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DAF
YOLT
These are the worst for me, with DAD being the worst of the lot, but DAF is not too far behind for me!
Splendidly written @bondjames
How ironic that Craig, particularly in SP made a similar mistake to Brosnan. They both believed the hype the producers said about them. And that "Cannot do any wrong" mentality showed in their characterizations.
But Craig did a complete uturn in SP by blatantly borrowing personality from past Bonds. It was less obvious in SF, but the story covered it up better. Exactly the worst thing he could do. In QOS, he was completely his own man and it was refreshing.
Glen understood Bond and when I met him, I told him how I noticed elements of Thunderball in the underwater scenes of LTK . He appreciated that I noticed those subtle nods to the past. Because he loves those 60's Bond films and is a sincere fan.
I think past Bond directors before Martin Campbell were more humble. I met both Glen and Lewis Gilbert (Gilbert was a chance encounter on the London tube). Both were so down to earth and nice to talk to.
No one has bettered the pre-1995 Bond. RIP Guy Hamilton, another master of the series as well as Terence Young.
Up until that point LTK had been a favourite, but after OHMSS it felt like a disappointment and the generic feel showed up a lot more.
But they are different stories. LTK looks very much like a Glen Bond movie. And furthermore, LTK has the right look for the vengeance theme.
OHMSS is a more romantic film, because it builds up to Bond's marriage.
And OHMSS is a Peter Hunt film. It has a look totally different to what came before or since.
For instance, I do not dismiss Dr No, because it lacks the production value of GF or TSWLM
The acting, cast, writing and overall film-making in the former struck me as being a lot stronger.
Even Laz, for all his faults, had a greater presence than Dalton.
Dalton in the casino stands out and looks like he knows what he is doing. Lazenby looks like he is taking verbal cues from Hunt.
How Dalton plays cards like a true gambler and he is excellent in Sanchez's office.
The car scene in OHMSS where Draco's men take Bond at gunpoint. Well, a fish out of water looks more comfortable than Lazenby.
He is propped up by the superior actors around him like Savalas Rigg and Lee.
Lazenby is a plank of wood, that makes Adam West look like a thespian.
The World is Not Enough and Die Another Day are strong contenders, but there are at least stretches in those films where you can find something worthwhile. Spectre is a mess from the jump and is in decline for much of the film.
Yes and Osama Bin Laden is a Christian fundamentalist.
Look, you can't win. Dalton is a professional actor and Lazenby a f**king male model
Dalton's trademark intenseness makes you watch him like a hawk. He is a man who has full ownership of the camera.
The late Tom Mankiewicz who wrote both for Connery and Moore, said that Dalton had a "Violence" about him.
I rest my case and glad that real estate worked out for Laz.
I don't understand people complaining about LTK being to dark since the 80's were clearly a popular time to film dark action movies. People complain about it being to much like Miami Vice and no one seems to notice MR is copying Star Wars. SP is a tribute to the Connery/Moore era, it borrows the white tux, the gun holster and black sweater Moore wears in LALD, Mr Hinx is a henchman in the mould of Jaws and Oddjob, Unrealistic campy elements like Bond gets saved by a randomly placed sofa.
I agree. Those who say LTK is like Mami Vice should perhaps engage their critical thinking. and stop blindly following other people's poorly judged comments.
LTK is burning a new avenue for the series and I suggest to read some Fleming. Fleming is violent and what happens to Felix is from the novel. Bond inhabits a dirty world, full of brutality and LTK is Bond at breaking point emotionally.
No series survives in safe formula mode. A black friend of mine says it's criminal that Craig got the credit for what Dalton started.
People have a herd mentality. But, if you are thinking like everyone else, it means you are not thinking. How many famous painters died ridiculed, only to be reappraised by a new generation. And the popular ones of their generation became forgotten.
I married a stunningly beautiful woman exactly because she liked that I had different perspectives from legions of others she encountered.
I like rebels and Dalton went against the grain.
My how we all differ in our views of the series! TWINE for me virtually stands alongside OHMSS as the series' finest 2+ hours!
I rank DAF bottommost for being crass, camp, woefully cheap-looking, largely juvenile, and all around lacking in the spectacular. At the end of the day, Barry's sparkling score and Sean's sparkling personality can only do so much.
For dull as dishwater, For Your Eyes Only and Spectre presently battle it out—with asthmatic hooks and jabs—for the title of "Most Purely Vanilla Adventure of the Series," while The Spy Who Loved Me safely reigns as "Most Vacuous and Glacially Paced," thanks to endless walking and landscape scenes, a tanker battle that never friggin' ends, and "as interesting as a door" exercises in monotone courtesy of Jurgens, Bach, and Munro (the other two, Jaws and Sandor, don't speak, and Rog mostly just smiles and works his eyebrows—oh the thrill of it all!).
Of course we all differ in our views of the series. I've always said that every Bond film is at least one fan's favourite and at least one fan's least favourite. Furthermore, since we're all sufficiently in love with the series to be all the more outspoken about things we wish were different, pointing out the few flaws in an otherwise still respected film happens with vigour and hyperbole. It's the same with Star Wars fans who criticise George Lucas day and night yet ultimately worship the man. The average Bond fan will include films like DAF and DAD in any marathon and in fact have a good enough time with them while simultaneously spitting on the few things they did "wrong" as if the fan's life depended on it. Even DAD's proverbial "worst enemy" may happily buy an alarm clock that has one hand pointed at Zao's facial diamonds and the other at Halle's bikini covered chest while announcing wake-up time through a poor midi rendition of Madonna's theme song leaking out of a tiny speaker.
Take me for example. I often pretend that TMWTGG, AVTAK, NSNA and TWINE are dreadful experiences. In truth, I watch them as often as I watch my favourites in the series. Dreadful experiences? They are anything but. Deep down inside, it pleases me to watch these films. I have fun looking at production stills or reading about production details of these films. I'd collect little things like a golden gun replica if slightly less expensive, and be the proud owner of it. It's like being angry with the person you love over something silly like forgetting to clean up the kitchen table after lunch; in the end, that person is still the one you love and if anyone else even dares to speak ill of her, you'll go nuts.
I've always found it intriguing how much adrenaline we chew up when laying waste to our least favourite Bond film. Being slightly disappointed with a missed opportunity or with a bold departure from the "norm" is sometimes enough to make us Hulk out on these forums and send verbal torpedoes up the film's arse. Let's be frank, even our most "hated" Bond film usually doesn't deserve that. :D But that's the way fan love works: if it isn't quite perfect, we'll go to war. DAD's CGI? The crime of the century! QOS failed to live up to CR? An act of terrorism! We really are a demanding bunch. ;-)
I presume that's also the reason why CR has reached "only" 8.0 on imbd and still be the best Bond film there, while The Dark Knight has no trouble reaching 9.0. The mere fact of 24 Bond films, each a little different from the rest, each pulling in new fans at the time of their release, each standing out as the prime example of a perfect Bond film for at least one person, also means that some people will just not appreciate OHMSS or CR and produce more vitriol than praise for these films. It's almost statistically impossible for one Bond film to ever climb to the top of imdb's listing. Is TDK indeed a much better film than CR? I guess we can debate that. But Batman fans who dislike TDK are in an obvious minority while Bond fans who dislike CR come in slightly larger numbers. Because to some people, the ingredients that constitute a good Bond film are all present in DAF, or in TMWTGG, and much less so in CR. And they will give the film a one or two star review, and those weaker scores will inevitably dent the film's overall chances of an exceptional score.
I rather like this by the way. Every Bond film has its share of fans, even the less conventionally praised ones. It allows for colourful debate, and I want that. And while I can Hulk out over some Bond films too, in the end I love them slightly less than GE and CR, but I still love them... :)
Still it amazes me how we all have such passion for the franchise—literary and cinematic for many here—and yet have such divergent views on what constitutes "greatness" across these 24 films. That is truly the greatest strength of the series, how it offers so much for so many, whether your tastes sway toward Diamonds or Daylights, toward Golden Gun or GoldenEye. And I hope that never changes. For better or worse, variety truly is the spice of life.
(And oh how I wish that Die Another Day alarm clock really existed. I would send one to more than a few users here. "Guaranteed to irritate anyone who uses it!")
(And yes, I too relish even my lowest ranked Bond films during marathons or when the mood strikes. My criticisms of them are by contrast with my series favorites and not in comparison to cinema as a whole.)
Boom!
100% spot on. SP is absolute trash for me. I honestly can't stand it. The 3 year gap, the obvious garbage script they had so much time to get right, the ruined scenes and wasted opportunities; and the overall pretentiousness that permeates throughout. This makes it all the more worse when you consider the talent involved and the mistakes in the series that have come beforehand. That said, SP is the Bond film that I've come the closest to genuinely hating.
I definitely think its the cheesiest film we have had for a while.
Would love to hear your reasons for YOLT being a contender. Having watched the film recently, Adams sets and Barry's soundtrack would be reason enough to keep this one from the bottom, although there's a lot to love with the cinematography and scope.
I will say the Bond becoming Japanese sideplot was unnecessary and about 15-20 minutes could have been trimmed which would have left a far better experience.
QOS
AVTAK
DAD
YOLT
TMWTGG
Those 6 are my contenders for worst Bond movie.
If you swapped YOLT for MR that would be my bottom six as well.
It took me a while to kind of come around to that conclusion, as I had somehow enjoyed SP when I saw it in theaters, although I chalk that up now to simply enjoying a night out and getting away from things for a while during a fairly rough stretch, now that I've had a chance to look back at it.
It took me no fewer than 4 attempts to watch the film all the way through once I got in Blu-ray. Every other Bond film I'm able to make it all the way through in a single sitting (like you would with virtually any movie, really). But with SP, I kept falling asleep very early in the proceedings or found myself growing overly impatient with it, usually before Bond ever even got to Mr. White and Madeleine, which are the only parts of the film that I've found I can tolerate. It's just a bad film.
TWINE is a boring, and Skyfall makes the mistake of repeating TWINE, that was just lazy.
DAD I agree is by far the most entertaining of the three. At least it is fun to watch.
What can I say that has not been said a hundred times? I like the title sequence and Cleese as Q. Nice homage to the original James Bond. That s it. Easier to say what I like.
I share the same sentiments.