decided they were the coolest things since refrigerators and just wanted to film them ‘til his heart was content.

The second grievance is an annoying red-neck hillbilly sheriff. The directors really should have known better. The only Americans in Bond should be his CIA contacts. What’s especially strange is that this annoying character comes back in the next movie. Didn’t they realise no-one liked him?

Other than that, this film is all right. It’s not great but it’s not the worst Bond I’ve ever seen.



THE MAN WITH THE GOLDEN GUN

This is the worst Bond I’ve ever seen. It’s also one of the worst movies I’ve ever seen period. The seventies maze, the irritating Spanish midget. Watching this movie was a horrible ordeal which I would not go through again, even if someone paid me.


THE SPY WHO LOVED ME

This one is better than the last and is fairly lively – but it’s pretty damn stupid. We have a bad guy who feeds people to sharks again, we have some thug who has metal teeth (one of the most absurd concepts imaginable) and lots of other crap. It’s better than the last effort but I wouldn’t bother watching this again.


MOONRAKER

Most people cite THIS as the worst Bond film ever. I’ll take their word for it. I’ve got no desire to see how bad these things are for myself. I made that mistake with ‘Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom’ – I’m not doing it again.


FOR YOUR EYES ONLY

I’ve heard some people say they like this one. I wouldn’t know. Roger Moore’s still in it though so there’s already a limit on how good it can be.


OCTOPUSSY

This is another one I’ve never seen but it doesn’t sound good. Some people have told me it’s even worse than Moonraker.


A VIEW TO A KILL

I haven’t seen this either but I don’t think I’m missing much.



THE LIVING DAYLIGHTS

After eight films, Roger Moore had finally gone. With his departure, came Timothy Dalton – who is actually one very cool James Bond. He’s tough, he’s edgy and he’s got the right look and the style too. It is unfortunate that he was only in two films, neither of which is particularly well-regarded.

This first one however was quite entertaining. It moved fast, it had an entertaining story and a new level of action and energy for the series. The finale in the transport carrier at the end was pretty spectacular.

It is however unfortunate that the Mujahideen Afghan fighters Bond works with at the end of the film would, in real life, become the Taliban. If you look past that though, this film is pretty cool.



LICENCE TO KILL

This film however is not cool. It is in fact very uncool. I used to think this was the worst Bond I had ever seen – and if I hadn’t seen ‘The Man with the Golden Gun’, it would have been. This thing is rubbish. In this film, Bond is one a personal vendetta against Colombian drug lords led by a acne scarred bad guy with absolutely no charm – and it’s about as far removed from a Bond story as you can get. This thing is more like one of those lousy ‘Bad Boy’ movies combined with ‘Mad Max’. If you haven’t seen this, do yourself a huge favour and don’t.



GOLDENEYE

This is the film that revived the series and it rocks. We have a fresh new Bond in Pierce Brosnan and he makes the character his own. He plays a different Bond to both Connery and Dalton but it’s a cool Bond nonetheless. This is also the film that brought the character out of the Cold War and it’s a nicely made transition piece.

Onatopp of all this, this is a big, boisterous and glamorous film with big set pieces and a really great ensemble of new characters. Judi Dench makes a very cool M, the excellent Sean Bean makes a very good entrance into the world of big budget films playing Alex Travelli – as does the sexy Famke Jamison as Xenia Onatopp. We even get Robbie Coltraine playing an ex-KGB agent. This film also brings us a great range of exotic locations as Bond travels all over the world.

All in all, it looks great, it feels great and brings Bond back to life in style. What can I say, I love this film.



TOMORROW NEVER DIES

This is a seriously under-rated entry. A lot of people slag this movie off and while the general complaint about the improbability of a media mogul as a Bond nemesis is a fair point, I still think this is a great movie.

It’s not heavy in the plot department and it wouldn’t be difficult to summarise the story in less than a page but if it’s an action packed ride you’re after, you can’t go past this. Basically, Bond knows who the guy he’s after is and just gets straight into shutting him down step by step. Occasionally, some of those steps seem unnecessary – for instance, doing a high altitude low opening (HALO) jump from a plane in the stratosphere when sneaking in on a fishing boat would have sufficed – but Bond’s never been one to do things the simple way.

No, this is just lightweight good rollicking fun. We have a cool parking lot car chase, an exhilarating motorbike chase through the streets of Saigon and a great pyromaniac finale. When you throw in Michelle Yeoh as a female Chinese counterpart to Bond and a classic blonde European henchman, you’ve really got a great mix. To be perfectly honest, my only complaint with this one is that Teri Hatcher’s in it – you know, the mixing of too much Americana in the martini that spoils the drink. Oh, and it’s pretty funny when Bond just goes up to Carver at the beginning and basically tells him that he knows everything he’s doing. “I’m interested in your satellites and the way you’ve positioned yourself globally. You could even send a ship off course with your technology, like the Devonshire for instance, sink it and then frame the Chinese, pushing China and Britain to war so you can get better media ratings." He could have just said, “It was you, wasn’t it? We know you did it. Everyone knows you did it. It was you.”

Still, all in all, this is a really entertaining addition to the series.



THE WORLD IS NOT ENOUGH

This one is a bit hard to remember clearly. A lot of it seems to be a big long blur, something to do with an oil pipeline, a terrorist with a bullet in his head and a long drawn out double-cross. I can’t even remember enough to know if I like it or not. I did like it at the time, I recall, but it certainly didn’t leave a lasting impression. Robbie Coltraine was in it again and he was great again. There was also a very impressive ski-sequence (of which there have been quite a few in the series). However, is it good or bad? I honestly can’t remember.



DIE ANOTHER DAY

I can remember this one though. It was bad – really bad. It opens with some unnecessary scene with Bond getting captured in North Korea and spending thirteen months there. We get a truly awful Madonna song (which is also truly awful even FOR a Madonna song) and then we get a series of the most inane and annoying pointless crap. We have a ridiculously over the top villain played by one the most irritating over-actors in the business. We have a hopelessly contrived plot wherein this very British villain is actually a North Korean who underwent genetic alterations. Thrown into the mix is some more bad acting from Hale Berry, an invisible car and an obnoxious loud scene in which Bond takes this car up against a henchman who also has a super armoured car. On top of all that, we have some terrible blue-screen surfing and a long series of scenes that seem designed purely to annoy the viewer.

This film is just lucky that “Licence to Kill” and all those Moore-bombs were made. Otherwise, this would be the worst. Sadly, as it stands, it’s the fifth worse. It does however have the distinct privilege of taking a series that was enjoying a successful revival and burying it into the ground.



Okay. That’s my five cents. That was a couple of long posts, I know, but I hope it wasn’t too boring.

Over to you guys.

[Icey]

I've seen all the Bond films quite recently and I still can't see why everyone hates the License. To me, that was the best film, including like, those wild character arcs, a personal vendetta and death to those bloody gadgets and lasers. To me, the gadgets and that crap was always what magic is to fantasy. Bond is stuck in a lionpit? Oh thankfully he has trousers that melt into lion deotorant that Q gave him.

Not so there, the only gadget that did anything, was the Broom-Radio.

Also, Benicio Del Toro.

And regarding Roger Moore, hell yes, there are moments where I love him, rare moments. Golden Gun, he promises some kid money if he assists him get a speeedboat running. He assists Bond only to be rewarded by Roger kicking him out of the boat. View to a Kill, well, I hated him there, but I like Christopher Walken and Duran Duran! In Live and Let Die his shine was stolen by a cool title song and the black CIA dude, saving Bond's arse in Harlem, replying to Bond's "there's a lady there with cards." with the awesome "yeah, I know, they were all spades."

Totally agree on Tomorrow Never Dies! Never got where they hate came from.

The Utah Nerds, I felt they were the best part of it in a surreal way, it was like "hey, these dudes should be on Little Britain." Which is very much an insult to everyone involved.

The World is Not Enough? Shite, utter and complete shite, the only thing I liked was the good start and Robert Carlyle, before Bond met him that is. They went like "License was ballsy, lets try being ballsy too by killing the cool Russian dude and holding M hostage!" It failed as where in License to Kill, James was running on anger and frustration, in TWiNE works on the logic that M shagged her way to the top and has never, ever used her head for anything except for just that. Head.

Will get back to this thread later, I have much more to say, I think.

[Just your average movie goer]

Cool. Thanks for clearing my head about 'The World is Not Enough'. I suspected it might have been one of those films where the second viewing reveals it to be crap.

While you won't sway me on 'Licence to Kill' (well, not without a lot of martinis anyway), you've got a good point about the gadgets. And it's also one of just two films in which we get to see Dalton as Bond. I think we'd both agree that Dalton was seriously underused.

I love the 'Little Britain' connection you made with the Utah nerds, by the way. I definitely see it, now that you mention it.

Lastly, I'm glad I'm not the only "Tomorrow Never Dies" fan out there.

[Lord Aquaman]

Cool. Thanks for clearing my head about 'The World is Not Enough'. I suspected it might have been one of those films where the second viewing reveals it to be crap.

While you won't sway me on 'Licence to Kill' (well, not without a lot of martinis anyway), you've got a good point about the gadgets. And it's also one of just two films in which we get to see Dalton as Bond. I think we'd both agree that Dalton was seriously underused.

I love the 'Little Britain' connection you made with the Utah nerds, by the way. I definitely see it, now that you mention it.

Lastly, I'm glad I'm not the only "Tomorrow Never Dies" fan out there.

JYAMG! Good to see you again! "On Her Majesty's Secret Service" usually comes on TV when they do Bond marathons, but probably gets the worse time slots as it lacks Connery and/or Moore.

Anyhow, yeah, I agree that Oddjob in "Goldfinger" was not all that. The fight between Oddjob and Bond in Fort Knox at the end looked hopelessly inept when compared to the fight between Bond and Grant on the Orient Express in "From Russia With Love". The fight between Bond and the guy in drag in the opening of "Thunderball" was better than the Fort Knox fight, although "Thunderball" did have the hot nurse as one lone redeeming feature.

Yes, it is a shame that Timothy Dalton only got 2 Bond films.

I have a confession to make: Octopussy is one of my guilty pleasures. Yes I know Roger Moore is not a good Bond and it's not a good film, but for some reason watching Octopussy puts me in a good mood.

[Helena]

I'm going to take a lot of flack for saying this, but I don't like 'Goldeneye'. I just don't. It's too overtly, self-consciously modern (yes, we all know the Cold War has ended, there's no need to constantly bash us over the head with it) and too fucking PC (Bond pursuing Moneypenny rather than the other way round? Oh, please). Brosnan is a good actor, and I like some of his other Bond films better, but they just didn't have the distinctive style of the older movies - by the time of TWINE Bond had basically turned into Generic Hollywood Action Hero #605512.

Although I think Connery was probably the best Bond overall, my personal favourite is probably 'The Living Daylights'. I'm not sure if that's because it's the first one I saw all the way through, or because it's one of the few where Bond does some actual spying rather than just getting into firefights and car chases. I rather liked the romance in that one as well, mainly because the Bond girl was an ordinary person for once rather than some flashy seductress, and Bond genuinely seemed to care for her.

I'd also have to defend 'Licence to Kill'. I agree that as a Bond film it's not great, but I don't think it's that bad a movie in itself. The basic premise - Bond takes revenge on a drug lord after Leiter is tortured and left badly injured - was actually taken straight from Ian Fleming's novel 'Live and Let Die', only here it's stretched out into the main plot of the film. Maybe I just like it because it features so much of Felix Leiter, who was a major player in many of the books, but appallingly sidelined in the films.

My personal choice for worst film would have to be 'A View to a Kill'. Sure, 'Moonraker' is a terrible film, but at least it's mildly amusing to watch - 'View to a Kill' is just awful. Roger Moore was in his mid-50s by the time he made that film, and it shows; watching him get it on with the (much younger) Bond girls is just plain disgusting. It also features a dreadful script and the most idiotic, bimbo-ish Bond Girl ever, even beating out Denise Richards.

[civilian_number_two]

"A View to a Kill" offers the added insult of being a virtual remake of "Goldfinger," substituting gold bricks for silicon chips. It's bad, bad, bad.

I really like Goldeneye, but can appreciate all of your criticism, Helena. However I can't take them too seriously since after all Roger Moore had turned the whole franchise into a silly series of action romances, with sci-fi supervillains and ridiculous gadgets. So I like Goldeneye because it was essentially true to form (with some PC liberalism splattered about), and had fun action, a great villain, and some of the most beautiful women the series had ever seen.

The new "Casino Royale" I think is my favorite James Bond film so far, even if half the movie is about poker. I haven't read the book, but I doubt the game they were playing was no-limit Texas Hold'em. Oh well; I suppose teaching us the rules of Baccarat would have been a harder sell. Apart from that though I really liked the action, and the film promises something for the future of the franchise. I actually want to see how this guy does in upcoming films. However I agree with anyone who says that less high-stakes action in favour of a little real suspense would be an awesome change of pace.

[Just your average movie goer]

JYAMG! Good to see you again!

And a cheery "Good day" to you too, Aquaman.

By the numbers...

Regarding the whole "On her Majesty's Secret Service" enigma, I did some quick internet research on its conspicuous absence from television Bond marathons and from what I've gathered, it's never on television at all. Period. The mystery continues.

Although, I've just spent an enjoyable two hours watching "You Only Live Twice" and I came to the conclusion that I can probably get by quite happily without "On Her Majesty's Secret Service". You see, at the end of "You Only Live Twice", our last glimpse of Blofeld is a desperate man pulling the self-destruct lever on his volcano base - and I for one am happy to assume that he went down in the blast, wrapping up the whole SPECTRE plot in a nice neat little package. Now having assumed this, I don't see any need to unravel that package again with "On Her Majesty's Secret Service" - doubly so because if I do unravel it, I'd have to watch the start of one of the Roger Moore movies to wrap it up again.

Regarding 'Octopussy', I still plan to stay well away from that film for the reason that I was told in no uncertain terms that it was far worse than "The Man with the Golden Gun". The conversation went a little like this:

"The Man with the Golden Gun is the worst Bond I've ever seen."
"Watch Octopussy. It's worse."
"But that's impossible. I mean, The Man with the Golden Gun has got that seventies side-show alley maze, the horrible midget, the annoying sheriff..."
"I know this but Octopussy is worse."
"Um... is it worse than Moonraker?"
"Oh, compared to Octopussy, Moonraker is a barrel of fun."

So I've decided I'll stay clear of that one.


Helena, I'll take your criticisms of "Goldeneye". They're all valid enough. But I still love it though. It's not classic Bond but it's pretty damn entertaining for something that came out of the nineties - much better than Terminator 2 or The Titanic for instance.

But I'm with you all the way on Bond in "The World is not Enough'. After some forced memory recollection, I now realise how truly badly that film sucked. I also remembered that it completely wasted Robert Carlyle, an actor who's so good, he could have played Bond himself (not that the producers would ever go for it - but I think he could have pulled off a very nice interpretation of the role).

Also while it's not my favourite film, I wholeheartedly agree with the things you said about "The Living Daylights". It's a good solid story with strong characters - and the point you make about the girl is quite right. She's a nice, intelligent girl and Bond really cares about her. Again, it's a shame Dalton wasn't used more.

With "Licence to Kill", I still don't like it. I hate acne-man and I hate the "Mad Max" finale on the truck (the man exploding in the decompression chamber is also really uncalled for). However, I'll give you the bit about Felix Leiter though - and I'll admit to feeling a tinge of excitement when Dalton announced his intentions to go AWOL with the "Farewell to arms" line. Regarding Leiter being sidelined in the films, I think that may be because they had so many different actors playing him, that nobody could work out who he was by the end of it.

Regarding "View to a Kill", I have a small question.

It also features a dreadful script and the most idiotic, bimbo-ish Bond Girl ever, even beating out Denise Richards.

Is she more idiotic than that irritating girl in "The Man with the Golden Gun"?

Civilian, thanks for backing me up on "Goldeneye"... and I look forward to seeing the new one. It's still not out in Australia. However, I'll take some comfort in the knowledge that no matter how long we have to wait for it, we'll get it before Japan does (I know this from first-hand experience).

A pity we won't learn how to play Baccarat from it though.

This post has been edited by Just your average movie goer: 04 December 2006 - 06:53 AM

[SimeSublime]

Ahh, Baccarat. I actually knew how to play that as a child, but I have no idea now.

I'm going to keep this short, as it's late and I haven't seen any Bond movies in years.

Firstly, I have to say that I liked License to Kill. It was the first Bond movie I ever saw, and as such it holds a warm place in my heart. Add to this it contained Timothy Dalton, who is just an awesome Bond.

Secondly, I'm not a huge fan of Goldeneye. I don't think it was a bad movie, I was just very dissapointed in it. Judging from your comments above, that's going to seem quite odd. But I played the game 'Goldeneye' before seeing the movie. Usually, games based off movies are rubbish, but this is one of the exceptions. In fact, it's one of the best games ever created, so good that the movie is just pathetic in comparison. So, whilst on it's own terms the movies is brilliant, to me it just falls short.

I have to add, that I HATE Roger Moore as James Bond. He's just absolulty terrible. He doesn't look the role. He's not suave, he's not sophisticated and he completely lacks any form of charm which Bond is supposed to ooze upon all in a 5 mile radius. And he thinks he can make up for it with bad puns. Really.

[Helena]

Regarding "View to a Kill", I have a small question.
Is she more idiotic than that irritating girl in "The Man with the Golden Gun"?

Yes, she is. (It's a very close call, though.)