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Comments
Roberts wasn't hammy, just a poor fit for a poorly written character.
I love Pryce but I despised his performance in TND. Although his objective was amazing (as a plot), his performance was brutal. He posed no threat. He was a cartoon that would have his comeuppance (other Bond villains may seem cartoonish, but their execution brings a sense of true danger ( to me Dr. No, Goldfinger, LeChiffre, to name a few)).
And there's some scenes where her acting was a bit exaggerated, particularly at the third act, those interactions of she and Bond alone, their love scene.
I don't understand that. She's obviously a melodramatic golddigger type, and her reading of that line is as ridiculous in the world of the movie as is it is to the viewer. It's even mocked by another character for Christ's sake!
I guess from the nominees, I'd go with Carver. My actual vote might be Fiona Volpe, controversially, I imagine. Her "Bond James Bond who only has to make love to a woman" speech is as hammy as the series ever gets.
Roberts is shouting a bit too much and she isn't the best actress but there are many other Bondgirls who didn't do a better job, in my opinion, especially in the Moore era.
Joe Don Baker is okay for me, not a highlight but nothing that would take me out of the movie.
I have to vote for Obruchev. His last scenes on the island are a bit too much (but it doesn't really bother me, either).
Does it make sense to vote for a klebbie while stating that one loves the specific character?
The guy's constant head twitching and exaggerated reactions are hilarious! Unfortunately once seen it somewhat detracts from the coolest character introduction in cinematic history... I now find myself unable to take my eyes off him!
Good one! There's also a guy in the background in SF, in the sequence where Bond is pursuing Silva in the subway, who has such an annoying pronounced walk you'd think he was on a catwalk!
Now that I've seen him, he always catches my eye anytime I watch SF (Which isn't often 😉)
Wow, those head movements... the guy's giving the double taking pigeon a run for his money...
Anyway, I'll nominate Obruchev in NTTD. Guy just sounds like he's doing an impression of that weird computer generated meerkat from the Compare the Market ads we have here in the UK to me...
I've heard some people referring to him as the lovechild of Borat and Boris Grishenko (GE)?
I can see that. Lots of Borat vibes for sure...
I get what they were trying to do with Obruchev, but it just feels wrong. As a character he's too involved in the whole Heracles plot to the point where you're not sure whether he's meant to be this sinister villain or a bumbling side character (his weird racist rant at the end doesn't help). At least JW Pepper was so disconnected to the actual story that his presence is just a bit of comic relief. Or Zukovsky simply being a charming renegade but not an actual villain. Heck, even Boris in GE was played more for laughs and feels a bit more consistent.
And no, I don't approve of his fake Russian accent, just the same as with Boris.
The following applies to all of the "candidates": Are they really "hamming", or are they mainly following directions from, yes, the director? Actually, I don't have a real problem with any of their performances in context. Four out of five were intended to be over-the-top villains, and they did their job nicely.
The only one that I would be critical of is Tanya Roberts. But not because she's overacting, but rather because her acting isn't good. And with all apologies, since one shouldn't talk badly about the dead.
So I just abstain from voting in this contest.
Unfortunately, Roberts and DeSoto were/are not good actors.
Zerbe is a more interesting choice from LTK.
That is some of the hammiest sweeping ever!
Yes, he certainly should have belonged among the candidates...although the reservations from my last posting apply to him/his character as well.
Whittaker's character is supposed to be a crass armchair general, so I thought Joe Don Baker did a fine job of making Whittaker repugnant. Roberts is the only one on the list guilty of straight-up bad acting. Pryce is condescending to his role and perhaps deserves the prize. But I think I'll select Dencik as Obruchev. He's playing a broad one-note cartoon and doesn't fit with the rest of the film, even at its most outlandish.
The extras might need to get their own category, I suppose a good extra isn't noticed, but those bad ones can stick out like a sore thumb.
He's also convincing as a Russian either, so no problems for Berkoff either, he's more convincing than some actors/actresses playing Russians in the series like Barbara Bach, or those Russians portrayed in the Brosnan Era with the exception of Izabella Scorupco (and she's Polish).
Though, I'll admit he's no FRWL cast like Lotte Lenya, Robert Shaw, or Vladek Sheybal.
We can safely say that Roberts was definitely miscast in the role and just chosen purely for her beautiful looks just like the previous Bond Girls in the series (barring Honor Blackman and Diana Rigg), and her character was weak, if she's not a geologist and just an heiress of a company like how she's depicted at times in the film, I would definitely understand her shouting, her screaming, like I could make an argument that she's just a normal and innocent woman got involved in a tight situation, just like Kara Milovy. But they made her a Geologist, which requires a Professionalism or to act like a Professional, and Roberts had failed to do that, which is why for me, she's a convoluted character, her geologist acting, makes Denisre Richard's portrayal of Christmas Jones seemed more professional and plausible in comparison, is it a hammy (overacting) acting? You could make an argument to that because of her screaming and shouting, but that's how she's really depicted (an innocent woman trapped in a dangerous situations like the burning elevator), but I'd just say her acting was a bit lacking really, especially in terms of Professionality with her being a Geologist, so definitely not a hammy acting, but really lacking and mediocre.
Edit: Oh, I also forgot about Pryce, but I think it's not a hammy acting when it comes to him, he's not overacting, actually his performance was just lacking (in menace, threatening value). Like there's a potential, it could have been a lot more better, but yes, it is what it is, but when you look at him, he really did looked like a villain, from his glasses up to his wardrobe, he had the villain factor in him, but it's not that much obvious in the actual, his henchman, Stamper (Götz Otto) even upstaged him as he did the most menacing scenes or even Dr. Kaufman (Vincent Schiavelli). I think Jonathan Pryce is a decent villain, it could have been a lot more better regarding his performance, there's a potential.
Jeroen Krabbe in TLD, I think it has a lot more to do with the writing or the directing, I think he would be great in the role had he given a script that fits his strengths, or been directed based on his strengths as an actor, no problem to him as an actor, but I think it's more on the script or the writing of the character.
David Denczik I think was miscast in the role too, but in a different case, because of credibility.
Valdo Obruchev was meant to be a Russian Scientist whose bumbling, using dirty jokes, racist, almost like Boris Grishenko, but with a bit more Professionality and maturity to him, not childish.
The thing is, if Valdo Obruchev was played with a younger actor, let's say an actor in his 30's, not looking old like Denczik, it would have been more believable and credible. I mean Denczik's looks doesn't really fit in with the description of the character in terms of attitude, he looks like someone's irritating dad, if you get what I mean of that. I though understand what they're aiming with this character, but it's just the casting, he's really miscast in the role, had the character been played by a more younger looking, a bit looking like comedy in appearance like say Charlie Day or a young guy who looked naive and a bit comic, I think it would be a lot more believable and funny, and also natural.
When I first saw Denczik in a promotional stills of NTTD, I thought of him as someone whose serious, stoic at some point, like Einstein, an old guy with a fatherly attitude to him.
But when I've heard some people's reactions towards him in the film that he's playing a dirty comedy character, like I couldn't imagine it at all with him, and then I've watched him and I'm not wrong, he doesn't really fit, he's more cringe for me than funny, not believable, definitely miscast, so yes, I think Denczik would be my pick.
Though, there's also a lot of actors/actresses in the Bond series that didn't mentioned and deserves a nomination here too.
You're right, he was only going to remove Bond's genitals and still-beating heart from his body. Nothing sinister.
Another reason to watch the film again. Now that you mentioned him, I noticed the lady on Connery's left in the sunglasses who also seems to be trying to match him in expressions, although with a lot less time.