It looks like you're new here. If you want to get involved, click one of these buttons!
^ Back to Top
The MI6 Community is unofficial and in no way associated or linked with EON Productions, MGM, Sony Pictures, Activision or Ian Fleming Publications. Any views expressed on this website are of the individual members and do not necessarily reflect those of the Community owners. Any video or images displayed in topics on MI6 Community are embedded by users from third party sites and as such MI6 Community and its owners take no responsibility for this material.
James Bond News • James Bond Articles • James Bond Magazine
Comments
When I was in elementary school this Bond was extremely popular among us kids. It seemed to have everything and played up the fun angle of Bond, while still giving us some serious moments.
You've hit on something here for me and that's that I rank OP as my favorite Moore Bond film. It has everything and while there are silly moments, it just works better all around.
As for the films surrounding it, FYEO and AVTAK are both near the bottom of my informal rankings. FYEO was a disappointment after the fun that was MR, just a collection of stunts, most of which were repeats of previous stunts in the series, with a pretty bland story attached to it. It shows having a direct Fleming influence doesn't necessarily enhance it and is too much of a swing in one direction.
You hit on an important factor for my lack of enthusiasm for AVTAK and that's when the location shifts to San Francisco, it doesn't just go flat, it lands with a thud and barely moves, the single most boring stretch of any Bond film for me. Bond baking quiche, certainly a low point for the series. You get just a lot of piecing things together and little action or intensity. Bond trying to reach the air base is filled with suspense and intense action in OP is superior with tons of memorable stuntwork.
And I may be the only one in Bond fandom who is not taken with Barry's score. It's my least favorite. The action theme just doesn't do it and even the incidental music just doesn't fit the standard he's set in previous scores. The Duran Duran theme is probably top 2 for me and Barry's variations of it for romantic moments work, but little else. It's by far my least listened-to Barry Bond soundtrack.
As for Zorin, I love the character. When he made AVTAK, Walken wasn't the brand he is now. He was then known more for his character work in dramas or a few genre films like Dead Zone. He brought a fresh take to the by-then stale megalomaniac behind the mayhem. That San Francisco stretch really suffers when he's not onscreen. It's a relief when he shows up in Howe's office. Others have mentioned there's more of a personal thing between Bond and Zorin than with past villains. Bond really has it in for him more so than many others.
That's fair enough. I'm not quite as down on it, but I can see that Octopussy is only getting more exciting and building to a climax where AVTAK is winding down. Certainly I couldn't claim that Bond having a fight in an empty house against a couple of old men is an action scene that I can really understand getting beyond script level: they couldn't think of anything more unique or exciting?
I love the tone of the score: I think it creates a really good, serious atmosphere. But as an actual listen it is one of the more boring. The main strike theme is rather repetitious.
That's an interesting thought, yes I can see what you mean. Bond and Zorin do really seem to hate each other, an impression you don't really get with him and, say, Drax or Kamal Khan. Roger is practically spitting at him by the end of the film.
For me AVTAK is criminally underrated and the essential bridge between the final Roger films and the Dalton era. It has the emerging darker tone, greater focus on Bond as a human and experienced character, greater focus on the real world and political situations, increased emphasis on the heroine being romanced etc.
Like anything it has its flaws as a film but despite the lower key plot, Goldfinger structure and Roger’s between film plastic surgery-it is a more rewarding experience than people give it credit for and if I’m forced to choose I prefer AVTAK over the immediate two predecessors. Though admittedly choosing between the original 16 is impossible.
If I may defend Roberts' screechy repeated "James!" for a moment: she is a geologist, not a spy. And she's pretty resourceful at figuring out Zorin's plot and knocking out Scarpine.
In the second half of the film, she is (1) trapped in a burning elevator, (2) clinging for dear life to a collapsing mine shaft, and (3) hanging on the edge of the Golden Gate Bridge.
I think *any* of us in her situation would be screaming "James!" as well.