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Another difficult one: The Living Daylights and Licence to Kill. Two of my absolute favourites but I can’t decide.
And my last dilemma: The Spy Who Loved Me and Octopussy. Excellent the both of them, hard to pick a winner.
I understand the TND and TWINE dilemma - funnily enough I'm not a big fan of either but I admire the unique premise of TWINE but it fails to follow through and off sets it with so much silliness where as TND is a more generic action picture which is just set pieces welded together but it is more successful at achieving its comparatively limited aim than TWINE's compromised ambition. I'm not sure which I prefer either!
TLD holds a special place in my heart (and LTK too) but I can see how that could be a dilemma to pick between the two. While LTK has a brilliantly brutal villain, reclaimed Fleming moments (used as the motivation behind Bond's whole plot no less!), Robert Browm's finest moment as M and a Yojimbo style plot replete with ghastly deaths and ruthless pace to the second half that culminates in an iconic truck chase.
TLD has the classic Bondian elements - Cold War, globe trotting, double crosses behind the iron curtain, killer sniper sequence ripped from the pages of Fleming, startling PTS, tricked out Aston, army v army climatic battle, Barry soundtrack that ranges from dangerous to epic to romantic and a central performance which ranks among the best of Bond performances for me.
But TSWLM vs OP? Easily TSWLM. OP has too many flabby parts to it and with the exception of two moments (the backgammon game no look dice roll and the bomb defusing) this is one of my least favourite Roger performances.
While I wholeheartedly agree with you with TLD and LTK (they flip flop between number 2 and 3 in my list) am afraid we are the opposite with TSWLM and OP. Spy has always been over praised for me, boring villain and leading lady, Jaws an embarrassing character, the "humorous" score by Hamlisch, and all the action I find very meh!
Moore is great in both, but I just enjoy far more in OP. Story, characters, and exciting stunt and action scenes. Barry on music and production values are much higher.
OP is Moore's best Bond movie...for me TSWLM is his weakest!
Daltons Bond films are the best Bond films of the 80’s for the fact they have amazing scripts, scores and hold faithful to Fleming.
LALD is Moore’s best Bond film film for me. It’s fresh and original, has a great score, script, cast and it has sharks! It also has Moore looking his best as Bond and actually playing the character.....he’s a tad tougher and meaner. TSWLM and OP are both classics in their own right.....but the overt comic humour in parts of both films detract from the quality.
Bottom Line: TND has rewatchability and the TWINE is a chore to sit through aside from a few scenes and makes Bond and M look like saps along the way.
TLD and LTK: I will take TLD because it works as a complete Bond film. Sure it has weaker villains and an unmemorable leading lady, but it's a hell of a debut and some fans think the last traditional Bond film before the personal storylines dominated. Still loves me some LTK, though, so it's a nice pair of films.
Lastly, I'll take OP over TWSLM for the simple fact I never saw TSWLM upon release and I did OP. I saw MR before TSWLM also and it made me the huge Bond fan I am now and I didn't see TSWLM until its television premiere, so it had less impact on me and still doesn't rank up there. OP was the right response to the too down-to-earth FYEO, just more fun, Moore at his peak, great stunts, good storyline and other factors. When Rog passed in 2017 it was the film I watched to honor his memory. I really wish I liked Spy more because I know what it means to a lot of fans, it just doesn't resonate.
Interesting opinion there. Although your criticism of Spy is a bit exaggerated for my liking, I definitely agree it is overrated by many. There are some strong elements there; the iconic Ken Adam sets, the stylish cinematography, the famous PTS stunt... Yet I always find the sum total quite forgettable. It never really manages to engage me the way it should. OP by contrast is a far less refined mess with many scenes that are hit and miss. Yet I feel it has far more that actually stands out for me. The double ending climax; the hunting down and defusing of the nuclear bomb followed by the attack on Khan´s palace and plane action scene, is edge on the seat suspensefull stuff which always delivers in terms of excitement. By contrast the overlong climax of TSWLM, the impressive sets notwithstanding, is actually very boring. I always struggle to mantain interest during the final third of Spy.
I would agree with this. I find the tanker finale to be dragging a bit. It’s not helped by the lack of music score there either.
The final showdown with Stromberg and Jaws is better though.
Yeah for me to, TSWLM does have some pacing issues, particularly in the third act.
I think CR is top tier, Qos is pretty good, SF is fine, and his performance is SP is a noticeable step down
I probably agree each one is weaker than the last for his performances (hopefully this trend is gone for his last). Love all of his first 3 performances. SP’s is one of the series’ weakest Bond performances.
Me too, I’d argue his performance in QOS is his most “Bondian”.
Opinions are always fair game on here, but you honestly think the production values are higher in OP than TSWLM? That's a bizarre statement.
@Birdleson I didn't wish to start an argument with the chap/chapette. I should have framed it as factually incorrect re the production values of OP Vs TSWLM. But I suppose beauty is in the eye of the beholder.
To be fair there are some very beautiful shots of India in OP! Although I agree cinematography is one of Spy´s stronger points.
Absolutely! He even knows that humor is pastiche for him. His Bond came with a unique quality of dark, serious grit, and down-to-earthness which made audiences forget about that damn invisible which ruined the series. He needs to do what he does best and not give a damn. He even tried that humor crap in SF and it didn't help that movie.
I actually found Craig fairly humorous for the first three quarters of CR too. If his Bond hadn't been made quite so stoic after that film, I'm sure I would enjoy the interpretation a lot more.
Well, it doesn't include the absolute most iconic movie cars. Not only the DB5, but Bullit's Mustang? 977 Pontiac Trans Am from Smokey and the Bandit? Herbie?
This writer doesn't know an iconic movie car if it came down and sat on his face!
I agree, the colorful characters help the overall movies.
He's great in CR, QoS and SF.
He does his best in SP but the script just didn't help him.
Me too, it was certainly an effective impact!
Wow. I like NSNA, but no chance. It’s better than DAF.....but that’s it. TB is far superior in every way IMO.
That, and FRWL beeing Connery's best performance, TB beeing his best film.....