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Comments
IMHO, his more relaxed performance gave us a more literary Bond, albeit in a very cinematic setting...
Look, I'm aware that Connery had an intent to leave, and that his heart may not have been fully in it, but that IMO only makes his performance BETTER. It's less intense (my only ever problem with Dalton- the balloon popping intensity), and more a product of a man (agent) getting progressively more tired of his profession. It SO works for me that I can forgive many other aspects of the movie I didn't used to (the overall SPECTRE economics, the short Blofeld, the drop in the ocean-cam, the bad lava matte).
Dude, have some fun with it!
:))
OMG, I'm USUALLY defending Brosnan...!!!!
Bored or not his laughable attempt at being a Japanese fisherman is fairly hard to ignore.
Personally however I think the ultimate "Connery looking bored" moment comes not from Twice but from DAF when he says "a vast supply of diamonds controlled by an expert in light refraction". I don't believe he's even remotely invested in the situation there.
I have always thought that myself.
My point exactly, I've got Bond burn out as well after 37 years of watching these films there are certain entries I doubt I'll ever watch again and I have the 50th Blu ray set.
YOLT has one of Barry's best scores, some of Adam's most impressive set design and superb cinematography but after that I'm hard pressed to see anything to recommend it. Funny really loved it when I was a kid but now moments just make me groan.
Lets face it in the same way us Craig fans will make allowances, Connery and previous era fans will make excuses for even the worst Messiah Sean had to offer. The difference is Craig gives 110 % all the time and loves playing Bond something I doubt Connery actually did. Craig approached it like another job but grew to enjoy it and each time strives to do better.
He stopped playing Bond after TB and after that played Sean Connery and even more so in DAF as for NSNA that was just a travesty.
I really wish I could wear the rose tinted specs of nostalgia like some of you but more than half of the entries in the series just don't have the same effect that they did once upon a time and everything Connery did after TB is certainly in that bracket.
I'm thankful that Craig reignited my passion in Bond again but I've not doubt somewhere down the line my interest will wain again, I can't just follow these films because they have James Bond 007 emblazoned on the poster. I personally like this direction with some reservations and have no desire for Bond to descend into the type of shenanigans of the late Connery, Moore or Brozzer era's thank you.
When we see Bond follow Aki away from the sumo wrestlers, it's a fall asleep before the film even begins moment. Others persist though Connery is quite sweet with Aki and a bit livelier with Karin Dor, his energy levels go up. But at the end, with Kissy, there is little chemistry there and I hate the whole sexist 'face like a pig' gag. But the Japanese girls' diminutive physique makes Connery seem even more lumbering and overweight.
I liked Connery in DAF, he is great with the comedy lines so his performance comes alive for me.
Okay, I'm broken down now. I'll agree with the consensus; CR & SF are the ONLY good Bond movies and Craig is the ONLY good Bond actor... ^:)^
"I have the consensus in my sight, ready to shoot down."
;)
:D
Lovely stuff. ;)
I guess Dalton was also in LTK.
And Moore in FYEO.
And Brosnan in TND.
I like my Bond actors stressed, sick and tired!
:))
Great post. Loved the "another guy to take over the night shift" part.
I imagine that the real James Bond would be all of these things on a mission anyhow. ;)
Ummm... there's something I think you should know... :-\"
I think we can add downright pissed off to that list. I think that was about the time he despised Saltzman.
I agree with @Birdleson. There's a lack of that sparkle. Something is missing. Perhaps the intensity. He's not bad in it, but I've always thought EVERYONE acknowledged that it wasn't to the of the previous 4 turns.
I think we can add downright pissed off to that list. I think that was about the time he despised Saltzman.
I agree with @Birdleson. There's a lack of that sparkle. Something is missing. Perhaps the intensity. He's not bad in it, but I've always thought EVERYONE acknowledged that it wasn't to the of the previous 4 turns.
Well that was rather ambiguously worded, so to set the record straight I simply meant it's what James Bond would have perhaps felt like himself at times if he were a real life secret agent and a real life human being. That sound better?
;)
I know, but I do trip over my words sometimes! :))
YOLT the film is the first Eon production to significantly discard its roots: the original Fleming novel. This decision removes some of the most compelling material in the book (Dr. Shatterhand’s Garden of Death) and instead pushes forward one of the most unconvincing visuals of the movie: Connery “turning Japanese.” While Fleming took pains to vary the construction of his later novels in order to avoid repeating a successful formula (with considerably mixed results: TSWLM being narrated by the book’s leading lady , OHMSS ending in Bond’s marriage and his wife being killed shortly thereafter, and YOLT’s fascination with Japanese culture) the films chose to become mired in the formula at this point, so much so that YOLT the film is the most parodied of all the Bond movies (see most notably Austin Powers.) I think it self evident that YOLT the film suffers from a certain creative complacency. Various video monitors such as the one in Aki’s car or another in Blofeld’s main control room show Bond scenes that clearly no camera ought to be in place to catch; instead, he is seeing material that the audience has just seen from an “omniscient” point of view and the filmmakers are indulging in some creative slight of hand by having Bond see this material too. Helga Brandt is very clearly Fiona Volpe brought back to life and given a new name. If Karin Dor had been allowed to keep her natural hair color and Helga had been presented in BOND #8 rather than the very next film in the series after TB, this bit of creative laziness would not have been so obvious…as it is, even Miss Brandt’s healthy chest cannot hide the blatancy of the formula at work in her very creation for this film.
Let me stress at this point that YOLT the film does have some very pleasing elements: Ken Adams’ design of the volcano hideout is a masterpiece; John Barry’s score one of his most evocative, the casting of many of the supporting characters (such as Tiger Tanaka and Dikko Henderson) is impeccable. I even understand and accept the need to alter some of Fleming’s original plotting as OHMSS had not yet been filmed and the future Mrs. Bond had not yet been killed. I merely point out that at this point in the series, the Bond formula tends to take precedence over originality in plotting, and this is exactly the sort of situation that Fleming himself took pains to avoid.
Which brings us, finally, to the question of Connery’s performance in this film. I find it unsurprising that the creative complacency already noted in much of the rest of this production might find an echo in some of the work presented by that film’s star. As others (such as @chrisisall and @NicNac) have noted, Connery’s work with his costars is without fault. Indeed, Connery’s reputation among other actors has always been one of unfailing generosity in this regard. But when he is alone on the Blue Screen…as in the fight with four Spectre helicopters against Little Nellie…I’m sorry, but in the middle of my most recent viewing of the film, my cell phone did indeed ring. When I answered, Sir Sean’s voice came through the ether: “Shorry, but here’s my performansh in this schene. Jusht phoning it in, y‘know?”
Seconded, @BeatlesSansEarmuffs! Excellent material there!
^:)^