James Bond movies; that fine line between Derek Flint & Jack Ryan...

chrisisall

...or Austin Powers & George Smiley at the absolute extremes, but the Flint / Ryan parameters tighten my focus here a bit.

Bond needs to be played straight, no matter the absurdity surrounding him. But the absurdity must not be TOO absurd, lest we lose the ability to care what happens as we know that we're watching a cartoon, however, LACK of any absurdity would mean we are simply watching a generic thriller or run-of-the-mill espionage flick.
In my humble estimation, FRWL & QOS have been the ones hovering a little too close to 'realism', whereas MR & DAD were the ones flat out attempting to out-Flint Flint.

These are my picks for the Bond movies with the most successful balance on this cinematic high wire I've defined here:

Dr. No
Thunderball
On Her Majesty's Secret Service
The Living Daylights
Licence To Kill
Goldeneye

AND, I've not seen Skyfall yet, but from what I've heard, it would be included on my list.

Thoughts on this?

chrisisall

Have I pissed off Goldfinger & From Russia With Love fans here?

Umustbjocking

MR was a stroke of genius at the time with the real space shuttle

thelivingroyale

I'd replace Dr No with FRWL or TSWLM. Other than that I think you're right, those films had the best balance.

craigrules

Hollywood hated the gold that had been struck with Bond by EON they made no atempt to create that kind of balanced magic themselves.It was so easier to mock and ridicule hoping they would destroy Bond but they failed.It was a shame when EON chose the same path.

chrisisall

Hmmmm... thinking maybe TWINE belongs on my list...
But I think TSWLM was just a tad on the OTT side...
I watched Dr. No recently, and I love how it switches gears from straight spy stuff to outrageous Bond stuff after Bond & Honey are captured.