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I love MR, and it does have all of those things, but a film is more than the sum of its parts and MR doesn't really hang together. Apart from the centrifuge and Corinne put-down, there's almost zero tension and all of the action scenes are weak and don't really work (apart from the sky-diving, obviously). Spy is just a much more exciting film.
I'd also very much contend the idea that MR has a superior theme song.
Me too. My preferences regarding the Rog era:
1. The Man with the Golden Gun
2. Octopussy
3. Moonraker
4. Live and Let Die
5. The Spy Who Loved Me
6. A View to a Kill
7. For Your Eyes Only
MR
OP
TSWLM
LALD
TMWTGG
AVATAK
TSWLM
FYEO
TMWTGG
AVTAK
MR
LALD
TSWLM - It just clicks together perfectly. Thrills, fun, tension it's all there, and perfectly paced. The perfect Bond film.
MR - Flawed, but it just makes me happy.
OP - Good mix of big screen fun and exciting action.
AVTAK - A bit of a lesser version of OP, but has so much I love in it I could never call it the worst.
FYEO - It's probably a better film than AVTAK, but I don't have as much affection for it. Great action though and lots to enjoy.
TMWTGG - A bit flat, they hadn't found their way
LALD - really quite flat and incredibly episodic: have an action scene, go back to the hotel to talk to Felix, and repeat.
They're all good films, of course.
That is true!
LALD: I love the supernatural element, and Bond winging it in Harlem, and (most of all) the speedboat chase
MR: for death of Corinne and space shuttles. I’ve read a few comments that people think it’s ok until it gets into space when it goes downhill, but I think it goes uphill when they get into space. I love it from the launch of the shuttles onwards
TSWLM: ski jump, Egypt stuff, the Lotus chase, the great Liparus set, Bond shooting Stromberg in his plums
Then a bit of a gap
TMWTGG: I enjoy early 70s sleaziness
FYEO: a taut spy thriller but not really James Bond, it could be an early Bourne film
OP: East German stuff is good but India is awful
AVTAK: old people watching horses
LALD
FYEO
MR
AVTAK
TMWTGG
TSWLM
LALD
MWTGG
MR
FYEO
OP
VTAK
Never understood the Octopussy love. The Tarzan yell, the costumes, the horse's arse, Q in a hot air balloon .... to me it was a regression into silliness after the more grounded FYEO.
The Cold War atmosphere, the great sets, the excellent stunt work, characters like Octopussy and Orlov, the Alfa, ... .
Also, the Inner German Border is the most Cold War-esque location ever and this is the only Bond film that explores this territory, for that alone it gets extra points.
Was he in the East in From Russia With Love? I don't know how the politics worked.
The Orient Express would have taken Bond and Tatiana through Yugoslavia I suppose? Not proper Warsaw Pact territory though.
AVTAK: old people watching horses
[/quote]
Thanks for the laugh. :)) I really needed one today.
'Red Chinese waters' in TMWTGG
Czechoslovakia in TLD.
PTS of GE (not sure of this counts though).
Yeah good ones; can't believe I forgot Czechoslovakia! The opening of GE definitely counts.
I also forgot about Albania in FYEO.
Although also not technically part of the Warsaw Pact of course, but still a communist regime in those days.
The PTS of OP also looks like an unnamed communist regime somewhere in the Caribbean. Come to think of it, San Monique in LALD might be too...
And then we also have North Korea in DAD.
LALD (my first Bond film, so it holds sentimental value)
FYEO
MR
TMWTGG
OP (all three being pretty interchangeable)
AVTAK
Funny - I think the speedboat chase is the worst part of the film. Takes WAY too long and Pepper destroys every scene he is in.
The final climax with Adam is great, though.
But there it ends, for me. I can see why it's a fans favourite (like GF is), but it just doesn't tick my boxes. Never been quite sure why.
Maybe its because it lacks John Barry, and it lacks any Fleming references. I much prefer LALD and TMWTGG. I would even take MR over TSWLM.
Sure, that's not so cold war though! :)
Do Fleming references matter when you're making a good movie? I can't quite see that.
Yeah, most of LALD's action is rather languid and dull. I get that it has interesting settings and some good flourishes, but I'll never understand why so many people think it's the best one.
Its the small moments I like in LALD rather than the big action scenes - Bond in his apartment, in his hotel room taking a shave. The sideline characters are also interesting - the Whisper, Baron Samedi, Tee Hee, Felix Leiter, etc.
It also has one of the best songs, and one of the best scores outside of Barry.
I'm in your minority group. TSWLM never clicked with me! I find it dull and the characters, apart from Roger of course, dull also! The fight scenes seem to be in slow motion, and it just doesn't have a scene or set piece that stands out for me! I prefer any one of Moores other Bond movies!
LALD may have dull stretches at the start, but it has great characters, brilliant theme, and the crocodile farm sequence is terrific, love the bus chase, Hedisons Felix Leiter, and one of the best M/Bond encounters!
Much like with GF, where DN and FRWL surpass it in story and TB surpasses it in epicness, I prefer LALD, TMWTGG and MR for the same reasons compared to TSWLM. So I'm in the minority too ;) @jetsetwilly @Mathis1 True. I forgot about that. Sorry :D
Agreed re: the small moments. The minor characters are unique and ominous. The "supernatural" element adds a creepy and fun quirk to the series. Lots of great little scenes. Bond hang-gliding with a cigar in his mouth is about as bad-ass as Moore gets. "Now promise you'll stay right there. I shan't be long" is classic Roger Moore. Its got crocs, sharks, AND snakes!
It is definitely an atmosphere over action film and I think it pulls-off what it is gong for quite well.
Minus JW Pepper and that endless bot chase.
Yeah exactly: it has lots of little bits that are good (I love the watch, myself), but then most Bond films do! It doesn't really come together to make a decent whole, I'd argue. Or at least, there are other Bond films which do it much better. There seems to be a section of the film where Bond leaves his hotel every morning, has an unmemorable action scene, then goes back to the hotel in the evening to have Felix roll his eyes at him, and then he does it again the next day. Very episodic. And why is Felix never with him when there's actual spying to do? :)