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After the seeing the last two entries, SF and SP, my appreciation of Connery has increased. When they try to copy the Conneryisms it falls flat and hurts painfully. Do not remind me of the terrible scene where Bond meets Q in the art gallery in SP. It is embarrassing and so unfunny.
Where EON have gone wrong with the last two films, is that they are trying to fit the glove of Connery and Moore over Craig, and it does not work. Let Craig be his own style of Bond like in CR and QOS.
Connery's style cannot be bettered. Connery does not do it self-consciously. That is the difference. Those early films did it naturally, and with a sophistication. Are people telling me there are no writers in the industry who can invent new ideas of lines for Bond, just like they did in the old films.
But, my point, how can Craig be equal to Connery if at times he is copying the style?
Agreed. No self consciousness at all, unlike "circle of life". Regarding whether they can't invent new ideas of lines for Bond......apparently not.
I agree. Craig won with the acting which was magnificent. Connery won with an act (lighting a cigarette) and simply and casually uttering a line.
Thank you very much sir!!!
In fact, the recent two entries have highlighted that what we took for granted as being so easy in the Connery era, is not quite as it seems.
Goodness me, but, I think the coffin scene in DAF, is a work of comedy genius. That Saint Peter line delivery is priceless. And Roger Moore was splendid with his unique style, because it is a lost art. And I respect Dalton for not copying in any way his predecessors. Although I would give kudos to the Q scene in LTK which is excellent as well as original humour. Dalton plays that fantastic and there is no whiff of copying another's style!
And of course, Mr Brosnan was gifted with one-liner delivery. I have to give credit to him too. He fits the classic Bond archetype very well!
I think there is a tendency to give Craig too much credit at the expense of the other actors who hugely contributed to the longevity of the series. Pierce Brosnan did a magnificent job in Goldeneye. I love Dalton, but Brozza did give something new there!
"I'm Mr Kil...Now there's a name to die for". Even his delivery is cheesy and echoes David Brent.
I remember Leslie Nielsen once said in an interview: don't show the audience that you know what the joke is. Brosnan was often guilty of this, as was Moore occasionally.
I do think that there were instances where Dalton also seemed a little off in the one liner dept. because the script was channeling Moore/Connery humour. They were few and far between in TLD thankfully, and by LTK, they had a script that suited his harder edged delivery better....but perhaps it had too little humour (Davi had most of the jokes in that one).
Willis in Die Hard 1 and 2 is a perfect example of humour that fits the character and the actor beautifully. It's an extension of the man. He is one of the few that did it as effortlessly as Connery/Moore imho.
No, it's definitely not easy to do properly. When they get it right though.....it's beautiful to behold and uniquely Bond, but it must be tailored.
"Sorry old man, section 26 Paragraph 5. Need to know...sure you understand" (throwing back Saunder's earlier line to him).
"I know a great restaurant in Karachi...we can just make dinner".
The "salt corrosion" line is pretty good but his "amazing this modern safety glass" line falls a bit flat for me.
"He met his Waterloo" at the end is crap I think.
I do agree with your points @bondjames I strongly believe that Dalton would have upped the humour in his third film, which he sadly never got. He mentioned it many times. With an actor like Dalton, you have to tailor scripts accordingly, and not give him hand me down material. Though I love the "Salt Corrosion" delivery in TLD.
In Cubby's autobiography, it is mentioned that Dalton wanted to be respected purely for his adherence to the Fleming Bond. It was never his intention to be the Connery/Moore template which he gets compared to. However, audiences are wiser now and it is great to see an increase in the respect for Dalton.
I agree that this leading man style and ability to deliver those kind of lines effectively is a bit of a lost art.
While I enjoyed SP and thought most of the humour worked pretty well, it is true that it was mainly pastiche and recycling. It's almost like they'd given up on Craig as a distinct take on Bond. He's sort of become another greatest hits Bond - a better version of Brosnan.
I'm not sure what I think about it. On the one hand I feel it's a shame they've squandered the opportunity presented by CR and QOS. They could have taken Bond somewhere new and different but instead he's just ended up back where he was before. I enjoyed SP a lot more than SF so may be this is the right thing to have done.
It would be nice if they'd tailored the film and humour a little more to Craig. There are some good lines in CR and QOS, like when he's asked if he wants his drink shaken and stirred. They did seem to suit him better.
Some of the best humour in SP was around Q though. His lines and whole persona just seemed to work so much better in SP. Whishaw is the one element of SP that I think was actually almost perfect. He's moved on leaps and bounds since SF. I get all the hype around him now. He really managed to do so much with the scenes he had. Now that's what I call acting.
Uuufffff the "Sorry old man, section 26 Paragraph 5. Need to know...sure you understand" is spectacular and so suited to Dalton.
I agree that the Waterloo one is pants, and clearly more suited to Mr Moore.
Goldeneye and parts of TND were great moments. Arrest me, but, I love the "They'll print anything these days!" in TND. I think that was witty and very relevant to the state of mass media. By DAD, they were too over-used and fell flat.
I was literally just thinking about that whole TLD sequence. I was thinking does Craig have a single scene or line delivery that comes close to matching Connery's intro and I couldn't think of one. And then my mind just sort of thought of Dalton at the start of TLD. I'm not saying it beats Connery, but I think there's a brilliance and seeming effortlessness to his performance in those early scenes that definitely matches anything we've had from Craig.
Die Hard 1 though is still such a beautiful film to watch.....I just realized the other day that Mclaine & Gruber only meet face to face towards the end of the film...it's amazing what tension Willis and Rickman brought to the characterizations while just on a phone talking to each other for most of it. I think I'm going to catch a blu ray viewing of that this Christmas (it's seasonal after all). "Nice Suit. John Philips, London. I have two myself. Rumor has it Arafat buys his there too"
Spot on @Getafix What pisses me off about the franchise, is that the contributions of past actors is less and less acknowledged. Dalton with little preparation time for the role in TLD, did a phenomenal debut performance. And his characterisation has not dated.
The Craig era at times feels like it wants to pretend the past actors never existed and then, use their style. I think that is not on. When is the last time anyone heard Craig mention his predecessors??? He mainly did at the beginning when his announcement as Bond was a PR disaster.
At least Dalton would always mention them as would Brosnan in interviews. And I miss that as a fan of the series. I loved how Dalton could talk about Connery or Moore, and really give them credit for what they did.
Yes I find that odd as well. There's a slight surliness/chippyness about it. I find it particualrly annoying that Craig has never referenced Dalton as far as I'm aware either. I'm not suggesting Craig is copying Dalton - he clearly isn't. I just think it would have been nice if he'd acknowledged that there'd been a previous attempt to do something similar. It would be interesting to hear what he has to say about the other actors and their takes. He's clearly a fan of Rog - a little nod in his direction would be nice.
That's me speaking as a Dalton fan though. Craig has his own way of doing things. He doesn't pander to the media or the fans. Fair enough. Ultimately all I really care about is his performance as Bond, which has always been pretty solid.