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
Barbara Bach makes Denise Richards look like Meryl Streep IMO.
You mean looks wise or acting wise? ;) I probably agree anyhow... :P
Loved it. Epic from the start thanks to Barry, Dalton is fully in character from the moment his face appears on the screen. One of my favorite PTS, and it leads straight to Koskov's defection, one of the best scenes in the entire franchise. The whole sequence at Blyden House is wonderful. I was waiting for the movie to collapse in the 2nd half like many members said lately, but nothing happened, the entire 2 hours runtime is wonderful. The Barry soundtrack is excellent and make you invested in the film during each cue. The villains are a bit dull, but Kara is fantastic and her chemistry with Dalton is one of the best in terms of Bond girls. I even didn't mind the ending with Whitaker, or the quite long battle in Afghanistan, the film flew by with no dull moments. Timothy Dalton really is a total legend.
I watched NSNA recently. Part of my ongoing Bondathon. The movie continues to grow on me each time I watch it, primarily because it sits so low in my rankings I guess the only way is up. It's nowhere as good as OP from the same year, or even DAF imo, but it's certainly a decent enough thriller. I won't talk about the plot because you know it (basically TB redux).
What works for me:
1. Connery. It really is good to see him back in this role. He fits into it so comfortably it's like he never left. He really is quite fit in this film and fills out the great suits that he wears (too rarely) perfectly. Very impressive for the then 53 yr old. He seems to be enjoying himself in this one and is relaxed. Very good performance from him
2. Barbara Carrera - as the pseudo crazy Fatima Blush. I loved her in this role. Sexy, fit and slightly off kilter (like she could snap at any moment) she is certainly the best femme fatale since Fiona Volpe. I dare say that Famke Janssen borrowed from her for Onatopp. I was disappointed when she was killed off.
3. Cinematography was very good - the scenes in Monaco in particular and Largo's boat.
4. The underwater scenes with the shark were extremely well done as was the bike chase through Monaco.
5. They did a reasonable job trying to change the plot to not seem so much like TB (it still did, but it was a decent enough effort to change it around).
7. Rowan Atkinson as Nigel Small-Fawcett - I liked the humour & comic relief he brought to the small part.
8. Portraying 007 as an older agent. This was a novel idea at the time, and was recently adopted in SF. which took some cues from this whole bit (out of shape 007, 00 section being irrelevent etc.).
9. It was an interesting idea to replace the person in the role of M with someone new with a new agenda & who dislikes 007 (done later by EON in GE)
What doesn't work for me:
In my opinion everything else was a problem.
1. The score - oh my gosh. If there was ever a film in need of John Barry. There had never been a Connery Bond film before without the master, and he was sorely missed here. Michel Legrand did a piss poor job imo. Truly messed this up especially given the great work done by Barry for OP.
2. Maximillian Largo - Klaus Maria Brandauer - he seemed too slight for this role, particularly compared to the imposing bouncer like Adolfo Celi who played the character in TB. Klaus played him as an unhinged, insecure, neurotic but ambitious #2 villain, and he reminded me a lot of Almaric's Dominic Greene - both very insecure about their women - I wonder if Greene was modeled on this portrayal
3. Q - Alec McCowen, MP -Pamela Salem, & M - Edward Fox - While I liked the idea of a new M replacing the old one I did not like Edward Fox in the role. Too abrasive and whiney (come to think of it, I feel the same way about Dench). Regarding Q & MP, the less said the better - it was foolish to try and include Q or MP while Llewelyn & Maxwell were still playing them respectively in the EON versons. Truly foolish. They should have just left them out like they did in the early Craig versions.
4. Blofeld - Max von Sydow - while much closer to the book than the EON production versions, I have never been a fan of von Sydow, so I did not like his Blofeld. That's purely personal.
5. Kim Basinger - Domino Petachi - my word. Useless and wooden, although very attractive. This is the first big budget film that she embarassed herself in (Batman was yet to come 6 yrs later). How the heck did she win an Oscar. Is she connected.
6. Lines - while there wee some good lines in the film, Connery deserved so much better, given his brilliant past. Carerra had the best lines imo. My favourite was the way she looks at Bond and tells him: "Yu aaffectt me Jumes" before they get it on
---
So I enjoyed it, but it wasn't quite there, which is to be expected because EON was not at the helm.
I think it could have been so much better if they had just made some better casting decisions and had a better composer at the helm. The score & supporting cast (apart from Carerra) really hurt this film from my perspective. Connery was great but he deserved more against Moore
Goldeneye
Before starting my review, I'd like to say that this was the first ever Bond film I watched, and no matter how much I read and hear people say Brosnan and his films were not that great, it does not affect my love for Pierce Brosnan, another total legend in the franchise IMO. This movie gets me extremely excited straight away with a very cool gunbarrel. This PTS is quite possibly my favorite one. Yes, it has some odd moment like Brosnan in the bathroom and Bond catching the plane, but the movie makes up for it big time straight away: Brosnan being a boss while sneeking around + the cue from Serra, and my favorite Bond theme song and opening titles. People say Brosnan was not totally in the role yet, that he was trying too hard. I kind of agree, but on the other hand, to me, he makes it look effortless to be cool, suave and sophisticated. Dench is great, just in her office for once. Q scene is one of my favorite. I don't mind the car too much, it looks pretty cool. Wade and Valentin were always personal favorites of mine, really cool and likeable characters. I had a huge crush on Natalya as a kid, and I still do, she's wonderful. Ouromov is one of my favorite henchmen, and quite possibly the only villain I rooted for to survive. 006 is a boss in this too, this was the the first movie I saw with Sean Bean, and no matter how much of a good guy he was in 'Game of Thrones', 006 is my favorite role of his. I love the soundtrack, apart from the end title song and the car chase song. No matter how OTT it is, I love the tank chase. Everytime I'v seen this film ( probably 30+ times), I always go 'no way!' when I see the close up of the tank, and when i goes through the wall, I'm dancing on my chair due to pure epicness. Until the day I die, whenever I want to watch a film, any film, GE will be high on my list of suggestions.
And I am too. Great review!
=D>
I've always thought it was one of Barry's finest pieces, and a great way to go out. I personally rank it up there with OHMSS and TB. It has some very cool sounding modern synthesizer bits blended with old school Barry orchestra. I also think the scoring during the Afghanistan parts is very soaring and epic (no synthesizer here but real old school Barry). I know you expressed some disappointment about this about a month back as well.
I hope you come around to enjoying it the next time, because I think Barry was bringing a new dimension to his sound with this one, and I regret that this was his last for Bond, because I wonder where he could have gone with it on future films. I liked the songs in it as well.
I agree the car chase seemed a little tacked on. I always remember comparing it to TSWLM (the last time we saw Bond with one of his gizmo laden cars doing crazy things) and this one did not really measure up (it was almost like the scene was added just to show off the Aston gimmicks rather than properly integrated into the film). They could have removed this and the cello and the film would have actually been better for it.
As with Dalton, Craig is epic from the very start of the film. The PTS is excellent and that fight in the bathroom is still as intense as when I first saw it in the cinema back in 2006. The credit sequence and title song are epic. Craig really makes the role his easily, and by the end of the film I wanted to see him make as many films as Moore, he's that good. I had a big change on Vesper this time 'round. I thought she was great, and my god is she gorgeous. Mathis is one of my favorite allies, he's so likeable. Wright as Leiter, the best Leiter for me, really classy. Arnold's score, as always, works the best with the movie itself. Even the very long Miami cue works well in the movie. Dench is pretty good in this one, better than I remembered. Having seen her in other non-Bond films recently made me appreciate her more. The villains are memorable in this one, starting with Mikkelsen, who always acts his heart out in everything he does. The action scenes are great, the parkour, stair fight. Only the sinking house is not on par with the rest but still quite good. And of course I am always amazed by how they filmed the casino scenes, taking time with numerous close ups of the actors. This is a great Bond film, and maybe the most beautifuly filmed outing in the franchise (Yes, I put it ahead of SF). It's more serious than the ones before, but there is still plenty of more subtle humour, but my god does the film look lush and expensive, which is what Bond films are.
Brilliant.
I agree with every word; as of now this is Craigs best as well as one of the best of the series. Casino Royale is my #1, until SPECTRE is released ;)
Denise is great, the rest is bollocks.
I watched a bit of Starship Troopers last night, also featuring that legend of an actress :p
Regarding TWINE I do quite like bits of it like the scene with M and Renard in the cells, Bond killing Electra but its not a great film.
It's alright, bit crappy in places but has some entertaining parts.
Also, how does Mrs Bell end up in Intensive Care? did she have a heart attack due to the shock of Bond's recklessness? If so that's truly hilarious. [-(
Can't take her seriously in any role. Even piloting a Starship. :)
(I have to admit I quite enjoyed Starship and it was good to see a pre-Breaking Bad Dean Norris).