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Can't say I did either. Definitely the change in actors may have helped break this up a bit - and i'm not sure if I count the AVATK one in the same form as OP and TLD - just doesn't seem the same to me for some reason.
OP and TLD are in my top 8 while AVTAK is in my bottom 3 so I would say No, Yes, No.
AVTAK was lazy in general but OP and TLD kept the tension building. Of course, John Glen had better scripts to direct in those 2 films also.
There was genuine tension in the air as Moore dived around the Circus Tent dressed for the part as he tried to stop the detonation in time but even that was only for the few seconds when he was actually doing the job and of course everyone would of been (painfully) aware that of course Moore would stop the explosion ahead of time, live to tell and go on to reappear as 007 once again. A View To A Kill went on for a longer duration in terms of countdown but I found it all rather dull, maybe if Dalton had been involved instead and Grace Jones had been left out for someone else I would of felt different, but this countdown was a bit of a non event. Daltons Daylights for me is better remembered for his fight on the 'plane with Necros than the bomb counting down, but as Dalton frantically searched for the right package after to switch off Bomb it did generate some suspense albeit for a few seconds, same as with Octopussy I suppose
I was wondering just now why they couldn't of got Europe to do a Bond piece about that time along with A-HA, it could of worked, i.e. Dalton in a panic looking for Bomb ticking away, 'It's the Final Countdown' etc playing over, I was half thinking then it may have worked
If Moore had still been playing Bond it could've happened! I mean we did have the beach boys only 2 years earlier.
Well, not exactly. They were all different in terms of effects. In OP, the US airbase was going to be destroyed, allowing Orlov's tanks to plow through and cause total Soviet domination in Europe. In AVTAK, Silicon Valley was going to be wiped out, millions of lives lost, and Zorin's business sky-rocketing. In TLD, only Bond, Necros, Kara's lives were in danger, and due to the fact that Bond's plans changed from destroying the plane to flying it! Also, the means of making it happen were different. Orlov was involved in an entire smuggling operation to get the bomb actually inside the base, while Zorin sectioned off a big mine and employed hundreds of workers to conceal the explosive. As for TLD, Bond was going to destroy the plane, but ended up having to fly it to escape, so it was actually his own fault for not defusing it.
In OP it added to already suspenseful scene. Bond scrambling across Germany to the US Base and then the circus to defuse the bomb at literally the last second.
The same can be said for AVTAK. They had to manually get the bomb out of the hole(which couldn't be defused) and out of the mine. While May Day made a valiant sacrifice, she had time to jump.
The bomb in TLD was used to help Shah's army out for helping Bond. Not as suspenseful as OP or AVTAK, but the countdown was used for the greater good in blowing up the bridge.
Each countdown served a purpose in these three films.
Moving on soon.
<font color=blue size=7> <b>Post 9/11, TLD feels a bit iffy at times.</b></font>
But as Samuel says, none of that ruins the film for me.
I love TLD but there is some truth to this(at least in the final 1/3). I see it though as an historical piece. The Afghan resistance was the West's enemy's enemy at the time. I'm sure it's not too dissimilar from the experiences Cold War-era film viewers had who watched World War II propaganda movies extolling the Anglo-American ally of that war, i.e. the Soviets.
Of course, if Dalton had stayed in the role until 2002, maybe they could've come up with an adventure where his Bond battles his former ally Kamran Shah.
But in those days they fought the Russian army which made them very likable. And the US helped their training to fight against the Red menace. It somehow bit them in the behind.
L-)
I'd actually say the opposite; TLD is enlightening in providing some historical context to the current state of affairs we are in now. It makes the film all the more intriguing watching it now.
That all depends on how much you disliked the Russians... This thread is probably not the right place for this debate, but I think there's a good case to be put for saying that Afghanistan under Soviet occupation was a lot better than what replaced it (girls got an education for example and you didn't get your head chopped off for listening to pop music) and certianly better than the mess the country is in now.
The movie at the time was reflecting certain aspects of the times back then. If you look back through history? The Brits are no saints! And i am a proud one!