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Each to their own. I'd take Glen's 5 (plus all his long and hugely impactful work prior to directing) over Campbell's 2 any day.
I recently listened to the audiobook of Nobody Does It Better, a compilation of interviews with people who worked on the Bond films (and that part's great) as well as "pop culture commentators" and "feminist lecturers" (somewhat less great). Soft recommend.
Anyway, they talk to Martin Campbell, and he's describing the novel of CR as being an origin story where Bond becomes a 00 at the end or something. I described myself as not being a fan of Campbell's years ago, earlier in the thread, but it seems I have confirmation that he never read the CR novel! That's incredibly odd.
My case against Campbell; He also directed Green Lantern.
Campbell has proven he can do spy and political thrillers and Edge of Darkness is what put him on the radar in the first place. He brings some energy and focuses primarily on performance which works and I think this energy combined with the 90’s deconstruction/analysis of Bond is what makes GE work.
All this said there’s the original big names and then there’s everybody else. I wish the original key creative team members would get more credit from non-fans and the public. Without Young we literally wouldn’t have a series or its identity, Hamilton was responsible for refining and focusing so much, Hunt was the lifeblood in the editing room before getting the chair, Gilbert did the spectacle-making it a grand entertainment and Glen could very much do whatever story he was given.
In comparison to the other directors of multiple Bond films, that's a tough one.
Terence Young obviously stands above and beyond in the early series work.
Lewis Gilbert is often underrated. His films leaned towards the OTT elements, but his style had a lovely epic feel.
John Glen, the polar opposite of Gilbert, but again, underrated. He really knew how to direct and frame action scenes.
Guy Hamilton, I have always found overrated personally. He found lighting in a bottle somewhat with GF, but even that, and his other Bond films have a fairly pedestrian look in comparison to some of Young and Gilbert's look. He lacked flair, and an eye for great cinematography.
For me I put Campbell in the top 3 Bond directors (alongside Young and Hunt), I think when you successfully launch the era’s of two different Bond actors with such great direction, than you deserve lots and lots of credit. I think Campbell was the best director of both the Brosnan, and Craig era’s however.
Hamilton's flair almost always is dealt out over the course of the film's story I'd argue. You get this in his non Bond films too which are usually hit or miss with varying audiences of today. While he was the opposite of Young he did bring an refining element that hadn't been there before.
I think the best examples are in the extras where Guy will suddenly explain how certain ideas came about and one goes: How did he come up with that?
But the best must be taking one look at Desmond Lewellyn on set, stopping his acting to tell him that in regards to 007: "You don't like him. He doesn't treat your gadgets with any respect." In the space of a minute or two Q's character emerged fully formed.
Against Martin Campbell: He kept Judi Dench on as M. What's wrong with that is there was no balance in trust. She was always talking down to him and he was always going against her. That's why I didn't pity her in Skyfall when she died.
GE was the first Bond film I saw, CR was the first one I saw in theaters! So I'm biased as well!
Martin Campbell and Famke Janssen Goldeneye live watchalong on IGN December 29th.
Well I know what I’m doing on the 29th!
2020 seems to have been the year of Goldeneye streams it seems!
I really enjoyed PB's watchalong, off work on 29th already set a reminder.
So did I, he’s a very calm and smoothing presence. Also enjoyed some of his on-set stories and antecedents.
Charming and likable chap similar to Sir Roger, I for some reason thought PB watch along was last Christmas though it was in April during lock-down, its been a very long year.
He really is. I adore that man’s personality. It has been a long year, but thankfully it’s almost over. The GE Stream was one of my highlights however.
Same here, I also hope Campbell can be brought back to kick off the next era.
For: CR. Perfection.
Against: GE. Mediocrity.
Have you not seen any of his other films? :))
I think The Mask of Zorro was a lot of fun. Other than that I don't really like any of his films outside of Bond. Admittedly I haven't seen all of them...
Yes, his filmography is dotted with far worse films than GoldenEye. Green Lantern and that film about aid workers immediately spring to mind.
The first Zorro he did was a lot of fun - an exciting, well made swashbuckler with great action and a great cast. I did like The Foreigner, Vertical Limit and Edge Of Darkness though, too.
I guess it depends when the interview was recorded..? If it was recently I could forgive him remembering the film script more than the book.
Honestly I don’t think I have.🧐 But I thought this was focused purely on Bond.
The Foreigner was decent enough. But I think that’s all I’ve seen of his portfolio.
Yes I listen to that all the time, the love theme is fantastic. The song is actually quite a guilty pleasure of mine!
The sequel is no way as good, and does have strong annoying-kid factor, but it's not awful. And it has that awesome opening sequence with Zorro whipping onto that half-built bridge.
I thought it was quite funny that Campbell went from Bond to Zorro, and then actually gave Zorro a gunbarrel sequence!
That's cool. I just was being a little cheeky; it must be the holiday season booze!
And yes, @mtm - I do have a soft spot for that song. It's the type of tune that wouldn't be out of place at a wedding but it's so well performed that I don't particularly mind. I remember Marc Anthony, but I can't remember the name of the female performer offhand. She was great though.