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Comments
Although I would have strongly considered LALD and TMWTGG.
The shaky, barely coherent editing of QoS makes it a strong contender for the Klebbie here. But DAF gets my vote. Bond strangling a woman with her own bikini top is just kind of icky... the poor delivery of a one-word response (Ca-ca-ca-Cairo!) is (please forgive me) "ca-ca" to my ears... and the yucky mud-pie sequence all combine to leave me utterly cold to this PTS.
Bond is saved by the bell in DAD
FYEO and QOS are my favorite.
DAF has its problems, but I think strangling someone with their bra is a clever idea, especially if you like black humor. Plus I like the eerie visual of "Blofeld" and his doubles drowning in mud (a callback to the mudbath in the novel?), the genuinely brutal fight scene (with Bond using scalpels as throwing knives), and the satisfied purr in Connery's voice when he says "Welcome to hell Blofeld." Plus the screaming cat is a great segue into to the titles. A very memorable and mostly good title sequence.
FYEO's title sequence is marred only toward the very end, when Blofeld suddenly turns into a comedic coward. That's not quite enough to wreck everything that went before, such as Bond visiting his wife's grave and hanging out of a rogue chopper.
DAD does feature Bond surfing, but the action is credible and gives us the rare sight of Bond being rumbled and defeated on a mission. On a technical and storytelling level it's well done and a reminder that DAD doesn't fall apart until the ice palace.
The YOLT pre-titles might not make sense, but the images are unforgettable, especially the astronaut's lifeline being cut by Spectre's craft. Pauline Kael wrote this better expressed the terror of death in space than anything in 2001: A Space Odyssey.
The pre-title sequence of QOS by contrast has no unforgettable imagery, no clever gimmicks, and already looks dated thanks to its Bourne knock-off editing. It can have the Klebbie.
The ones from QOS and FYEO are good, DAD isn't bad at all either. The only other weak one here is YOLT. I would have nominated OP and LALD but DAF is definitely the worst.
I will say QOS gets it from me. From an editing point of view and the fact that the action just ends with no real rhyme or reason.
No question that its Dire Another Day!
It seems to divide lots of people on here! I have grown to like it for what it is. Yes it's a messy film but it has some great scenes.
Isn't the PTS of DAD the best part? I love how along with this, there's a thread called "Is the first 30 minutes of DAD perfection?". I also don't understand the "saved by the bell" reference.
The quip is said by Bond at the end of the hovercraft going over the falls.
LALD definitely deserves to be a candidate.
Regardless, DAF gets my vote. I absolutely can't stand "Ca-ca-cairo," the horribly unrealistic instadeath by mud spray, and "kill him" as Blofeld just stands behind Bond watching him. That's not to mention that somehow after the one-punch he gets the goon to give an answer despite the other goons around him... On top of that, it couldn't have shat on OHMSS any better. Really poorly contrived and executed.
Definitely agree here.
QOS is masterful. The shot exchanges of Como lake and the soundless Aston close-ups as a build-up to a frantic chase between two of the most beautiful car manufacturers ever to have existed surely can't be on a list with DAF's sloppy dubbing and clumsy fight choreography? Or DAD's poor CGI close-ups?
Hence the fact that my vote goes to this sequence: the other nominees are consistent with their respective films and could not be integrated into another instalment. It is impossible to judge them individually without questioning the intentions of their film more broadly. Thus coming back to FYEO for which this is not the case. If the sequence has been cinematographically more colorful, it could have worked in Octopussy, and would even have been more consistent there.
Anyway YOLT for me
I just imagine some people watching thinking, "Wait, wait, slow down with this car chase! I'm totally confused about what's happening!" Then watching YOLT and thinking "Oh, they've staged Bond's death in private and there's spaceships! Awesome!" Very odd.
The action in the QoS makes complete sense, and I love the editing. It's the car chase equivalent of an OHMSS fistfight. Cut the fat and make the viewer feel like they're in it.
And that explosion-free destruction of the car going off the edge is a beautiful thing.
Oh, and "Time to Get Out" is my favorite piece of Arnold music.
Surprised nobody has named Thunderball as a rather idiotic PTS that is conspicuous by its absence here...
I think you think there's an obvious logical fallacy there but it's not as obvious as you think.
The QoS PTS does look nice and has a lovely opening, but then it gets a bit hard to follow, the logic is all over the place, you have to remember from the previous film that came out two years ago that Bond has a machine gun with him, innocent people get hurt (bit of a Bond no-no) and it feels so hacked up into pieces that the conclusion to the whole chase just suddenly happens without any buildup to there being a climax at all, plus Bond ends it by just shooting them with his gun- nothing clever at all. It's all very unsatisfying and feels like it hasn't been thought about.
Mark Higgins the stunt driver was saying in an interview only the other day that they shot a lot more to that chase and you can believe it- what's left looks edited to the nines.
And that's ignoring that I remember finding the launch into the car chase to be a bit too jolting. I need some sort of introduction to the film, as to why something is happening. It's taking too much out to have it open directly on full-bore, tight close-up action when you haven't really got your bearings in the audience yet. Brave maybe, but I don't think it works. It's too cold of an open.
The rest of the voting reveals the following:
Our man in Hong Kong is working on it from YOLT received 4 votes
Bond has valuable cargo in the boot from QOS received 7 votes
Bond is saved by the bell in DAD received 4 votes
Blofeld offers a stainless steel delicatessen receiving 2 votes
Lets stay with the Klebbie and go with worst wardrobe malfunction by James Bond! The nominees are:
Yes you are reading it right. The Dove can only come up with 4 nominees but I am sure that the esteemed academy has fashion police who might have another fashion faux pas by our favourite secret agent. So feel free to write in a vote for your worst James Bond fashion blunder. The outfit is for James Bond and not for any other characters.
Time to wear I meant hear from the academy! ;)
I have no doubt they shot a hell of a lot more than five minutes of footage for that car chase. And I'm sure if Mark Higgins had directed and edited it we would have seen more of that footage and more people would have been able to follow the complicated car chase.
Editing aside, I think it's common for a PTS to not make it clear what's going on until a few minutes in (GF), after the title sequence (LALD), or not at all (MR).
Also, I'm not sure it's necessary to remember Bond has a machine gun with him. If someone doesn't recall the previous film (or indeed if they can't follow the editing), then they are definitely going to have a hard time with QoS, but I don't see why a machine gun needs to be explained to anyone. Timed explosives, a harpoon in his ski pole, a fake horse butt, there's no telling what Bond will have in the PTS.
Obviously people just like different things. I really love the rush of this PTS, and its sudden ending. I never had any trouble following the cause and effect in the action in a general way, and in a more specific way it's easier upon second viewing.