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Unfortunately, LTK has none of that, which may be why Dalton's run is the least remembered by many.
And Dalton is pretty much remembered as the one who stole Bond from Brosnan.
You think? I've never heard that myself. I think it'd take a real fool to view Dalton in that light.
I think quite a bit of why Dalton was never embraced by joe public was because it was expected that Brosnan would take over from Rog and that didn't happen.
So I think the idea that Dalton stole the role from Brosnan is some peoples eyes has some validity despite that not being the case, Dalton stepped in when Pierce's situation didn't allow him to be Bond.
Brosnan in retrospect was more fortunate following Dalton rather than Moore. Tim had a far more harder job convincing people this was the direction it was going in when a good percentage of the population had become so used to Rog's flippant, humorous millionaire playboy routine.
Brosnan was following someone who at the time was considered the miserable boring one by large number of people inside and outside the fan base, rather than the much loved established one that Tim had the job of doing.
Coming back to QOS but I think this is the film that is most like the Dalton era, for me this is LTK if they had been able to dispense with the tropes and the ticking of the boxes and just made a gritty thriller, very different to what had been before.
LTK is shackled with still wanting to be a traditional Bond entry at least QOS keeps to it's convictions and the tone throughout is balanced whereas LTK is all over the place.
You get rid of that bar fight and having to have Desmond's Q in the field and that ludicrous bag of the lamest gadgets of most likely the series, bar possibly the cine camera gun and just have Bond operating on his wits and improvising rather than needing Q branch and LTK would be a much better film.
I will acknowledge that Craig got far more in the line of freedom and room to interpret the character than Tim ever did, EON just didn't have the faith in anyone to break from the routine. Craig was there at the right time Dalton wasn't but that doesn't mean I don't think Craig didn't handle or play a much better version of darker and more layered Bond, I still stand by he did, Craig is a much better cinematic Bond than all his predecessors bar Connery.
As QOS having generic action scenes, I'll give you that the sink hole sequence is utter rubbish and feels totally out of place and the dog fight scene that leads up to it but after that I'm struggling to come up with anything else, especially bar the PTS in the light of SPECTRE's unremarkable set pieces, give me the visceral PTS chase to 2 cars casually chasing each other around an unrealistically desolate Rome.
The Mitchell chase I wasn't initially a fan of and I wish they'd slowed it down a tad and also the boat sequence isn't amazing but for me the PTS is gold the opening sweep across Lake Garda is genius as it launches into the action. I also love the tension, danger outright violence of climax in the desert.
You have the great interactions between Bond and Mathis, Gianni is great in CR but I think he's even better here, it's a shame he dies but has some have said his death makes him that more memorable and he leaves wishing you had more rather than you think they've just overused him.
Craig is superb from beginning to end, Bregenz is not just a highlight of the era but the series full stop. Some say Bond shouldn't be elevated to high art but this such beautifully shot sequence, the whole scene from the moment Bond steals the tux is wonderful.
Also the scene where Craig disables a whole lift of Agents to escape being taken back to London so he can continue to pursue Greene, this confident dealings with him also running into M and she realising he's right and deciding to back him. Although it's meant to be sometime after you can see why she is so sentimental on him as Mallory puts it in Skyfall, she trusts him and knows he gets the job done.
It's also why despite some people looked at SF as somewhat of a soft reboot I still buy into the idea this is the same Bond from CR & QOS but later on. I also had this feeling before Mendes and the script writers retconned things to make it this way.
The relationship between Beam and Leiter is beautifully played by both Harbour and Wright, that scene in the plane with Greene is terrific.
That gets me to poor Dominic, while he's never likely going to be recognised as a great Bond villain by joe public, his character came in for regular criticism around the release of the film for being boring and unremarkable.
Mads while not flamboyant and old school Bond villain like Silva, still remains for me the highlight of the Craig era when it comes to Adversaries. I do prefer White & Silva to Greene but I really like that slimy reading of Greene, he's not much of physical presence but he's subtly sinister.
That fight at the end is interesting as he's no match for Craig but his caged animal routine makes him no less dangerous. Also when he tells Meldrano what he's just signed and what will happen to him if he doesn't cooperate is just delicious.
QOS is bookend with 2 of the best scenes of the film the PTS already mentioned and Bond tracking down Yusef and bringing the Vesper element to a closure.
Also Arnold's score is his best of the series, I do prefer CR & SF but especially in light of SPECTRE I have quite a bit of respect for QOS. I've said it before but in some respects QOS has the best written dialogue of the Craig era, some beautiful interactions between the characters.
No clunkers like little fingers or blatant product placement, save maybe the stationary line and I'm not a fan of the GF homage, with that taken into account QOS would land in my Bond top 10.
By the general public certainly. At least when Dalton was cast and until 1995.
I wasn't up on all the goings on, but certainly had heard of Brosnan at least, and knew of Remington Steele (even though I had never watched an episode - not sure when it was shown in the UK or if it even was). I think it's because there were some media comparisons between Remington Steele and Moonlighting, which had just started airing. There was something about Brosnan that looked like Bond at the time, at least in the photos I had seen in magazines.
I had no clue who Dalton was prior to seeing his face as the new Bond. I think this was the very first shot I saw of him (not sure where it's from):
http://i.imgur.com/4YxRHlC.jpg
The only person to court a substantial backlash when inheriting the role was Craig. There are only so many excuses one can afford Dalton, however slight, before they start to sound a little hollow.
I think Craig inherited the franchise under the easiest conditions, but maybe that's another one for the controversial thread. ;)
What excuses? The Craig era has been infinitely more successful, so no one has to defend it with 'what ifs' and 'what could've beens'.
He had a more violent backlash when cast and I will always say that he truly had to earn the role (and did). However if he had it rough at first Brosnan's star had waned and his tenure already analyze with critical eyes. But I will also say that Craig was far more comfortable playing Bond than his last two predecessors.
If he had a more conventional look, I'm sure the initial backlash wouldn't have been so dramatic, because many knew the Brosnan era was metaphorically firing blanks by that time (ignoring box office receipts).
With Dalton, there was always the shadow of Brosnan over his tenure, as I remember it.
Perhaps that's apathy clouding your memory. I was 11 when GE came out and I distinctly remember discussing him way before that with primary school friends (at least a few years prior).
Never heard of Brozza or Remmington Steele prior to GE. As you said Remmingston Steele never got much attention in the UK.
I think if our lovely and somewhat cancerous internet had been around to see Lazenby braving the role with Sean out of the game, we'd read some of the most disparaging and nasty posts you could imagine. Calls of, "Who does this Aussie pissant think he is" would resound everywhere, with predictions that Bond would meet his end without Connery on board to steer the ship. "This Lazenby is a model? A model?! Christ, did they just fish him off the street or something? That Connery is handsome, but he can also act."
Moore's era would've been met with comments that picked at the gradual lightness of some of his era, and the ensuing silliness. "Oh, so Bond just winks and raises his eyebrows at people now?" they'd say. "Back in the old days, my James Bond just got on with it and killed his enemies."
I'm sure Dalton's era would've been greeted with criticisms that Bond had changed too much again, if only because audiences had gotten so used to Moore in the role. The actor's lack of sex appeal and style would probably also be up for assault. "Who's this guy?" impotent husbands would shout. "My wife said she wouldn't hop into bed with him for a million bucks. She'd do Connery for free, though."
And eventually I'm sure Brosnan would've gotten his shellacking once the idea of GE saving Bond from hiatus and cinematic death faded. By the time TWINE rolled around there would be enough pain face memes to burst the internet wide open.
Dan definitely had a cold and barbaric reception, but he also had the full force of the internet coming at him like no other Bond actor did before. In many ways I think all of them had similar straits to overcome, if only because none of them were Connery. By default, they were in the shit.
Not that this is the place for this debate, but still...
In the summer of '86 it was all over the popular press his taking over the role and was on the cover of one of the best selling magazines in the U.S. Then suddenly this other relatively unknown actor gets it and, whether people knew the circumstances or not, some made Dalton a scapegoat. I have a friend who was and still is a Brosnan fan, had his pictures on his bedroom wall along with other heroes, and he never took to Dalton or his films and couldn't have been happier when Brosnan finally got his chance.
So I know from experience some minds were already made up as to Dalton as far as from a perspective here in the U.S.
I'm not sure I'd go that far, but it's probably one of my personal favorites, in terms of action.
First my thoughts on Dalton, he was inheriting the character from the actor who had played Bond the longest which I think added to the weariness of the public. Also Bond had been surpassed at this stage of action films by Lethal Weapon's, Die Hard and Indiana Jones of the world. Those films embraced humour and action and audiences loved it. Bond went serious and had less fantastical elements. Those films had colourful villains and Bond had Whitaker and Sanchez very serious and not very colourful villains. Dalton lacked the charisma and screen presence of some of his fellow actors. Remember his Bond was competing against Bruce Willis, Mel Gibson, Harrison Ford, Sylvester Stallone, Arnold, etc. He paled in comparison. Don't get me wrong he did great work as Bond but I think his lack of success is pinned to other events and circumstances.
Now back to what this thread is about. I recently re-watched QOS and it's improved over time for me. I think I had such high expectations after CR and remember thinking at the time that it wasn't CR. Now that time has passed I think its a solid film. Craig is terrific and the story is plausible. The lines for M and Leiter about the current state of intelligence are great humour. I love the Opera scene! Terrific and done exceptionally well.
It doesn't hurt that I am a Huge Gemma fan! I know she's recently said some things about the Bond girl thing but I love her in this!
I enjoy QOS and if I was to rank the films it would raise from it's last viewing.