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Dalton, in both outings, seemed to have a more committed relationship towards his Bond girls. Somewhere between Tracy/Vesper and practically all the others (maybe Tania or Domino come close too). It always reminded of the books.
Still, I think it's not a perfect Bond film. Let alone a perfect film. And because of that I think for instance "SPECTRE" and "Octopussy" are better films. These are the reasons why I think "TLD" is far from perfect. And let me make this clear. It's not because I dislike Timothy Dalton. Actually, he was a breath of fresh air for me:
--> Problem 1: "TLD" could have been a more risky, more 'radical' departure from "AVTAK". But sadly you see the influence of "Cubby" here. He refused to use at least parts of the "Casino Royale" plot. Instead, the screenplay was a bit too 'safe' for me, so that it could be easily molded onto a possible return of Roger Moore, but also for a new Bond by taking into account Sam Neill, Timothy Dalton ánd Pierce Brosnan. Most of the Moore-esque jokes and wit were left out, but not much 'Fleming-esque roughness' was re-introduced instead. Especially therefore and because of more 'radical' Bond films like "LTK", "CR", "QOS" and "SF"...."TLD" didn't age very well IMO.
--> Problem 2: Whereas "SF" and "SP" at times have a bit too much of personal background/exposition and therefore feel a bit 'crowded' plot-wise, "TLD" to me felt a bit 'hollow'. Especially when it concerns the villain's plot. Because in essence Bond uncovers a rather lacklustre plot of drugs-dealing (opium) that is financed by Russian advance payments for weapons offered by Whitaker. I always found that plot reveal a bit...ehh....dull. In "FRWL" S.P.E.C.T.R.E. is able to play out the West and the Soviets against each other with a very dangerously staged plan, whereas in "TLD" it's all about a rather boring villainous couple
--> Problem 3: And that's my main problem: Koskov and Whitaker. In "Octopussy" the stakes are much much higher, because of the scheme that General Orlov and Kamal Khan have devised, wheres General Koskov and Whitaker are just extremely dull. And frankly, I think the Craig-era of films bring back the real 'fear' and slightly more dangerous, but still believable villain plots. Le Chiffre, Silva, Blofeld.....they all 'trump' the 'villain department' when compared to Koskov/Whitaker.
--> Problem 4: A minor problem, but I still think the gadget-laden car chase, though great, feels a bit out of place. Destroying a Lada with lasers ("salt corrosion") is very Roger Moore-esque. It would have been better to have a more skillfully driven car chase, like the stock car chase in "OHMSS" or the PTS-chase from "QOS". Sadly, it didn't happen, so we had to wait until the 2000's before we saw a return of more 'back to the roots' chases.
--> Problem 5: The girl. I've never gotten into Kara a lot. Unless Tracy di Vicenzo, Vesper Lynd, Pam Bouvier, Pussy Galore and Madeleine Swann she's not so much the strong female equivalent of Bond. She always came across, at least to me, as a bit of a...ehh...how shall I put it....'naive girly whiner' :-/.
So because of all of the above, "TLD" is now 10th on my list.
Masterpieces!!!:
01 --> 9.5/10 --> 'On Her Majesty's Secret Service'
02 --> 9.3/10 --> 'From Russia With Love'
03 --> 9.0/10 --> 'Skyfall'
04 --> 8.8/10 --> 'Casino Royale'
05 --> 8.3/10 --> 'Thunderball'
06 --> 8.0/10 --> 'Doctor No'
Good films!:
07 --> 7.7/10 --> 'SPECTRE' (NEW !!)
08 --> 7.4/10 --> 'Octopussy'
09 --> 7.4/10 --> 'For Your Eyes Only'
10 --> 7.3/10 --> 'The Living Daylights'
11 --> 7.1/10 --> 'Goldfinger'
12 --> 7.0/10 --> 'Licence To Kill'
Average films:
13 --> 6.7/10 --> 'The World Is Not Enough'
14 --> 6.5/10 --> 'The Man With The Golden Gun'
15 --> 6.3/10 --> 'Quantum Of Solace'
16 --> 6.1/10 --> 'The Spy Who Loved Me'
17 --> 6.0/10 --> 'Diamonds Are Forever'
18 --> 5.8/10 --> 'Moonraker'
Fun stuff for us Bond fans, but as a standalone film bad and sometimes even stomach-turning!:
19 --> 5.6/10 --> 'Live And Let Die'
20 --> 5.5/10 --> 'Never Say Never Again' (non-EON)
21 --> 4.8/10 --> 'Tomorrow Never Dies'
22 --> 4.5/10 --> 'You Only Live Twice'
23 --> 4.2/10 --> 'GoldenEye'
24 --> 3.4/10 --> 'A View To A Kill'
25 --> 2.8/10 --> 'Die Another Day'
26 --> 1.2/10 --> 'Casino Royale' (non-EON)
The part that always cracks me up though is how aggressively Dalton swings the gun at Pushkin's girlfriend at 1.39. I mean what is she going to do?.....he'd already torn her top off...hardly a threat
He did something similar in the hotel room in LTK when Bouvier busts in on him and Q. Theatrical to a fault.....
God I loved his Bond!
Is it most well-dressed, or best-dressed?
Ouch... I can't agree with that. Other than Dalton's superb 3-piece in M's office his wardrobe couldn't hold a candle to Connery's in DN to GF.
I also like to point out that Brosnan, even though his plots were terrible, was always dressed rather good. But I guess that's beside the point of this thread.
Looking at that great Pushkin scene, I realized that if you consider the villains weak in this movie, which I don't, the allies sure make up for it. Pushkin, Kamran Shah and Saunders are top class allies.
I think people should not nitpick too much on costumes.
Sean was wearing tailored costumes that were fashionable in the 1960's
Moore was wearing tailored costumes that were fashionable in the 70's/80's
Dalton was wearing tailored costumes that were fashionable in the late 1980's
Brosnan was wearing tailored costumes that were fashionable in the 1990's
Craig was wearing tailored costumes that were and still are fashionable in the 2000's and 2010's
It's as simple as that for me. Personally, I don't like Dalton's suits. But that's because i kind of...dislike the late 1980's fashion ;-).
nothing.
:))