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1. The Living Daylights
2. License To Kill
3. Octopussy
4. For Your Eyes Only
5. A View To A Kill
1. Licence to Kill
2. The Living Daylights
3. For Your Eyes Only
4. Octopussy
5. A View to a Kill
But I consider all of them, bar AVTAK, to be very strong Bond films. And I do enjoy AVTAK quite a bit as well...
1. The Living Daylights
2. License to Kill
3. Octopussy
4. A View to a Kill
5. For Your Eyes Only
The last two I just can't seem to enjoy no matter how many times I watch them.
MR ranks at the bottom for me. I can get silly or campy (as in DAF, LTK, and TMWTGG) but it needs to be established and deeply (and expertly) woven into the film. And it doesn't happen for me in MR. The film starts out very strong (with the exception of Jaws falling into a circus tent). The entire first act, at the Drax estate is excellent. The scene where Corinne is run down by dogs is well-conceived and the photography is beautiful, and Barry's score in that scene is haunting--one of his very best tracks ever.
And then I find it all going horribly wrong. Too bad, too, because another great scene in MR is when Jaws is dressed as a carnivale clown, and he walks down a narrow alley, looking for Bond. No music. Just sounds of the carnivale in the bg. It's creepy as heck.
I have tried to forgive MR for the gondola and the pidgeon, and the bad SFX, and the Close Encounters tune, and the Amazon women, and the laser beam fight. But the kicker is the damn country music as Bond is riding a horse, wearing a pancho. My gawd...
Yes, that's right. It is.
I agree. Some fans like the juxtaposition of the serious and the tacky; for me, MR could have been a really good, a terrific companion piece to TSWLM. But for whatever reason, Lewis Gilbert didn't seem to know what kind of film he wanted to make.
Bluray.
A similar thing happens whenever I hear the original SOS ABBA song in that I keep seeing Pierce Brosnan singing in my head.
A shame it ruined the scene in MR though......far to comediac.
I liked the use of the Lawrence of Arabia theme in TSWLM and the shots of Moore casually slinging his jacket over his shoulder as he and Anya walk through the desert.
However to me the Magnificent Seven theme is less effective. Mainly because Moore is wearing that silly-looking outfit as he rides the horse.
Once again, regardless of what you think of MR, it is not tonally inconsistent. It is fantastical, spectacular escapism throughout and never once sells itself off as a serious movie.
Gilbert knew exactly what film he was making (he effectively made it twice prior in the form of YOLT and TSWLM). Except, in 1979, he crafted the purest form of the three, eschewing all remote ties to realism or grounded action (literally) in favor of pure blockbuster scope and spectacle.
Whether or not the film entertains you, or you find any merit in it, is entirely your prerogative. The "juxtaposition of serious and tacky" you're speaking of is present, by and large, in TSWLM, not MR. I'm not saying this dictates which film is better, and my preference still lies with the former. Say whatever you'd like about MR, but conflicted it is not.
I wouldn't say that TSWLM is a tonally serious film. But aside from a few Bond-like elements, it is far more consistent, and Jaws is better utilized as a henchman.
I disagree in that MR takes the lighter elements found in TSWLM and YOLT and stretches them beyond belief, and yet it in some places it is still "trying" to be a serious film. But that is certainly just my take.
I agree that Jaws is better utilized, but he is also used much more seriously at times and then played for comedy at others - i.e. "juxtaposition of tacky and serious"
I don't think TSWLM is serious either, which is exactly the point I'm making. How can you say that MR is making attempts at being a serious film while claiming TSWLM, a considerably more grounded movie (relatively speaking, of course) isn't?
I suppose where we disagree is that I see a tonally consistent film with very few moments of true seriousness. Bond's first line is an outlandish double entrendre, followed by a skydive sequence culminating in Jaws flapping his arms like a flailing chicken. Corinne's death is the only one that comes to mind (a stunning sequence, if I do say so myself). Every other scene is dialed up so blatantly to 11. Are there moments of suspense? Certainly, but I don't think "suspenseful" is synonymous with "serious."
I think MR is just a slightly more exaggerated version of TSWLM.
@DaltonCraig007, Maybe you can help me. I'm trying to remember a certain bond film and I think Connery was in it. I Haven't seen some of his films in years so my memory is fuzzy.
From what I remember Bond arrives at his mission and while exiting the airport some mysterious character is watching him closely. Then, when bond meets his contact and they both drive off, the other character also gets into a vehicle and tails bond. That's about all I can remember, any ideas which film this is from? Thanks!
Ahh! Yes, I remember now! It's a traditional for them to follow each other around. Thanks.
That sounds more like From Russia With Love. The British intelligence section and the Serbs following each other in Istanbul. "Its like a common understanding we have".
Could that might be it?
Hmm, I think so. Doesn't he end up fighting the driver?
No, that is Dr No ;) I'm getting confused now... :))
You should realy watch those films again, mate! Classic stuff!