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
Title Track: SF
Title Credits: GE
Main Villain: SF
Main Bond Girl: GE
Overall Plot: GE
Dialogue: SF
Score: SF
Settings: GE
Action: GE
Humor: SF
Cinematography: SF
Benign Bizarre: SF
Suspense: SF
Minor Characters: GE
Glamour: SF
Ally: GE
GE -8
SF - 9
That was a close one.
I think you can prefer one film to another and still say that other films do certain things better.
I'm heavily biased towards LTK for example (it's my favourite) but if I pit it against say OHMSS, and break it down element by element like we do in this thread, I'm not going to say that it's more glamourous, that the cinematography is better or that the score is better because objectively, I don't think it is. LTK's cinematography makes it look cheap at times, it's not very glamourous at all (although I think that's the point, it's meant to be gritty) and while I like Kamens score it's got nothing on OHMSS, which might be Barrys best masterpiece.
Basically, there's a different between favourite and best, is what I'm trying to say. You can enjoy one film more than other and like it better while still admitting that the other is technically (so looking at things like cinematography, editing, etc) better.
Like I said, my favourite Bond film is LTK but I think when looking at which Bond film is best objectively, from a technical film making perspective (so acting, script, cinematography, direction, etc) CR wins.
On the whole, I prefer GoldenEye even though Skyfall is in my top 3.
Title Track: SF
Title Credits: GE
Main Villain: GE
Main Bond Girl: GE
Overall Plot: GE
Dialogue: SF
Score: SF
Settings: SF
Action: GE
Humor: SF
Cinematography: SF
Benign Bizarre: GE
Suspense: SF
Minor Characters: GE
Glamour: SF
Ally: GE
9-8 to GoldenEye
Title Track: SF (I like them both, but Adele brought back the classic voice)
Title Credits: GE (Admit it, you like seeing the hot girls smashing the Soviet relics)
Main Villain: GE ( A very good parallel, but Alec was a 00 and managed to build himself a pretty good empire)
Main Bond Girl: GE (Severine was done a disservice. Natalya probably would have won anyway).
Overall Plot: SF (Destroying MI6 and going after M was original. Going after Russians, been there and done that).
Dialogue: SF (I didn't hear Famke Janssen quoting Lord Tennyson).
Score: SF (U2 wasn't involved in SF).
Settings: SF (They actually went to Istanbul and Shanghai).
Action: GE (The tank chase was brilliant. Kind of sad seeing Bond's childhood home destroyed).
Humor: GE (More risqué. ONATOP!)
Cinematography: SF (I loved how SF captured the impending dreariness in Scotland)
Benign Bizarre: GE (No one wanted to see Joe Don Baker's cheek).
Suspense: SF (Judy Dench's death was one for the ages).
Minor Characters: GE (A very formidable cast was GE).
Glamour: GE (Got to go with a Monaco casino).
Ally: GE (Yeah it's Jack, but Bond really didn't get much help outside of MI6)
In a mild surprise on my part, GoldenEye beats Skyfall 9-8.
Title Track: SF
Title Credits: SF
Main Villain: GE (I love Trevelyan's character.)
Main Bond Girl: GE
Overall Plot: GE
Dialogue: GE (So many memorable lines!)
Score: SF (Just barely.)
Settings: SF
Action: GE
Humor: GE (Sometimes goes a little too far but when it connects it's comedy gold.)
Cinematography: SF
Benign Bizarre: SF
Suspense: SF (Another close call.)
Minor Characters: GE
Glamour: GE
Ally: SF (For Kincade, if he counts.)
GE 9
SF 8
PTS: GE (close call here, SF's is really good)
Title Track: GE (classic, sexy theme. SF felt too restrained, like Adele was holding back)
Title Credits: GE (classic Cold War themes- SF's is awesome, but too cluttered)
Main Villain: SF (close call because it's Bean, but Silva has more presence)
Main Bond Girl: GE (Natalya, one of my faves)
Overall Plot: GE
Dialogue: GE (the writing's on the wall)
Score: GE (it was different, and the cold, sterile sound reflects the atmosphere)
Settings: GE (close call, but we have the weapons facility/dam, Russia, Cuba etc.)
Action: GE
Humor: GE (3 minutes, James- the same 3 minutes you gave me! *wheezing laughter*)
Cinematography: SF
Benign Bizarre: SF
Suspense: GE (Ourumov: You can't win/helicopter ejector seat escape/pen grenade GIVE ME THE CODES)
Minor Characters: GE (hmmm, I think SF was seriously lacking in this dept. Oh, and killer thighs from Georgia)
Glamour: GE (Monte Carlo casino, henchwoman drives a Ferrari)
Ally: GE (Once again, SF's lacking here- have to give it to Wade. YO JIMBO!)
GE: 14 / SF: 3
Wow, I thought there would be a smaller gap, but there you go.
PTS: GE
Title Track: SF
Title Credits: GE
Main Villain: SF
Main Bond Girl: GE
Overall Plot: SF
Dialogue: SF
Score: SF
Settings: SF
Action: GE
Humor: SF
Cinematography: SF
Benign Bizarre: SF
Suspense: SF
Minor Characters: GE
Glamour: SF
Ally: GE (Robbie Coltrane)
SF: 11
GE: 6
Title Track: SF
Title Credits: SF
Main Villain: SF
Main Bond Girl: GE
Overall Plot: SF
Dialogue: SF
Score: SF
Settings: SF
Action: SF
Humor: SF
Cinematography: SF
Benign Bizarre: SF
Suspense: SF
Minor Characters: SF
Glamour: SF
Ally: GE
SF: 15
GE: 2
Well, I tried to be as nice with Goldeneye as I could. Still an onslaught...
Some just aren't fan of the ridiculously unrealistic, OTT, Tour de force action in Goldeneye, and prefer the slightly more modest, suspenseful sequences in Skyfall. It's yet again a question of taste...
True that. :)>- The key word of course is balance. Obviously I don't wan't my Bond films completely devoid of preposterous, OTT elements. However I don't wan't every action scene to be grand and exaggerated... like in Goldeneye. When Bond regularly takes on an army of russian soldiers all by himself, dives after an air plane (???), destroys Sankt Petersburg in a tank, and finishes off fistfighting on an enourmos antenna... the sum total is just too much for me...
(IMO, IMO, IMO, IMO, IMO... just so you know...)
(Just to clearify: IMO... no wait... IMHO) ;)
SF with Bond getting a subway carriage thrown at him and him alone hiding with M in Scotland against a complete military helicopter (that in real life would have been wiped from the air in No time at all) arriving in Apocalypse now style seems very realistic too?
I find it a sad affair that DC like PB gets lesser movies after an impressive 1st one, it says a shitload about EON. Only the quality drop that PB had was not as enormous as DC got. QoB is a really poor 007 outing that was made when they just should have taken more time to do it right. All of the original Bourne trilogy are quality wise a better product. And SF is just overrated with the exception of the titlesong. IMHO of course...
Title Track: SF
Title Credits: GE
Main Villain: GE
Main Bond Girl: GE
Overall Plot: GE
Dialogue: GE
Score: GE
Settings: GE
Action: GE
Humor: GE
Cinematography: SF
Benign Bizarre: GE
Suspense: GE
Minor Characters: GE
Glamour: SF
Ally: GE
GE wins, 14 - 3. I love the SF track, the cinematography of SF is the best in the series, and of course it's indisputable that the glamour level is much higher. That's it, though.
Title Track: draw - I like them both equally and I'm a big Tina fan but Adele is impressive here...
Title Credits: draw Yes a cop out, I do like seeing hot girls smashing Soviet relics but in fact I find it impossible to separate these - the SF start was so wonderfully impressive and mesmerising when I first saw it in the cinema yet I got the same buzz first watching GE)
Main Villain: GE - Alec was great and in some respects was more than a match for Bond which is kind of the idea with his being an ex 00 - nice idea!
Main Bond Girl: GE - so we're back to the whole was-there-really-a-Bondgirl-in-SF? thing - Severine was a blink in this and wasted. Natalya walked this - and my kind of gal too!).
Overall Plot: GE - I simply have so much of a problem with SF's plot - it was for me totally ridiculous.
Dialogue: GE.
Score: GE.
Settings: GE - Dreary Scotland? meh!
Action: GE - it just worked all the way through, especially the tank chase - maybe I'm just not into crashing Underground trains. SF set piece in a home-alone styley just doesn't cut it and tannoy music helicopters has been done before.
Humor: GE - yes silly in places but I want to be entertained not depressed...
Cinematography: SF - this was so well done here and far superior to GE's.
Benign Bizarre: GE - back to the tank.
Suspense: SF - expected the Bean/Bond hand to hand fight coming but not M dying.
Minor Characters: GE - there's so much to choose from here in GE.
Glamour: GE - more polish than SF.
Ally: GE - loved the meeting scene with the Trabby and stiff assed Brit quip
No surprise here for me really as I feel let down by SF and can't watch it but can always watch GE over and over.
GE : 13
SF : 2
DRAW : 2
PTS: GE (one word wow, love Pierce mincing down the stairs, a way to declare I'm The New Bond Look Out, economy of movement))
Title Track: GE (very camp, delicious camp - Adele is just wussy)
Title Credits: GE (best in whole series)
Main Villain: SF (Bean annoys me)
Main Bond Girl: GE (SF has no main Bond girl, ineligible)
Overall Plot: SF (SF has more suspense)
Dialogue: GE (much funnier and more crisp, SF like all Purvis Wade movies full of clunkers)
Score: SF (close call, two best Non Barry scores, both far better than Arnold)
Settings: GE (SF too studio bound)
Action: GE (quantity and quality, SF just quality)
Humor: GE (SF big drawback is no laughs, GE quite a few)
Cinematography: SF (close call, final shot of GE is my favourite)
Benign Bizarre: SF (this quality has really been missing since Cubby)
Suspense: SF (overall plotline more suspense, but GE has more suspense scenes with the pen, the helicopter, the trolley etc)
Minor Characters: GE (no contest, one of the best casts of characters in any Bond... Boris...)
Glamour: SF (GE a bit too 90s by comparison)
Ally: GE (Jack Wade a better Felix than any official Felix)
SF: 7
GE: 10
Title Track: SF
Title Credits: GE
Main Villain: SF
Main Bond Girl: GE
Overall Plot: GE
Dialogue: GE (close one)
Score: GE (whoops)
Settings: SF
Action: GE
Humor: SF
Cinematography: SF
Benign Bizarre: SF
Suspense: SF
Minor Characters: GE
Glamour: SF
Ally: GE (Zukovsky!)
Wow! 9-8 for GoldenEye when I prefer Skyfall!
Title Track: SF
Title Credits: SF
Main Villain: SF
Main Bond Girl: SF
Overall Plot: SF
Dialogue: SF
Score: SF
Settings: SF
Action: SF
Humor: SF
Cinematography: SF
Benign Bizarre: GE
Suspense: SF
Minor Characters: SF
Glamour: SF
Ally: GE
15-2 for Skyfall...
Title Track: Skyfall
Title Credits: Skyfall
Main Villain: Skyfall (Tough call, considering the strength of both Sean Bean's and Javier Bardem's performances, but I always thought Trevelyan was a little overrated based on having to imagine he has a history with Bond that we never saw in the decades leading up to GoldenEye)
Main Bond Girl: Skyfall (Even with it being tricky to determine who qualifies as the "main" Bond girl in Skyfall, any Bond girl's better than Natalya)
Overall Plot: GoldenEye (Save the world vs Save M)
Dialogue: Skyfall
Score: Skyfall (Thomas Newman's score is much more in the vein of John Barry than Eric Serra's is)
Settings: Skyfall
Action: GoldenEye (Both are quality over quantity as far as action scenes are concerned, but GoldenEye had a few more setpieces that were epic in scale)
Humor: GoldenEye (As far as comic relief goes, GoldenEye has Q, Wade, and Boris almost completely devoted to it)
Cinematography: Skyfall (Roger Deakins, the only Bond cinematographer so good that I actually know him by name)
Benign Bizarre: GoldenEye (EMP emitting satellite, KGB assassin whose weapon of choice is her thighs, villain with distinct disfigurement given to him by the hero)
Suspense: Skyfall
Minor Characters: GoldenEye
Glamour: Skyfall
Ally: GoldenEye
Skyfall: 11
GoldenEye: 6
Title Track: SF
Title Credits: GE
Main Villain: SF
Main Bond Girl: GE
Overall Plot: GE
Dialogue: SF
Score: GE
Settings: SF
Action: GE
Humor: GE
Cinematography: SF
Benign Bizarre: SF
Suspense: SF
Minor Characters: GE
Glamour: GE
Ally: SF
Very tough one to do, I love both these films so much.
9-8 Goldeneye
Title Track: GE (I like both songs, but I like Tina's voice a bit more)
Title Credits: SF (I love the new title sequences)
Main Villain: SF (Silva is a bit more memorable and gives more of a sinister performance)
Main Bond Girl: GE (I wish there were more Bond girls in Skyfall)
Overall Plot: GE (The threat of Goldeneye feels more dangerous.)
Dialogue: GE (I like the humor in GE)
Score: SF (GE's score was very unique, but I do enjoy the newer scores better)
Settings: GE (Russia, Cuba)
Action: GE (Close one, but I prefer the action scenes in GE)
Humor: GE (No contest)
Cinematography: SF (Hands down, SF is a beautiful looking film)
Benign Bizarre: SF
Suspense: SF (When I first saw Severine, I didn't expect her to die so quick.
Minor Characters: GE (Ouromov, Mishkin, Zukovsky)
Glamour: GE
Ally: GE (Zukovsky, Wade)
It's hard to pick between two great films
11-6 GE
Title Track: SF
Title Credits: GE
Main Villain: GE
Main Bond Girl: SF
Overall Plot: GE
Dialogue: SF
Score: SF
Settings: SF
Action: SF
Humor: GE
Cinematography: SF
Benign Bizarre: GE
Suspense: SF
Minor Characters: GE
Glamour: SF
Ally: GE
9-8 to SkyFall. This was a pretty close one for me. Good battle, but I would say that the categories SF wins are by a larger margin than the categories GE wins for my ranking.
Skyfall's title track is beating GoldenEye's at the moment. For what it's worth, @SaintMark picked GE's.
Yeah that is a mistake I have corrected. Thank you for noticing.
PTS: TWINE
Title Track: TWINE
Title Credits: Tie
Main Villain: TWINE (counting Elektra here)
Main Bond Girl: QoS
Overall Plot: QoS (close one, although neither is much to write home about)
Dialogue: QoS
Score: QoS
Settings: QoS
Action: QoS
Humor: TWINE
Cinematography: QoS (Shaky cam wins!)
Benign Bizarre: TWINE
Suspense: QoS
Minor Characters: TWINE (gotta give Desmond Llewellyn something)
Glamour: TWINE
Ally: QoS (A great Felix edges Zukovsky)
Quantum of Solace works out a 9-7-1 victory over The World Is Not Enough! Your entries (and a mod to change the title) please.
PTS: TWINE
Title Track: TWINE
Title Credits: TWINE
Main Villain: TWINE
Main Bond Girl: QoS
Overall Plot: QoS
Dialogue: QoS
Score: QoS
Settings: Tie
Action: QoS
Humor: TWINE
Cinematography: QoS
Benign Bizarre: TWINE
Suspense: QoS
Minor Characters: QoS
Glamour: TWINE
Ally: TWINE
WOW! 8 to 8 & a tie to tie! :-O
PTS: QoS (Short and sweet. TWINE has some great moments but it's too darn long.)
Title Track: TWINE
Title Credits: QoS
Main Villain: TWINE
Main Bond Girl: QoS (Underrated in general and mops the floor with Richards.)
Overall Plot: TWINE (I suppose.)
Dialogue: QoS
Score: QoS (My favorite from Arnold)
Settings: TWINE (Close call.)
Action: QoS
Humor: TWINE
Cinematography: QoS
Benign Bizarre: TWINE
Suspense: QoS
Minor Characters: TWINE
Glamour: TWINE
Ally: TWINE
TWINE 9 QoS 8
On paper TWINE has some very strong elements that were never quite realized in the execution.