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Good point on Connery, Moore and Craig having major upticks with their third films at the box office. TWINE pretty much did the same business as GE and TND, which was fine. DAD was the notable uptick for Brosnan.
So in that sense, I too have always felt that TWINE was a different number 3 than the other ones.
Admittedly, I like that song more than the other three. Though I have a soft spot for Tina Turner’s song, she always seemed like an artist they should have got way before the 90s and by the time they did she was no longer at her peak.
TLD and LTK are among the three lowest grossing Bond films out of 24, with AVTAK in-between, adjusting for inflation. LALD is the fifth, just for the record, even tho TMWTGG commercially represented a massive drop. Dalton never made quite an impact with the general audiences, or at least this is what numbers say.
https://m.the-numbers.com/movies/franchise/James-Bond
Though I have LALD ranked 6th, behind #5 YOLT, #4 SP, #3 GF, #2 TB, and #1 SF
The 70s And 90s were the really wobbly decades IMO.
He's always slated around here but I think Glen did an amazing job as director of those 5 films. Would have loved to have seen what he might have done directing Brosnan, who was not particularly well served by his directors IMO.
I agree the 80s churned out better Bond films than either the 70s and 90s. Even then, I've never been that big of a fan of John Glen's direction, and I wish someone else had been hired for Dalton's films, though TLD was truly Glen's peak.
Awhile back I gave his 2001 film THE POINT MEN a watch just to see how he was doing post-Bond, and maybe if he could have offered something to the Brosnan era. Even Alec Mills, the DP for TLD and LTK served for that film, and Maryam d'Abo is in the cast. It pretty much feels like an amalgamation of his 80s Bonds, but with all the weaknesses heightened. Right down to filming techniques that already felt antiquated by the 80s like that zoom in shot at the end. Frankly, Cubby was right to let him go after LTK.
Arthur Wooster is an unsung hero. A great 2nd unit Director. When there was a clear out of personnel after LTK, they still kept on Arthur on for GE! He gets very little attention. Never seen him interviewed (apart from the making of doc on he Bond DVDs), am sure he has lots of behind the scenes stories!
I agree. And the action always served the story, not shoehorned in like some of the later films!
Bond film's don't need 'name' directors. Just straightforward competent ones.
The fact the GE action is far inferior to the previous films suggests to me that Glen's departure was a major reason for that.
Maybe! I was surprised to see his name in the credits!
I disagree. Aside from the hand to hand fight between Necros and the butler (and perhaps the buzzsaw yoyo), those types of scenes in Glen’s films as well as his second unit work in TSWLM and MR are frankly terrible, whereas the fight between Bond and Trevelyan feels like a breath of fresh air.
That said, GE is the last time I think there was any good action in Brosnan’s run. The remaining films with Vic Armstrong’s second unit always felt too stagey (the buzzsaw helicopter attacks felt like a Universal Studios live show) and were too heavily reliant on machine gun play that just made the sequences feel less special than the 60s thru 80s.
While I don't agree what you say regarding GE. Do agree about Vic Armstrong, terrible action director, long drawn out tedious set pieces, with little invention to them!
Think that was just another rumour!
Alexander Witt is back on action duties after CR, SF and SP
Ah, okay. Getting them mixed up probably.
Can't say Bond has really stood out for action for a long time.
LTK is probably the last time the series was still really at the forefront. The action in LTK has been repeatedly copied and riffed off by other directors over the years.
The CR construction site chase was well choreographed although never felt it was very Bond.
I concur!
But the train fight in SP was superb IMHO.
+1
But I do think the pts car chase from QOS was very Bondian!
Yes the opening of QOS is great. Good score by Arnold as well.
That visceral action from Craig Bond is what his character is all about.
Of the Craig era QOS has the best action, SF has the worst!