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Moonraker used to be a bottom three contestant, but was moved up to fourth or fifth on my last two viewings of it. I know that's not a huge difference, but I'll take it over the other three I've mentioned!
It has grown on me over the years, a very easy film to watch, but it just feels a little flat and small scale for Bond. Some amazing locations, a brilliant villain and the always beautiful Maud, is let down by a messy plot, cheesy sound effects, the return of JW Pepper and the less said about Mary Goodnight the better!
21. Diamonds Are Forever
Perhaps the biggest missed opportunity in the franchise to do a classic revenge story. There are redeeming features in the theme, score, Vegas, gangsters and the Willard Whyte twist, but it isn't enough to help an ageing and lazy Connery, a muddled script, cheap jokes and some bad casting choices.
22. Die Another Day
Well, we have hit rock bottom. I think this will always be one of those oddities in the franchise where people look back and go "what were they thinking in 2002?". Poor Rosamond Pike, if only she had held out for the Daniel Craig era, she is the only glimmering hope for this film. But perhaps we needed DAD to shake the producers up a bit, to really get them motivated to bring in a new direction and a new Bond.
21 - DAF.
And
23 - DAD
21. YOU ONLY LIVE TWICE
out of all of Connery's films, this is one that gets the least repeated viewing.. it's not a horrible Bond movie, it's just very slowly paced for my liking - especially considering the amount of action they crammed into this one.. a lot of people will comment on how well the action was handled in this film, I am not one of them.. the action seems slow to build up, and lazy/slow in execution throughout, (sans the final volcano battle).. the only part of this movie I do actually enjoy is the scene where Henderson is killed, and Bond first gets into Osato's office and has the fight with one of the goons... and compared to brooding and ominous presence given to the 'mystery men' playing Blofeld prior, Donald Pleasence gives a very "meh" performance... he seems less the ultimate villainous mastermind, and more the nerdy science geek getting revenge on his mean classmates... and lets not even get started about the ridiculous 'Bond turning Japanese' moment - sweet christ........
it's not a bad film, just slow and tedious for my liking considering it's subject matter.
22. THE MAN WITH THE GOLDEN GUN
the problem with this movie can all be boiled down to one statement, and thats 'a missed opportunity'.. i've said it on several threads before so i'll keep this brief - but this film's problem is that it sets up some interesting ideas, but either doesn't let them develop - or completely disregards them... the first 20 minutes or so of this movie is actually quite good, Bond tracking down a crack shot assassin who seems to have his sights set on him.. but all that gets thrown aside when Scaramanga kills Gibson outside the Bottoms Up - now Bond knows Scaramanga couldn't be after him, thus killing all the tension that this film tried to setup.. so to substitute, they crowbar in a useless plot concerning a solar energy cell, which Bond must recover from Scaramanga before he sells it on the open market.... *yawn*..... i might have complained about the pacing in YOLT, but it's even worse here... this movie has the uncanny ability to lull me to sleep every time i watch it, because i simply don't care - even the first 20 minutes can't be salvaged, because we know it just leads to nowhere.... compile all that with a pretty lousy Bond girl, a story that makes you want to watch paint dry, a lazy sounding score, an annoying title song, and the reappearance of a pointless joke character from the previous film - and what you got is an unmitigated mess.
23. DIE ANOTHER DAY
there isn't much i can add that already hasn't been said... i am actually in the process of writing a review of this for the review pages..... so you'll have to wait to read all of what i have to say about this movie...... but it's crap, from start to finish - only purely enjoyable part of it for me is the PTS.. beyond that this film circles the bowl like the stinking turd it is.
DAD- Too many inneudos, Halle Berry trying way too hard as a Bond girl, a plot that makes a Disney Channel show look brilliant.
DAF- Way too campy especially after the masterpiece that was before it.
View to a Kill
the last two acts of Die another Day
DAD
TMWTGG
I've only just discovered this thread and I wish I hadn't.
Theres no accounting for taste RC7. Or the deranged blabberings of a certified lunatic.
Same here. I hate pompous commentary that begrudge what people believe in.
21. Moonraker
Much better than I remember, but it's still a total cheesefest. Some of the dialogue is just as bad as anything in DAD, and even Roger looks a bit weirded out by it all in places. Suppose it'd be a good "beer and pizza" movie.
22. A View To A Kill
Roger too old, stuntmen too visible, storyline boring, May Day, Stacey Sutton. Thankfully Christopher Walken and the final fight on the Golden Gate make it worth watching.
23. Diamonds Are Forever
The only Bond film I really dislike. Compared to what came beforehand, this is DVD bargain bin stuff. Sean, as much as I love him in the role, wasn't in shape for this. Charles Gray wasn't a great Blofeld. Although not inferior to the previous ones mentioned, this is my least favourite and the one I find most infuriating to watch because it had so much potential to be a great movie, given the revenge aspect. What a waste.
22. Die Another Day
23. Diamonds Are Forever
If a movie were ever a yawn, and nothing more, it would be Diamonds Are Forever.
21. AVTAK
22. MR
23. NSNA
24. CR 67
Moonraker
Die Another Day
But then again, they're all more fun than Quantum of Solace... Hmm.
GF
DAF
DN
I'm rewatching the films and I've only got up to LALD, so it could (and probably will), change.
TWINE - I loved it on release but it simply doesn't travel (through time) well.
LTK
TMWTGG - despite much to commend it, it runs out of steam too quickly.
Some bad Bonds like MR, DAD and to a lesser extent AVTAK are easier to digest for whatever reason, and they wash over you. You know you are not watching high art, but there are moments of acceptable madness to divert you. My three choices simply struggle to raise themselves above 'bland' (IMHO).
DAF is a strange one - full of great moments and an equal number of terrible ones as well.
Perhaps I was a tad personal. I just find it completely unfathomable that you could consider OHMSS and GF to be the two worst films on the canon. I'm not begrudging him his opinion, from where I sit it just seems a little reactionary.
Die Another Day
Diamonds are Forever/ A View to a Kill (couldn't choose between 'em)
It will never change
21. A View To A Kill
22. The Man With The Golden Gun
It's been that way for me for years. Will likely be for many more as well.
21. OHMSS
22. CR
I think some of the other lists are positively shocking.
DAD
Dr.no-boring as hell.
Not reactionary, just simply a matter of taste, my friend. The fact of the matter is that both of them bore me to tears and are a painful trip to sit through.
For what seems like the 2000th time, Goldfinger IS Boring, it truly is. OHMSS sometimes takes this direction, especially around some of the Piz Gloria scenes, but has far more vigor and spark to it than Connery's third entry