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It may not be the most spectacular entry action- or stuntwise, and the original music, bar the immortal James Bond Theme of course, can be rather uninspired at times. Though having said that, the first Bond film excels in its old-worldly atmosphere, its mysterious vibe, its unforgettable characters -of which I'd like to give a rare but well-deserved shoutout to the great John Kitzmiller- and its elegant, well-dressed and eloquent protagonist -perfectly brought to life by Sir Sean Connery from the get-go- who can outsmart baddies just with a single lock of his hair.
Rating before rewatch: 8/10
Rating after rewatch: 8/10
An extraordinary mix of colourful Indian locations, atmospheric Cold War border-crossing tension in divided Germany, thrilling action & stunts and wildly of-its-time humour. Furthermore, Octopussy has a wide variety of awesome characters such as the titular Bond girl who also happens to be the Moore era's best one, crazy Orlov, elegant Kamal Khan, beautiful Magda, likeable Vijay, the knife-throwing twins, and dice-crushing Gobinda. Also, as an alfista, it's nice to see Bond drifting around in an Alfa Romeo. Admittedly this one is not for everyone, but being somewhat of a sucker for 80's vibes, it's definitely right up this fan's alley.
Rating before rewatch: 9/10
Rating after rewatch: 10/1]
It's getting some added attention on another thread here ( most of it negative as usual 🙄) so it inspired me to watch it again yesterday afternoon!
I still enjoy this first sequel immensely. Craig is really impressive, I adore Olga, Amalric is a really underrated villain, it looks gorgeous ( that sweeping shot of Italy after the stunning car chase always takes my breath away!) It has wonderfully presented dramatic scenes ( the two with Mathis, at his villa and on the plane, and Camille explaining her backstory!) Greg Beam is one of the most memorable characters in the series, and I love Judi Denchs M in this film, she has some great scenes, prefer her here to that miserable old Granny she plays in SF! Great score from David Arnold, and though it gets a hammering for the editing, I love Dan Bradley's action sequences, they are inventive and thrilling, wouldn't mind seeing him return in a future Bond!
It's too long.
Easily one of the best PTS of the entire franchise. Up to and including time of release it was the biggest, longest and best of all existing entries. Maybe they should have cut out the Bilbao scene and focused more time on MI6 HQ/ Thames River sequence but even now, perhaps it's best left as it is.
Marceau doesn't always make for a thoroughly convincing villain once she turns bad, Carlyle's Renard is similar in that doesn't radiate nowhere near enough menace, and while the impervious to pain angle was a different slant on things the character just wasn't interesting enough or carried enough on-screen threat to stand company with other more memorable adversaries such as Scaramanga, Goldfinger or Dr No.
Theme song is good, it's very good, easily one of the best of the last say 40 years and once the action gets underway it's always a bit hit and miss but there's a lot of fun to engage with. Coltrane's Zukovsky adds intrigue and humor to his return and as for Bond himself, Brosnan is largely credible in the role and it could well be his finest hour as 007 from all four appearances. Is it a better overall release than Goldeneye ? Perhaps not, just saying Brosnan feels (that) he gives the best portrayal of the character here than his others.
Denise Richards Jones' as always takes a tumble in credibility in role of a physicist and she's nowhere near as enduring or memorable as past Bond girls but still is able to help move the story along. Need to count sometime just how long Bond was able to hold his breath from the (outside) submarine swim sequence near the end when helping to thwart Renard's plans but then again it's just a movie, guess you don't need to read too much into it.
Final analysis, 8 out of 10. The plus points simply outweigh any negative aspects to it. This should have been Brosnan's final 007 hurrah. Take DAD out of it, (in that) TWINE would have been a near perfect way for the actor to finish in the role.