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'' WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU TRYING TO DO 007?....START WORLD WAR 3? ''
'' WELL YOUVE GOT ME JAMES! ''
Im glad they brought Hedison back for LTK and in fact its a real shame they didnt use him as the definitive Leiter for the whole series up to the late eighties.It would have actually made his fate in LTK much more impactful.
It's your opinion, I respect that, but representative of what I meant in my above comment in that it's very strange for a guy who has 2 brief scenes to get this much blame that you'd rank a film lower than it could possibly be. It's just a baffling way of looking at this.
As I mention, I don't like Cec Linder, but it's not him alone that makes me not as big a fan of GF as other films. It's a combination of things.
I think John Terry is so good as Felix in THE LIVING DAYLIGHTS that had the Academy gotten their priorities straight and nominated him for BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR, Sean Connery would have had some serious competition that year.
Just kidding. I'm pretty indifferent towards him.
Carry on...............
I know it’s crazy. It’s crazy to me that I’m enjoying the film so much and when he pops on screen I suddenly feel cold. But that’s my opinion and his performance for some reason, strikes a mental chord that irritates me. It’s the whole package. The tone of the film doesn’t gel with Terry’s B movie performance, the dialogue is worse, he looks too young, his mannerisms are unnatural. It’s like the worst tv performance that has been edited into one of the best bond films
Yeah it is odd. I understand why he was recast with GF, but I actually thought Cec Linder was fine and think he should have at least continued with the role up to DAF.
I wholeheartedly and without any reservation second (or third) that emotion! There's nothing really threatening about Celi's Largo beyond the eye patch. Brandauer oozes insanity with every word he says.
Interesting. I much prefer Burton, whose Leiter seems a lot more modern than Linder.
That's true. Lord was a coldfish, Van Nutter was hero-worshiping nonentity ("on you anything looks good!") and Burton seemed annoyed by everything Bond did. Bernie Casey in NSNA is more in the Linder mold and at times suggest Leiter's camaraderie with Bond. But as usual for Leiter the part is underwritten.
Absolutely. Celi does have physical charisma, for sure. It's not his fault, I suppose. The character was very underwritten. Being stuck in between the screen presence of Gert Grove's Goldfinger, and the enigmatic Donald Pleasance's Blofeld doesn't help him.
Savalas was better, for sure, but Pleasance is very memorable, and has a nice enigmatic quality.
There is a huge drop in quality around the half way point of Skyfall.
It has one of the best first halves of any Bond film, but essentially from Silva's introduction onwards, the film goes way downhill.
My single biggest problem with the third act, was hearing all the nonsense about Bond hiding as a child. I don't mind a bit of character depth, but to me Bond should remain something of an enigma. Hearing things like that kill it.
Comparing all that to the great opening scene, the scorpion drinking game and the fantastic casino sequence from the first half, is like night and day for me.
I'd agree with this. I'd even throw in CR as well. I never really cared for the Venice sinking building action finale.
Controversial opinion:
I'd go as far to say that with the exception of the parkour/crane bit in CR, I find the action sequences in the Craig era fairly lacking. To me it's mostly tight choreography and slick editing rather than original breathtaking stunt sequences.
The stairwell fight is excellent, but again that's the choreography and editing.
None of the action scenes scenes in QoS particularly grab me or keep me on the edge of my seat. The sinkhole parachute bit should have been amazing, but the CGI distracts. The underground train bit in SF is fun, but that's more suspense than action.
I find the chase sequences in SP very lacking and pedestrian.
I think Skyfall's third act and finale is excellent. One of the best in the series in fact!
Of the Craig era SF has my favorite finale. I love Silva as a villain and all of his scenes.
Big +1!!!!
I agree. I think the film loses its way a bit when we go back to London, but picks up again and nails it with the Scotland stuff. My favourite Craig era finale by far.
I agree with @Roadphill on the sub-Batman origin story stuff with the hidey hole though. His parents grave, I can live with that, roots in the novels. Even Kincade I can forgive for being an Alfred knock off, because Albert Finney nails it (do sort of wish it was Connery though; I think he’s unrecognisable enough from his Bond days that it would’ve worked). But that whole bit about him going and hiding in the cave and coming out a man or whatever, I hated that.
Bond never needed an origin story like that imo. Even CR was a stretch (his two kills in the novel were a flashback). I think one of the strengths of the character is how he was introduced fully formed, in the books and the films. You can give him depth without doing an origin story. In a way, I think origin stories are cheating when it comes to giving a character depth. You’re not saying anything new or profound about the character we all know, who they actually are. You’re just saying “they used to be someone else, and then this happened”. Focuses on why the character is what they are, rather than what they actually are and what that means. Cheap doing that with an established character imo, especially one like Bond, who already had a convincing reason for why he is the way he is (he loves his country, wants to defend it, and couldn’t bare the thought of a normal life) without an angsty superhero backstory.
Have to disagree. Think QOS has the best action scenes of his 4 movies. Pts, scaffolding fight, boat chase and the climax, CR would come 2nd, mainly for the fight sequences. SF for me, has the worst, none of the action is particularly exciting, hate the fight with Patrice, (more like a dance scene!) SP train scrap is far more thrilling, and the finale is quite poor, just dont find it well directed!
Agreed. The most riveting of Bond finales imo.
Caroline Bliss is a pretty terrible Moneypenny. Her scenes always make me want to skip chapter. That Q lab scene where she asks if Bond wants to come over and listen to her Barry Manilow collection, along with her high school crush attitude towards Bond, ugh.
Doesn't help we have her sniffling away crying over 007 at her desk in License To Kill because she has yet to hear from him. Sorry Dalton era fans. I'll take Lois Maxwell and Samantha Bond anyday. That more mature tit for tat relationship just suits the pair much better.
Dalton’s my favourite Bond, but even I’d struggle to disagree. I think she’s fine, but Maxwell, Bond and Harris blow her out of the water.
My controversial opinion: I don’t think Harris is great either. She’s a brilliant actress, but I just don’t buy her chemistry with Craig. It feels a bit stilted and forced to me (the annoying “look they’re flirting” music Newman used didn’t help).
In fact I’d say overall, the Brosnan era did the MI6 regulars better than Craig. Fiennes is fine, but Dench is better. I also prefer Brosnan era Dench to Craig era Dench, not a fan of the surrogate mum angle they took with the latter. Kitchen’s Tanner is better than Kinnear’s Tanner, and Robinson is better than both. Bond is great as Moneypenny. To be honest, I’d say her and Brosnan are almost on par with Connery and Maxwell when it comes to that dynamic. And while Wishaw is brilliant, better than Cleese, and I hope he stays on for decades, you really can’t beat Desmond as Q. And Brosnan played his scenes with him to perfection. You could tell he was relishing that opportunity and really living his childhood dream (and then the touching end to their final one in TWINE; Brosnan overacted a fair bit but he really could nail the subtle stuff when he tried imo).