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
Oh yes.... "Make it Last All Night"....!!? Pure filth...... :P
.....how do you know that!!?? :-))
Dare I say that I might've actually enjoyed this more than a few of the official Bond films. Burt Bacharach's score lends so much to this film and the wierd, almost psychedelic-feeling that is given throughout the film gives it a unique atmosphere. It's not a masterpiece by any means, but at the end of the day films are suppose to be entertainment and the Casino Royale spoof does so in spades.
I could of chosen some outstanding Bond fare such as From Russia With Love or The Spy Who Loved Me but went again with this adolescent nonsense
It's hard to give praise and I have to be serious for Moore's swansong. Just going over old ground with another review but for the most part it just drags on and nothing much happens, it's merely an 1980s equivalent of Goldfinger in that respect
Christopher Walken just looks bored most of the time, Grace Jones offers little or no threat, Mc Nee is a nice addition, but is killed off far too soon, and the Paris location was wasted in that it was all so brief, they could of utilized the French scenery so much better and kept San Francisco out of it. Once they go to the mines and Zorin gets his plans in operation it all gets very dull, I could mention the absurdities thereafter with the Zorin Airship and Golden Gate bridge finale, but we've seen that, done it and got the T shirts
It's merely one Bond release that always finds a way to provoke an unfavorable reaction, they could of perhaps done so much better that year but the end product for all concerned is both embarrassing and forgettable. It is James Bond afterall, no doubt, and I watched it again, but it always seems like two hours of my life I will never get back whenever this gets replayed
What a joke! Did the directors actually think that anyone would buy that "disguise"? He only has combed-down hair and strange-looking eyes, and that's it! In fact, it actually wears off as the movie progresses, and by the time we get to the volcano lair, he's back to regular Connery!
Licence to Kill- Dalton was awesome just as I remember! I appreciate this sequel for one overall reason: it's vastly different from the previous one. Even though Dalton only did two, at least he can be proud of the fact that his movies weren't 'cookie cutter', same old same old. He has one 'classic Bond movie' with gadgets and car-chases, etc, and one dark revenge rogue agent movie.
I loved how Bond resisted the urge to just kill Sanchez (he could have several times if I'm not mistaken) only to 'become friends' and cleverly frame the henchmen, tricking Sanchez into killing them himself!
Also, Pam is one of my favorite Bond girls- plus I can honestly say she has the best legs out of all of them in the entire series!
Two final tidbits: Dalton's hairdo in the casino wasn't quite as bad as I remembered (and it didn't last long anyway) and the movie gets bonus points for having both Kitana and Shang Tsung from Mortal Kombat! lol
But seriously, GREAT movie- it's a shame it went up against Indy and Batman in the theatre....
*Actually I do have one question: this has always bugged me-- the part near the end when Bond is in the truck and he 'hits a button' to make the whole front end lift up to drive over the flames. WTF??? Did Q slip a few gadgets in there when no-one was looking?? Would have almost made more sense if he just drove through the fire really fast
After LTK, I decided it had been too long since I've seen one of Pierce's movies. I put in The World is Not Enough. It wasn't too bad I suppose- just pretty uneventful. It was Q's last movie and unlike Bernard Lee as M, they were actually able to give him a good sendoff, which was nice and well done. I had mentioned seeing Robert Carlyle in 'Trainspotting' in another thread- I said how that was the first of his movies besides TWINE that I had seen, and I wish that he had been as lively here as he was in Trainspotting! Seriously, in that movie he was so CRAZY and unpredictable and just plain nuts!!! I never knew what he was going to do next. In TWINE, he says his lines- whoop-dee-doo. I guess you could blame it on the bullet numbing him up or whatever, but still, I found Renard boring as hell.
Pierce, even though he wasn't always that great in every scene, looks best in this movie. He finally ditched the perfect long GQ hairdo from GoldenEye and he looks way tougher now. Also, the fight between him and Renard on the sub wasn't quite as bad as I remember ether. Still could have been better, considering he was fighting someone who couldn't feel pain.
As for 'Christmas'... maybe they should have taken a note from TLD and just had one Bond girl... Honestly I rank her just about at the same level as Stacy Sutton (I guess Christmas gets a slight edge because she is pretty damn hot)
Finally, 'see you back at the lodge' got a genuine laugh out of me!
http://www.moviepicturedb.com/pictures/10_04/1989/97742/l_97742_aa79e54c.jpg
'Not Found' DON'T TEASE ME!!!! ;)
I don't know, I really don't. Did I give this release too much adulation and recognition before?, was it really as good as people say it is?, must have been when I watched it, but I didn't really enjoy it so much this time, although deep down I do realize it's arguably one of the best of recent times and Craig did a good job, I just found it a bit tiring this time around. Whatever people say, I never liked the gunbarrel where it was, lack of color in the opening, blink and you'll miss it pre credits sequence, although redeemed extensively by a fine Cornell track for the credits
Still can't see why some think Eva Green is such a beauty, Yes she's a fine actress and I don't have a bad word to say about her, but she wasn't no centerfold model here, or at least as much as some people make out, but I enjoyed her character, one of the better bond girls of recent times, the drowning scene in Venice still has a power to it
Incidentally, quite how a three storey building can sink into the shallow canals of said City I don't know, that was a neat trick, but we'll ignore it for the purposes of Bond fantasy and all. The torture scene still makes one angry to an extent in that it's just so damn silly, here we had Craig, a massive improvement on Brosnan last time around, being all serious and straight faced and then the LeChiffre testicles bit comes on, "Yes Yes, I've got an itch, now the whole world will know you died scratching my genitals" etc etc, sorry but it's just bleeding stupid, references to the original novel or not
Some people get confused as to whether Rene Mathis was a Bond ally or not with regards to the two Craig releases and it's easy to see why sometimes, some viewers may struggle to understand what side he's on in this release, although it became clearer in the latter picture. I still think the free running sequence in Madagascar is too far fetched, we went from the pedestrian Brosnan Bond to a manic greyhound on amphetamines Bond in the space of one movie and Craig leaping around again off cranes and seeing James Bond frantically whizzing around the screen does look a bit out of sorts usually when I view it. Sean Connery it ain't
I like the traditional music at the end, one of the best Bond theme variations of all time I think, and we get Cornell back again half way through the end credits just for good measure
All told, it's a damn improvement on the abysmal Die Another Day, and just as much so for the equally inept Solace after it, but it's hardly classic Bond. It's chalk and cheese from the Connery era, in that it's not so much spy theme and common sense, more frenzied action and big stunts, and let's draw in the audience with some of that, OK we have to move with the times, James Bond 007 is no longer in the 1960s, but at times it seemed so far detached from what I grew up with
A solid, entertaining, if (sometimes) downright inplausible Bond release with moments of Moore type humor on an otherwise straight face 8.5/10
Finally some are starting to see the light. Thank you for bringing up the "You're going to die scratching my balls" bit...Admitedly I did laugh when I saw that at the cinemas, but even then I felt it felt pretty out of place, quite akward in fact. Eva Green is ok, but certainly no centerfold as you say. To me she has this pale, goth-girl look with emotional issues. Tracy by contrast, while a bit of a crazy herself, had some spunk and personality. Eva seems dull and flat (not literally obviously). I think you're being a bit too kind with an 8.5. It's a damn good looking Bond film, all the shots and locations are beautifully photographed. It has a real modern flaire. But deep down you know it's not as good as everyone says...
http://www.aeolia.net/legs/hof.htm
And with good reason:
And look at Tim. What a player!:
:\">
Goldfinger
Oh goldfinger, how you perplex me. I pretty much fell in love with goldfinger the first time I saw it. It wasn't the first bond movie ie ever saw but I can without a doubt say that it's the one that turned me into a fan. So a couple of years ago I wouldn't have blinked an eye when saying "Goldfinger is my favorite bond movie" but now...I'm not so sure. I still find it to be a very very fun movie but it seems to have lost that "magic" it had the first couple of times I saw it. As some of the other movies gain newfound love from me, Goldfinger seems to be slipping down from the podium. Still, a deserved 10/10 and top 10 tho.
Thunderball
See the text up there? What I wrote about goldfinger? Yeah, it's the exact opposite with thunderball. I had a blast watching thunderball this time around. It seems to be all there: some of the most beautiful women of the entire series, a charismatic villain, exotic locations, a great John Barry score, probably the best jokes and puns of the entire series for me and i even like the underwater sequences. Dare I say - It's my favorite Connery movie? Yes, yes I dare! A 10/10.
Watching YOLT tonight, so i'll post my thoughts on that tomorrow.
Beautifully shot, masterfully edited, with realistic sound effects to boot. Phil Meheux does a fantastic job getting the right shots: from the opening film noire PTS, to the shaky cam action shots, to the breathtaking aerial shots of the various locations. Casino Royale is a gorgeous film to look at. The colors really pop, especially in the Bahamas and in Venice. Daniel Craig's blue eyes are like neon lights on screen. The action sequences are also well executed. And, while David Arnold arguably gives us a pretty tuneless score, he does the dramatic and action scenes well for the mood. And of course, there is Martin Campbell who does a fine direction...
Now for the bad parts, and there are quite a few...first this is big long boring film. It was a chore getting through it really. Literally the first hour of the film is Bond following a lead until we actually get to some plot development. Then we are stuck in a quagmire of a boring overly drawn out card game. After that there's some akward romances scenes thrown at us followed by the 'betrayal'--the story actually gets quite exciting at this point. But ends with an out of place sinking building finale that should have been in TWINE, not this movie. There never feels like a consistent story arc as a result of all of this.
The romance between Bond and Vesper never was convincing. Craig's Bond seems uncomfortable in his dialogue scenes with Vesper, as if he's flirting with a girl for the first time--not very Bond of him. When he gave her the whole "you've stripped me of my armour" bit, I thought he was bluffing her, but come to find out he was dead serious. What did he see in her?
I have other issues too...why is getting two kills criteria for becoming a 00? When was this ever mentioned before in the series and since when is double homocide a prerequisite for a government promotion? And yet M is all on Bond's case when he kills people in the field. Bond just busted his ass to catch these guys, and M is going to give him a hard time about it? Why does Vesper say "she feels like there's blood on her hands and it won't come off," when she didn't kill anyone?" Why does she give him the money to continue on after Bond proves he's a reckless gambler? Why does she kill herself in the end if she really did feel for Bond? Couldn't they have taken the money and ran? And if she was going to kill herself anyways, why not just help Bond?
Other issues: the big high stakes card game is classless and unelegant. Poker is played instead of Baccarat, as if people would better understand the game. But did the average movie goer understand baccarat in the 60's anymore than they do now? Everyone is also underdressed. LeChiffre and the Japanese man are without a tie and Bond is at the table without a suit jacket on--all bad etiquette for the card table. Plus the dealer is wearing this ridiculous Vegas gas station vest. I also can't stand when Bond orders a drink and the other two guys say "I'll have one of those too" with a big wink, wink to the camera "hey guys! we're in a Bond film" smugness. Vesper certainly wasn't turning my head with that hideous dress the way she was meant to turn heads either.
Craig is good in the action, more muscle than grace though. I do like the 'spy' moments in the hotel security and airport. Locations as mentioned, are exceptional and remind me of Thunderball. Daniel Kleinman's titles are excellent. But the story I had a hard time with.
One last thought, men want to be Bond and women want to be with him, right? Not once in this film did I ever want to be Bond. He gets punched, scraped, bloodied, yelled at, tortured, poisoned, thrown into a car crash, betrayed, stumbles in his conversations, has to deal with some girls emotional problems, and then agonizes as she drowns to death...my goodness, who wants to deal with all that? The film-makers got it wrong, Bond is supposed to be fun. But there was no fun to be found in Casino Royale, just realistic action reels and soap opera melodrama. Still it's an action film of high-calabre, it just didn't feel like a Bond film to me this time around. 6/10 (and I think I'm being generous here)
YOLT didn't leave a big impression on me the first time I saw it but more and more I'm starting to really like it. The sets and locations are great, the music mesmerising as ever, Pleasance makes a good Blofeld, the fights are intense and the climax is one of the best in the whole series. But then theres the rather bad miniature effects during the Nelly sequence, a bad actress for Aki (or is the bad english that makes her seem so terrible??), probably the worst way a villain has let JB go (so blofeld AIMS THE GUN at Bond..and decides to shoot the henchman instead..only to try and kill bond again 30 seconds later?) and the whole turning Connery japanese scene is rather pointless(Tanaka could smuggle in 100 ninjas but cant bring in Bond without disguisng him?).
My biggest problem with the movie however is Connery. While not bad, he just seems tired. Compare the Connery in DN, GF or even TB to him in YOLT and it seems like he's only putting in half the effort. It really is the single thing that drags the movie down considerably for me as I could forgive everything else. It gets a 7/10 - good but not great.
Great post, but disagree on one thing - I always thought CR didn't look good. The camera movement are good, but the colours just look to desaturated... especially in the car chase where the film looks puke-inducing. I thought QOS looked much more natural and great. I much prefer the QOS cinematography (minus the shaky cam) than the overly photoshopped and 'tinkered with' colours of CR. CR just looks fake from start to finish.
Tom Cruise best acting performance that I've seen. Just Brilliant!
Great movie.
That was a Bond film ? ;)
Ps: Loved the scene where he ran up the volcano.