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"One piddling little rocket." Was how Cubby referred to the book. And yet, THIS is supposed to be an improvement? They took one of Flemings best books (it's in my top 2), and took a steaming dump on it. At least the novelisation was an improvement on the film.
Silver Anniversary Bondathon (1996-2021)
1. On Her Majesty's Secret Service
2. From Russia With Love
3. The Spy Who Loved Me
4. Dr No
5. Live And Let Die
6. You Only Live Twice
7. The Man With The Golden Gun
8. Goldfinger
9. Thunderball
10. Moonraker
11. Diamonds Are Forever
Quote from Bond himself.
"Give the people what they want!"
Not Bond fans, but the general public.
Of course, there's no way to know. I could be totally wrong. As much as I love talking about revisionist histories, and revising how I would want the series to go (Blofeld Trilogy with Connery haunts me with what could have been), there's also a part of me that would be afraid to touch anything. Butterfly effect and all that.
Warts and all, I love the series. I also love the broad spectrum (as you note) that we get to choose from as fans. I'm one of the fans that can appreciate the Fleming but also appreciate the camp. I appreciate the down to earth and the bombastic, larger than life. I enjoy a mix of those things as well.
@Last_Rat_Standing
Agreed @ThighsOfXenia
It does give us a good mix of films based on what we're in the mood for. Serious, camp, outlandish, even creepy. And if we're not in the mood, then we can pick up one of the many books between Fleming and Gardner. We do have it nice as fans of the entire Bond universe that we have so much at our disposal to enjoy.
Of all Bond films they picked AVTAK? Interesting...
My kind of friends ;)
Another example of a Bond film that I didn't used to like, writing it off as boring. But it has gradually climbed up my ranking. I still find it to be a little uneven, being a Moore era film, but I can appreciate that it was an honest attempt to try and wrestle the series back down to earth.
I would also like to take this opportunity to say that I have, too often, been unfair to Roger Moore in the past. He might look a little weathered since MR, but by no means as bad as I often made him out to be. In fact, I think he carries his age well here.
Silver Anniversary Bondathon (1996-2021)
1. On Her Majesty's Secret Service
2. From Russia With Love
3. For Your Eyes Only
4. The Spy Who Loved Me
5. Dr No
6. Live And Let Die
7. You Only Live Twice
8. The Man With The Golden Gun
9. Goldfinger
10. Thunderball
11. Moonraker
12. Diamonds Are Forever
That said, AVTAK is the only one where his age *really* shows in my book. In OP he simply looks like a veteran, aging agent. I have so much fun with AVTAK precisely because everyone is so old and the villains are so youthful and virile. It's such a bizarre little oddity.
I see the workmanlike label applied to Glen a lot, I don't know if it is meant as a good thing or not. I think Glen had a keen eye for action sequences, and his films feature most of my favourite action sequences of the series. And though it isn't action packed, Bonds ascent up the side of St. Cyril's, has to be one of the most suspensful scenes of any Bond film.
as being code for an exceptional Professional .
Like FYEO, OP is another Bond that I have grown to like more over time.
Silver Anniversary Bondathon (1996-2021)
1. On Her Majesty's Secret Service
2. From Russia With Love
3. Octopussy
4. For Your Eyes Only
5. The Spy Who Loved Me
6. Dr No
7. Live And Let Die
8. You Only Live Twice
9. The Man With The Golden Gun
10. Goldfinger
11. Thunderball
12. Moonraker
12. Diamonds Are Forever
My relationship with this movie has been tumultuous. Loved it on release, cooled toward it, went through a period where I downright detested it, and then I began to look at it a bit differently as the odd duckling that it is and warmed to it a bit again, albeit in a different way.
This viewing was pretty good, all in all. I plan to write about it. The editing doesn't bother me too much, in fact I've often argued it nicely mimics Bond's fractured psyche. The cinematography is absolutely phenomenal, not only the lighting but the shot choices and compositions are truly great. Overall this is just kinetic cinema. It never stops. There aren't any big, famous moments except for maybe Tosca. No truly memorable one-liners. Not a lot of glamour. It just moves like a blur. And a lot of the best images in the film, because of the editing, are these blink-and-you'll-miss-it moments of sheer *immediacy* in a way that reminds me of late-period Michael Mann (that's a favorable comparison - I love his recent works). Very visceral. I don't get why people call it pretentious simply because it has aesthetic ambitions beyond storytelling in an expositional sense.
I'm warming back up to it. I'm still not convinced it does anything important re: Bond's character. It doesnt' really justify itslef too much, nor does it really develop anything from CR that we couldn't intuit anyway. I don't love how dour it is, even though I know that's the entire point.
But all in all, great watching experience. I'd be shot on sight for saying this on some forums, but I know here it gets a lot of love (probably too much). This movie is currently experiencing something of a renaissance. From a purely cinematic perspective, ignoring aspects of script and plot, it's a very compelling experience.
edit: I find that the older I get the more I tend to meet films "on their own terms" so I generally like most Bond films more over time, not less. So, I'm not sure how much my ranked list will actually change.
Unlike FYEO and OP, AVTAK doesn't appear to be climbing up my list. Walken made for asuperb villain, but I struggle to find anything else good to say. The Renault 11 chase was good, up until it good cut in half, then half again.
Silver Anniversary Bondathon (1996-2021)
1. On Her Majesty's Secret Service
2. From Russia With Love
3. Octopussy
4. For Your Eyes Only
5. The Spy Who Loved Me
6. Dr No
7. Live And Let Die
8. You Only Live Twice
9. The Man With The Golden Gun
10. Goldfinger
11. Thunderball
12. Moonraker
13. A View To A Kill
14. Diamonds Are Forever
The plot holes are gargantuan, obviously. But, this is a Bond film, so I'm really not going to hold that against it too much. I will a little bit, though, because this is one of the more egregious extended plot holes in the series. There's a stretch here that is undeniably some of the best in the Bond series. Right around the time that Bond gets back into action up until Bond and M leave the hearing (although the chase does lag and lull a bit, in my opinion). Watching this on the heels of QOS made it feel a little slow paced, but I imagine anything would.
Heck, I'm not even British, much less in favor of British imperialism, and even I am often moved to tears by M's Tennyson moment with Bond sprinting through the city. Incredible moment. The DB5 moment also gets me every time.
My favorite scenes, though, are Shanghai - Macau - Silva's lair. That stretch is just unbelievably good.
The Home Alone stuff doesn't work quite as well for me, but, like QOS, the parts I don't love are really helped by Deakins.
This is probably Craig's best performance, and certainly the most Fleming. Marlohe as Severine is extremely impactful and memorable given her short screentime. The throughline theme of failure is really interesting (Silva does technically accomplish what he set out to do, even if it wasn't by his hand). Although it's interesting, it does kind of prevent a real sense of closure or victory, even if that coda scene in Mallory's office does give me goosebumps (shame SP came afterward).
Obviously this is arguably the most beautiful Bond film. I know my thoughts are very scattered. I'm tired. This may have slipped a bit in my rankings, but that says more about some other films and my love of them and less about this one. It isn't that Act 3 is bad, per say, but it just doesn't live up to what came before. THat's true of a lot of Bond films, but the Home Alone stuff just doesn't work that well. That said, I'll sit through it time and time again for Deakins' images. The man simply makes searing imagery with his cinematography. Perhaps the best living cinematographer. Oh, and Newman's score is growing on me over time.
SP is next.....
1) He tries to shoot M at the hearing, hitting Mallory instead. Result: FAIL
2) *He himself* wants to kill her at the battle of Skyfall. Remember he yells at this henchmen, "Everyone, listen to me! Don't you dare touch her. She's mine." One of the henchmen injures her, leading to her death. Result: FAIL
3) By the end, Silva's plan had changed from wanting to kill M, to wanting M to shoot both of them through the head at the same time. And then Bond arrived. Result: FAIL
Wonderfull stuff. No surprise that TLD remains my #1. That said, I do understand the complaints regarding the villains. Sandwiched in between Max Zorin, and Franz Sanchez, they do feel a bit lacking. Whittaker has a neat little quirk with his wargames, but he isn't the most threatening villain.
Silver Anniversary Bondathon (1996-2021)
1. The Living Daylights
2. On Her Majesty's Secret Service
3. From Russia With Love
4. Octopussy
5. For Your Eyes Only
6. The Spy Who Loved Me
7. Dr No
8. Live And Let Die
9. You Only Live Twice
10. The Man With The Golden Gun
11. Goldfinger
12. Thunderball
13. Moonraker
14. A View To A Kill
15. Diamonds Are Forever
Craig is as usual excellent, even with some of the weak dialogue he's stuck with. I love the scene between Craig and Belluci and I wish her screen time was expanded with Q's being lessened.
The train scenes are my favourite and the fight with Hinx is one of the series best.
But it would take a lot of changes to turn this into anything resembling a good Bond film.
5 things I like and 5 I do not:
Like
1. The location cinematography in India is one of the best in the series.
2. One of the best beat-the-villain-in-a-game scenes
3. One of the series best spy-then-escape-from-the-villains-lair scenes
4. Underrated score
5. Love the auction scene
Not
1. Man Moore is looking old. The love scenes between Moore and Adams are at least of two people closer to the same age than normal, but like the scene with Moore and Cassandra Harris in FYEO, it looks more like two retired old people than anything sexy.
2. The rickshaw chase was a little too on-the-nose with all of the India cliches.
3. Wayborn's mannerisms are intolerable. I want her off the screen every second she is on there.
4. Maybe the hardest plot in the series to follow.
5. The handful of silly moment REALLY stand-out in comparison to the serious tone of the rest of the film. Tarzan yell, gorilla suit, clown suit, whatever the hell the ending was with the Octopus cult storming the castle.
They look great together. She is the one person throughout Moore's entire tenure as Bond that I could see Bond settling down with or at least forming a genuinely meaningful relationship with. That has always improved my estimation of OP a lot.
I think OP is Roger's late period film in which his age is most "natural," in that generally he seems to be this veteran agent, most importantly he is given a (mostly) age appropriate leading lady to work with, and there's a general autumnal feel to it tht Glen brings to all three of Moore's final films. Yes, he looks quite old. But it doesn't really get to me.