The Brosnan era was actually more fun for Bond fans

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  • mtmmtm United Kingdom
    edited January 2022 Posts: 16,413
    mtm wrote: »
    The TLD opening is pretty perfect. It's a lovely intro to a new Bond: action commando gear stuff with Bond doing all the Milk Tray man business in the PTS, cliff stunt into the titles; then post-titles pop him in a cool European location in a dinner suit.
    It worked so well they did it again for Pierce in GoldenEye! :)

    TLD is one of my favourite openings, filmed in my soon-to-be new hometown Gibraltar, followed by one of the best John Barry songs, then goes into a proper full adaptation of a Fleming short story.

    Bond doesn't get much better than this for me.

    Although I think it does make a slight mockery of the short story: in the book Bond spends weeks of preparation and then is on site for several nights, whereas in the film he just rocks up and busks it on the night :D And their plan to leave the guy they’re trying to save tapping on a locked door in full view of a sniper is perhaps not the greatest! :D In fact why not just pick him up in a car outside the toilet window, might have been slightly less risky!
  • Posts: 7,507
    mtm wrote: »
    mtm wrote: »
    The TLD opening is pretty perfect. It's a lovely intro to a new Bond: action commando gear stuff with Bond doing all the Milk Tray man business in the PTS, cliff stunt into the titles; then post-titles pop him in a cool European location in a dinner suit.
    It worked so well they did it again for Pierce in GoldenEye! :)

    TLD is one of my favourite openings, filmed in my soon-to-be new hometown Gibraltar, followed by one of the best John Barry songs, then goes into a proper full adaptation of a Fleming short story.

    Bond doesn't get much better than this for me.

    Although I think it does make a slight mockery of the short story: in the book Bond spends weeks of preparation and then is on site for several nights, whereas in the film he just rocks up and busks it on the night :D And their plan to leave the guy they’re trying to save tapping on a locked door in full view of a sniper is perhaps not the greatest! :D In fact why not just pick him up in a car outside the toilet window, might have been slightly less risky!


    Overanalyzing Bond films is a dangerous avtivity. None of them really hold up when you do ;)
  • mtmmtm United Kingdom
    edited January 2022 Posts: 16,413
    Well it’s only when they start to take themselves seriously: you can’t really pick holes in Moonraker because it clearly doesn’t care too much itself! :)

    But when you look at that sniper scene and realise all Koskov is doing is crossing a road (which Bond himself has just crossed with ease), it does start to seem a bit silly :) Just go and get him in your bulletproof Aston Martin!
    I wonder why they didn’t just set it at the Berlin Wall?
  • ThunderfingerThunderfinger Das Boot Hill
    Posts: 45,489
    mtm wrote: »
    Well it’s only when they start to take themselves seriously: you can’t really pick holes in Moonraker because it clearly doesn’t care too much itself! :)

    But when you look at that sniper scene and realise all Koskov is doing is crossing a road (which Bond himself has just crossed with ease), it does start to seem a bit silly :) Just go and get him in your bulletproof Aston Martin!
    I wonder why they didn’t just set it at the Berlin Wall?

    Maybe because they had been there just two films prior.
  • edited January 2022 Posts: 7,507
    mtm wrote: »
    Well it’s only when they start to take themselves seriously: you can’t really pick holes in Moonraker because it clearly doesn’t care too much itself! :)

    But when you look at that sniper scene and realise all Koskov is doing is crossing a road (which Bond himself has just crossed with ease), it does start to seem a bit silly :) Just go and get him in your bulletproof Aston Martin!
    I wonder why they didn’t just set it at the Berlin Wall?


    Because that would be a very boring scene! ;) Almost all action or suspense films, even the highly acclaimed classics, take certain liberties with logic in order to ramp up tension and excitement. It doesn't really have anything to do with whether the film "takes itself seriously" or not.
  • mtmmtm United Kingdom
    edited January 2022 Posts: 16,413
    jobo wrote: »
    mtm wrote: »
    Well it’s only when they start to take themselves seriously: you can’t really pick holes in Moonraker because it clearly doesn’t care too much itself! :)

    But when you look at that sniper scene and realise all Koskov is doing is crossing a road (which Bond himself has just crossed with ease), it does start to seem a bit silly :) Just go and get him in your bulletproof Aston Martin!
    I wonder why they didn’t just set it at the Berlin Wall?


    Because that would be a very boring scene! ;) Almost all action or suspense films, even the highly acclaimed classics, take certain liberties with logic in order to ramp up tension and excitement. It doesn't really have anything to do with whether the film "takes itself seriously" or not.

    Well it certainly does: the more seriously it asks you to believe something the more open it leaves itself to question. That Bond carries a camera with 007 written on it in MR isn’t something I question because the film is so nicely silly, but they wouldn’t get away with him having that in LTK! :)

    A slight problem is that Bond literally does park his bulletproof Aston Martin right on that spot a day or two later with absolutely no trouble whatsoever, so it’s hard not to wonder why they didn’t just do that at the time!

    I know even this scene is fairly silly because it’s all Bond. For example: it doesn’t actually matter how Q somehow got a Harrier into that gas holder apparently without any of the border guards noticing, because it’s fun :)
    mtm wrote: »
    Well it’s only when they start to take themselves seriously: you can’t really pick holes in Moonraker because it clearly doesn’t care too much itself! :)

    But when you look at that sniper scene and realise all Koskov is doing is crossing a road (which Bond himself has just crossed with ease), it does start to seem a bit silly :) Just go and get him in your bulletproof Aston Martin!
    I wonder why they didn’t just set it at the Berlin Wall?

    Maybe because they had been there just two films prior.

    Probably: it’s such a brief glimpse you’d have thought it wouldn’t have mattered.
  • NickTwentyTwoNickTwentyTwo Vancouver, BC, Canada
    Posts: 7,551
    Hot take: done the right way, TLD short story could make a good Bond stage play.
  • CraigMooreOHMSSCraigMooreOHMSS Dublin, Ireland
    Posts: 8,217
    Hot take: done the right way, TLD short story could make a good Bond stage play.

    I'd go to that.
  • QBranchQBranch Always have an escape plan. Mine is watching James Bond films.
    Posts: 14,582
    How would you rank the Brosnan films in order of most to least fun?
  • Posts: 1,078
    QBranch wrote: »
    How would you rank the Brosnan films in order of most to least fun?

    TND
    GE
    DAD
    TWINE
  • Posts: 2,161
    GE
    DAD
    TND
    TWINE
  • NickTwentyTwoNickTwentyTwo Vancouver, BC, Canada
    edited January 2022 Posts: 7,551
    GE
    TND
    DAD
    TWINE

    EDIT: After two minutes of thought, I'm actually changing my list to that of @ColonelAdamski. I prefer GE, but I do think TND is more fun.
  • Posts: 12,473
    Fun is still so subjective.

    1) GE
    2) TND
    3) DAD
    4) TWINE

    Though DAD is solidly below TWINE for me as overall experiences, I can’t deny it is more consistent in the energy department, for better and worse.
  • 1. GE
    2. TWINE
    3. TND
    4. DAD
  • MakeshiftPythonMakeshiftPython “Baja?!”
    Posts: 8,188
    From fun to least fun? Okay.

    DAD
    GE
    Getting a colonoscopy
    TND
    TWINE
  • chrisisallchrisisall Brosnan Defender Of The Realm
    Posts: 17,800
    Most fun is easy- TND
    the other three are about equal to me.
  • Posts: 1,917
    Mathis1 wrote: »
    Geno wrote: »
    TLD’s PTS is the best one, yeah - such a good shift from intrigue to exhilerating action with an amazing new Bond actor reveal and a top notch transition to the title sequence. Which includes a top notch title song!

    It’s a perfect 12ish minutes.

    And then straight into pure Fleming, if I'm not mistaken? Is the first scene after the titles sequence the sniper scene? It's been awhile for me.

    But I agree with you; people must have been absolutely stoked in the theatre after the beginning of this film.

    I remember watching it at the cinema for the first time and thinking, 'now this is my kind of Bond film!'

    It had seemed so long since we'd had some serious Fleming in the film series.

    Ditto, Mate. Absolutely loved every moment of it when I saw it in a packed cinema in Summer 87!
    And after seeing it, when I read the novels now, its Dalton I always picture!

    I saw it in Leicester Square during a week off work. Never forgot seeing it there for the first time.

    Left the cinema and went straight to buy the soundtrack 😁

    Love these memories. I also liked how it went straight from the credits into Fleming territory with Bond in progress on a mission. That was so against the norm at the time, which seemed to exclusively start with some incident happening followed by or starting straight in with Bond meeting with M and the staff and setting up the mission.

    After seeing the film, my friends and I headed to a local pub and had my first ever vodka martini. Asked for it shaken not stirred, but it wasn't that type of place.

    I also wanted to get that soundtrack, but delayed when I discovered videos of The Avengers TV series had been released and I opted for several of those.

  • Posts: 54
    GE: The one with the score that I’ll defend to the bitter end.

    TND: The one that I saw the most times in theaters. It’s a blast and I strongly associate it with the holidays.

    DAD: The one I appreciate more in light of the DC-era’s direction.

    TWINE: The one that I always trick myself into thinking I like more than I actually do.
  • MakeshiftPythonMakeshiftPython “Baja?!”
    Posts: 8,188
    Geno wrote: »
    TWINE: The one that I always trick myself into thinking I like more than I actually do.

    I did this SO MUCH for TND. I would rent the DVD from my local Blockbuster thinking I might like it better on the next viewing. I mean, it has all the formula you want from Bond. It's Brosnan coming off the heels of GE. It's his victory lap. It's from 1997, a year I have strong positive memories of childhood.

    And it fell flat every time. Such a pity, because it IS the very first Bond film I ever saw. It should have imprinted on me like so many of my millennial comrades. But no dice.
  • mtmmtm United Kingdom
    Posts: 16,413
    QBranch wrote: »
    How would you rank the Brosnan films in order of most to least fun?

    TND
    GE
    DAD
    TWINE

    Bang on first time. The top two are very close but TND just nudges it because it has so many cracking action bits, especially in the first half.
  • ThunderfingerThunderfinger Das Boot Hill
    Posts: 45,489
    Most fun is how I rank them in general. This is solely for the Brosnans.
    DAD
    TND
    GE
    TWINE
  • Posts: 3,327
    mtm wrote: »
    QBranch wrote: »
    How would you rank the Brosnan films in order of most to least fun?

    TND
    GE
    DAD
    TWINE

    Bang on first time. The top two are very close but TND just nudges it because it has so many cracking action bits, especially in the first half.

    Yes, after watching them all recently, I would go with this ranking too.
  • mtmmtm United Kingdom
    Posts: 16,413
    DAD also is perfectly watchable and zips along, it just makes you feel a little cheap afterwards :)
    Bond films sort of lost the class around the turn of the century: go forward to Skyfall or TMWTGG (oddly) and they feel rich and classy again. But they’re still fun.
  • Posts: 3,327
    mtm wrote: »
    DAD also is perfectly watchable and zips along, it just makes you feel a little cheap afterwards :)


    :))
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