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Bond Performance - This week; Roger Moore as James Bond, 007 in A View To A Kill
In this thread, gentle readers, I want you to give me your most definitive Bond performance. (I could’ve of sworn this had been done before, maybe the old forums had it. Anyway...)
I had trouble choosing one of the plethora of Bond performance’s, some notable considerations that fell by the wayside included; Casino Royale, Craig’s visceral debut – it had too many “out of character” moments for me; The World Is Not Enough – too melodramatic. Which is a shame, I thought Brosnan was rather good, to be honest. Plus he looks fantastic; On Her Majesty’s Secret Service – considering he was a rookie actor, I thought he done bloody well. It’s like putting a novice musician in The Beatles, replacing McCartney. This is what the producers were trying do to in replacing Sean Connery.
Some honourable mentions have to go to; Thunderball for Connery’s virile, and so uber cool portrayal; both of Dalton’s efforts; one, The Living Daylights is a more classic outing, although he has layers of depth, subtleties, to his characterization, and the other, Licence To Kill, for a more animalistic interpretation, where Bond loses his sheen of sophistication, exposing the blunt instrument beneath. For most of the movie Bond fights with his heart, the personal nature of the story clouding his judgement, making his aim sloppy. It is only once Bond learns about the stinger missiles is he finally able to treat his vendetta as a mission, and he finally gains control of the situation.
But I have to go for From Russia With Love. For me Connery may well have delivered the greatest Bondian performance; suave, professional, poised, authoritative, decisive, charming, virile and ruthless.
Up to you peeps... :-)
Note Mod’s this isn’t a Bond ranking, more a Bond performance thingy. ;-)
I had trouble choosing one of the plethora of Bond performance’s, some notable considerations that fell by the wayside included; Casino Royale, Craig’s visceral debut – it had too many “out of character” moments for me; The World Is Not Enough – too melodramatic. Which is a shame, I thought Brosnan was rather good, to be honest. Plus he looks fantastic; On Her Majesty’s Secret Service – considering he was a rookie actor, I thought he done bloody well. It’s like putting a novice musician in The Beatles, replacing McCartney. This is what the producers were trying do to in replacing Sean Connery.
Some honourable mentions have to go to; Thunderball for Connery’s virile, and so uber cool portrayal; both of Dalton’s efforts; one, The Living Daylights is a more classic outing, although he has layers of depth, subtleties, to his characterization, and the other, Licence To Kill, for a more animalistic interpretation, where Bond loses his sheen of sophistication, exposing the blunt instrument beneath. For most of the movie Bond fights with his heart, the personal nature of the story clouding his judgement, making his aim sloppy. It is only once Bond learns about the stinger missiles is he finally able to treat his vendetta as a mission, and he finally gains control of the situation.
But I have to go for From Russia With Love. For me Connery may well have delivered the greatest Bondian performance; suave, professional, poised, authoritative, decisive, charming, virile and ruthless.
Up to you peeps... :-)
Note Mod’s this isn’t a Bond ranking, more a Bond performance thingy. ;-)
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Comments
Some of the ones that I really rate, such as Lazenby in OHMSS can be dismissed by many because of weaker elements such as his wooden line readings at some points in the film (although I really appreciate his genial, more human approach to the character). The same can be said about Brosnan; there was a lot of good but a lot of cheesy choices as well. But even a respected thespian like Dalton can be criticised - although he gave us a fully realized performance he seems a bit theatrical at times. I love how his Bond is constantly shown to be thinking about things, trying to figure out what's happening. But often times he "pushes" a little too hard with the line readings.
This isn't to say that I don't like those three actors - I like them all in their own way. It's just that their performances encompass both good and not so good.
So of the two "titans" I would first eliminate Moore. I never cared for his interpretation of Bond but that doesn't mean that he's a bad actor. So how does he fare in delivering that interpretation? To me he is often times not believably tough, and often he comes across as a man who is a lady killer simply because the script says that he is. Show, don't tell.
Connery is considered by many to be the gold standard of Bond. He has superstar charisma and created the film version of Bond. Although he was obviously bored (and increasingly less fit) as the films went on his early films performances are great. And yet...there's a couple of moments where he's a little out of his depth or makes strange choices. These are few and far between, but they mean that he really only has one "perfect" Bond performance to me, which is Goldfinger. I seem to be the only one that thinks that the spark has started to dim just a little bit in TB - it's a supremely confident performance but he doesn't quite have the twinkle in his eye that he did in GF.
So then I think of Craig. To me, his performance in CR is the best Bond performance of any of the actors. Some may disagree saying "But he wasn't playing BOND!" but what they really mean - whether they acknowledge it or not - is that he wasn't playing *their* preferred version of Bond. But as an actual performance I find his in CR the best. The most emotionally complex, the most three-dimensional, the performance which has absolute conviction and confidence in every moment. He wasn't nominated for a BAFTA just because he was in a big film; he was nominated because of the quality of his performance. While his performance in QoS wasn't at the same level there were no mis-steps that indicated that CR was a fluke or one-off.
Again, I do like all of the actors who have played Bond. But to choose best performance - especially instead of choosing "favourite interpretation" - Craig is tops.
Anyway, to answer the question of this thread I'd say Connery in both FRWL and TB. Those were powerhouse Bond performances imo.
Most definitive Bond performance. Okay: Daniel Craig in Casino Royale. He lived and breathed as Bond, showing him starting out as a 00 agent and growing. Absolutely brilliant acting and I can watch CR again and again.
But I cannot help saying, close to a tie with the other actors: It would also be Sean in From Russia with Love, Timothy in The Living Daylights, Moore in The Spy Who Loved Me, and Pierce in Tomorrow Never Dies - they all helped define Bond in those particular films, for me, in a good way - their Bonds in those films (not talking about flaws in the films or problems with other actors, just their perormances as Bond) were great and very truly James Bond for me.
If not that, then Connery in From Russia With Love, it all sounds a bit repetitive with previous answers, but it's true, he was immense that year, best Bond performance ever some would say, the very epitome of what James Bond should be and movie with it
You must be kidding. Brosnan was so lightweight, unintimidating, and flatout girlish at times in GE, it ranks along with Connery in YOLT as the worst Bond performance in the series.
I'll have to agree with most of you and say Connery in FRWL. But Connery in GF and Craig in CR deserve the uttmost praise aswell.
Can we have one thread without somebody critiscising Brosnan???
The thread is about naming which you think is the best Bond performance, so they did. But they said Brosnan?!?!?!?!?!! :-O We can't have that can we?
I get that all the Bonds can be critiscised, but it's really annoying how much hate Brosnan gets on here when the threads have nothing to do with it, but then you can't say a bad word about Craig or SF.
If we are talking cinema Bond then Sean in GF, TB and DAF, Rog in TSWLM, MR and OP and Pierce in GE and DAD all have a case.
If we're talking Flemings Bond then I think there are only 4 real contenders:
Sean in DN - controversial I realise as most would opt for FRWL but I think that even by then some of the swagger of GF and TB had started to creep into his performances. In DN he his straight off the pages of Fleming - cool, suave, efficient and brutal when needs be.
Laz in OHMSS - a fabulous blend of cinema Bond swagger and wisecracks and literary Bond humanity and vulnerability. It's arguably the best Bond performance of all time combining lines like 'north of the Caspian' and 'he had lots of guts' with Tracys death and scenes like hiding at the ice rink and choking the guard on the cliff top.
Tim in TLD - Theres a little bit of a hangover of the Rog days with lame lines like 'salt corrosion' where he looks uncomfortable but overall it's a really fine performance which I prefer to LTKs hyper intense effort. The opening with Saunders is pure Fleming and his popping of the balloon is electric and better than anything he does in LTK for me.
Dan in CR - although a little bit over physical in the tagged on first half, he is absolutely superb for the main meat of the story in the second half. The highlight for me is the fight in the stairwell and the aftermath when he pours a whisky and trends his cuts and bruises whilst looking in the mirror and wondering if the whole game is worth the candle.
I think that Laz and Dalton came the closest to Fleming's Bond, although both had bit of the "movie Bond" forced on to their performances. In my previous post I was stating who gave the best performance period, as in level of skill of actual acting and creating a character. But a quick note on "Fleming's Bond":
One of my favourite moments in the series is when Blofeld is lecturing Bond outside of the cable car room in OHMSS. This type of scene has been repeated many times in the series - the villain captures Bond and gloats before imprisoning him or leaving him to die. But instead of quips or witty rejoinders Bond looks embarrassed and furious with himself for allowing himself to be caught. He stews while looking at the floor, often doesn't look Blofeld in the eyes, and then loses his cool and tries to attack him. Pure Fleming's Bond, and a nice change from the "SuperBond" caricature that drains any real tension from these types of scenes. But Laz also had that more human quality that was very...Flemingesque as well. There were some cheesy one-liners and some of that hyper-confident movie Bond in his performance, but a basic grounding of his characterization in a more human Bond.
I think that Dalton came closer to Fleming's Bond in LTK, but it's a matter of inches I suppose. Again, he comes across as much more human; he's very much Fleming's "ordinary man" who just happens to call upon his intelligence and inner strength to get through situations. He's also fallible and makes mistakes, which Pam points out to him after the killing of the Hong Kong narcotics squad. A forgotten part of Fleming's Bond is that he often makes mistakes - sometimes even realizing that he's making the wrong decision but he wants to see how things play out.
If we're talking film Bond it's hard to disagree. The PTS and Hamburg scenes are probably Brozzas finest hour as Bond and he probably does almost as good a job as Sean and Rog at their peak.
Indeed he is really brilliant in the movie.
But if we are talking about who is the best " Book Bond performance ", then i gotta say Dalton in TLD.
Im sorry if my opinions hurt anyone feelings on this site but last time I checked we're on a James Bond message board where we're supposed to speak our minds. Daniel Craig and Roger Moore get alot a criticism too. But I don't go around throwing a hissy fit. I just so happen to think Brosnan was an absolute joke as both James Bond and as an actor. Sue me. And then if that wasn't bad enough he went on to show that he has the maturity of your average 10 year-old by whining and complaining endlessly after EON decided to hire a real to play the part.
I'm not throwing a hissy fit. I'm just stating that you needn't trash my opinion. There are other threads for that.
If you took the time to read my first post instead of getting so agitated you'd notice I posted my top 3 Bond performances. But to make you happy I'll lie. Pierce Brosnan is the greatest Bond of all time and will never be surpassed.
:D
George - OHMSS
Moore - TMWTGG / MR
Dalton - LTK
Brosnan - TWINE
Craig - CR
If you had read my post, you would notice I asked why you don't post your favorite(s) and move on.
Moore in TSWLM he finally hit his stride and found his own "Bond".
Dalton in both TLD and LTK a strong actor with a wide range and he delivers on both of his films. Pity he did not do more...