Is 'For Your Eyes Only' the most boring James Bond film?

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  • chrisisallchrisisall Brosnan Defender Of The Realm
    Posts: 17,795
    After browsing another discussion thread, I’ve decided that TWINE might be the most boring Bond film. Not the worst, but maybe most boring.

    Most boring for me would be Skyfall.
  • echoecho 007 in New York
    Posts: 6,297
    TND is my most boring.

    OP is the most underrated.
  • Posts: 1,917
    After browsing another discussion thread, I’ve decided that TWINE might be the most boring Bond film. Not the worst, but maybe most boring.

    I'll agree with that along with worst.
  • Posts: 207
    chrisisall wrote: »
    After browsing another discussion thread, I’ve decided that TWINE might be the most boring Bond film. Not the worst, but maybe most boring.

    Most boring for me would be Skyfall.

    I may have to agree with you. Out of all 25 films, I find myself rewatching it the least.
  • Posts: 1,394
    Zarozzor wrote: »
    chrisisall wrote: »
    After browsing another discussion thread, I’ve decided that TWINE might be the most boring Bond film. Not the worst, but maybe most boring.

    Most boring for me would be Skyfall.

    I may have to agree with you. Out of all 25 films, I find myself rewatching it the least.

    Yep.Skyfall is pretty boring.

    I think TWINE is very rewatchable.

  • Posts: 1,917
    Skyfall may not have the best action and a story that isn't absorbing, but has some of the best cinematography, a great villain and is one of the best-directed films in the series. I like some individual scenes a lot, but not the film so much as a whole. So I could never lump it in with most boring.
  • Skyfall isn’t boring in the slightest. Slightly Overrated? That’s my mode of thinking, but never boring.
  • chrisisallchrisisall Brosnan Defender Of The Realm
    Posts: 17,795
    Skyfall isn’t boring in the slightest. Slightly Overrated? That’s my mode of thinking, but never boring.

    *YAAAAAWNNNN* sorry, what was that? Cynonide? Dentures, Wha.... zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz
  • chrisisall wrote: »
    Skyfall isn’t boring in the slightest. Slightly Overrated? That’s my mode of thinking, but never boring.

    *YAAAAAWNNNN* sorry, what was that? Cynonide? Dentures, Wha.... zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

    Careful, Dentureless Silva will come haunt your dreams!!!
  • MurdockMurdock The minus world
    Posts: 16,351
    No Time To Die was the most boring Bond film imo. The first hour was a hoot to laugh at but London to the ending was a boring slog.
  • Only on this site would we be talking
    about the most boring Bond film and then jump straight to the neverending fan war between Brosnan and Craig rather than Thunderball or something.
    Murdock wrote: »
    No Time To Die was the most boring Bond film imo. The first hour was a hoot to laugh at but London to the ending was a boring slog.

    NTTD has many flaws but I don’t think boring is one of them, it’s exceptionally paced. I didn’t feel its length at all. Maybe you’d have been less bored if you hadn’t spoiled it for yourself in advance.
  • BennyBenny Shaken not stirredAdministrator, Moderator
    Posts: 15,135
    If For Your Eyes Only is a boring James Bond film, then I'm watching a different film to everyone who thinks it is.
    It has a great pace, and so many location changes. It's got the lot.
  • MurdockMurdock The minus world
    Posts: 16,351
    NTTD has many flaws but I don’t think boring is one of them, it’s exceptionally paced. I didn’t feel its length at all. Maybe you’d have been less bored if you hadn’t spoiled it for yourself in advance.

    If I had gone in blind I would have just been even angrier than I ended up being. I'd rather be bored than angry. It's just so tiring these days.
  • MajorDSmytheMajorDSmythe "I tolerate this century, but I don't enjoy it."Moderator
    Posts: 13,978
    I used to think FYEO was boring, and said as much many times. But over the years, I have grown to appreciate the attempt to bring the films back down to earth. And thus, along with OP, FYEO has been climbing up my ranking.
  • DarthDimiDarthDimi Behind you!Moderator
    edited December 2021 Posts: 24,179
    I love FYEO. Wouldn't call it boring even if you paid me, though I understand where the accusation comes from. The villain isn't pure megalomaniac evil, his plot is simple and unthreatening, and Bond faces few of the usual, tough and spectacular challenges.

    By the same token, though, this film has one of my favourite ski action sequences of the entire series, on par with OHMSS, better than TSWLM, positively magnificent compared to TWINE. The car chases are too comical to be taken seriously and Conti goes absolutely nuts during them, but I find them amusing nevertheless.

    The only section of this movie I'd call boring is the underwater search for the ATAC. When things move at an inch per minute, not even a brassy rendition of the Bond Theme can save it. The film slows down at this point, and not when you want it to. It also tries to be a trifle scary, but this is just not the film to go for jump scares. Then again, I'm somewhat ambivalent about underwater sequences in Bond films. The ones I absolutely adore include the often accused-of-boredom scenes in TB and the quick underwater action in LTK. The ones that feel like hard labour are in FYEO and TND. The latter's underwater scene, especially, is a blindspot of dullness in an otherwise pretty exciting film. The HALO jump was cool, but while Arnold's orchestra is screaming hell and fury, things are sinking and collapsing so slowly that my hair is turning grey.

    I do, of course, understand, the physics of buoyancy. Things slow down underwater, that's pretty much a fact. It's the filmmakers' job to secure tension even in such an inertia-prone environment. In my opinion, they did it well in TB and LTK, but not altogether in FYEO and TND.

    Again, that's the only beef I have with FYEO. Not a boring film.
  • mtmmtm United Kingdom
    edited December 2021 Posts: 16,383
    Murdock wrote: »
    No Time To Die was the most boring Bond film imo. The first hour was a hoot to laugh at but London to the ending was a boring slog.

    I've only seen it once, but I can kind of imagine it going that way in repeated viewings. I might be wrong, but whereas something like Skyfall rewards rewatching with the style of it and atmosphere, I do worry that it's only the big surprises that kept me going in NTTD. There's not much of it I relish seeing again.

    DarthDimi wrote: »
    By the same token, though, this film has one of my favourite ski action sequences of the entire series, on par with OHMSS, better than TSWLM, positively magnificent compared to TWINE.

    I would actually say that it is better than OHMSS if viewed purely as a chase - I think the stuntwork is absolutely stunning and the section in the bobsleigh run just looks insane still today. But OHMSS's ski chase happens for an actual plot reason and has so much more tension built into it because it's part of the story, so as a part of the film it's so much better. The ski chase in FYEO happens just because it's time for an action scene.

    It doesn't even hugely make sense that they're trying to kill Bond at that point: Kristatos is trying to frame Columbo. I think it turns out they need Bond to remove the ATAC too, doesn't it?
    DarthDimi wrote: »
    The car chases are too comical to be taken seriously and Conti goes absolutely nuts during them, but I find them amusing nevertheless.

    Likewise I think the 2CV chase is pretty much the best car chase in the series, alongside the BMW one from TND.
    DarthDimi wrote: »
    The only section of this movie I'd call boring is the underwater search for the ATAC. When things move at an inch per minute, not even a brassy rendition of the Bond Theme can save it. The film slows down at this point, and not when you want it to. It also tries to be a trifle scary, but this is just not the film to go for jump scares. Then again, I'm somewhat ambivalent about underwater sequences in Bond films. The ones I absolutely adore include the often accused-of-boredom scenes in TB and the quick underwater action in LTK. The ones that feel like hard labour are in FYEO and TND.

    Yeah it's pretty dull. It's probably the action scene which has the best story reason to exist in the whole film, but... it's boring. They're even so far down that there's nothing around. Yawn.

    To be honest my interest level does often dip with FYEO around the time Bond leaves Cortina and when Columbo turns up. I don't especially enjoy the raid at the docks either.

  • DarthDimiDarthDimi Behind you!Moderator
    Posts: 24,179
    mtm wrote: »
    It doesn't even hugely make sense that they're trying to kill Bond at that point: Kristatos is trying to frame Columbo. I think it turns out they need Bond to remove the ATAC too, doesn't it?

    It's one of those bad_guy_must_kill_Bond moments they've got programmed into the Bond code. MR has the worst of those, in my opinion. Bond meets Drax, Drax will kill Bond. Well, that's one way to make oneself look guilty early on. ;-)

    There's a chance Kristatos wasn't impressed by Bond and thought him easily expendable, like Ferrara. Or perhaps, indeed, he was trying to frame Columbo. Had Kliegler killed Bond, he probably would have left one of those pins on his corpse.
    mtm wrote: »
    Murdock wrote: »
    No Time To Die was the most boring Bond film imo. The first hour was a hoot to laugh at but London to the ending was a boring slog.

    I've only seen it once, but I can kind of imagine it going that way in repeated viewings. I might be wrong, but whereas something like Skyfall rewards rewatching with the style of it and atmosphere, I do worry that it's only the big surprises that kept me going in NTTD. There's not much of it I relish seeing again.

    From personal experience, I can say that the film does get better and more exciting with multiple viewings. But that's just me, of course.
  • edited December 2021 Posts: 1,394
    I used to think FYEO was boring, and said as much many times. But over the years, I have grown to appreciate the attempt to bring the films back down to earth. And thus, along with OP, FYEO has been climbing up my ranking.

    Yep.The film has a lot of variety in terms of locations,and action.The decision to scale things back is commendable even so far as Bond not relying on gadgets.

    The only section of the film that slows the movie down is Bonds short lived romance with Countess Lisl.He seems to forget all about the ATAC at this point and is just wasting precious time.

  • marcmarc Universal Exports
    Posts: 2,610
    Most boring ones for me are QOS, SP and TWINE.
  • chrisisallchrisisall Brosnan Defender Of The Realm
    Posts: 17,795
    marc wrote: »
    Most boring ones for me are QOS

    WHOAH, wait, WHAT??? This quickie of an adrenaline shot of a Bond movie is boring?
    Dude, tell me you hate it, tell me you don't like the fast editing, anything, but saying it's boring is like saying being in a major car accident is boring. Don't drive drunk.
  • Posts: 1,917
    Yeah, the ATAC recovery scenes are, dare I say it, dead in the water. You have Bond saying to only speak when absolutely necessary and then he immediately starts making quips and narrating what he's doing while taking the device out. I get why they needed to put in the dialogue, but less talk and being in a frightening enclosed space like that underwater would've said more with less. TB does this very well, especially when Bond is exploring the sunken Vulcan bomber. The images and atmosphere do the talking.

    And why does he need Melina? It seems like a 1-man job.

    Isn't it a flaw that if Kristatos just wants to use Bond to recover the ATAC so he can take it, why go to the trouble to have the guy in the JIM suit attack him and then that mad scientist guy in the other submersible ? The screenwriters needed more action, I guess. But I do always get a laugh out of the JIM suit guy just before the bomb goes off, he gets that "oh $h1t" look.

    I've always thought the best part of the ski chase is the ski jump. People generally don't like Conti's score. I do and find it particularly effective here with Bond being pursued and those skiers going off that thing is pretty terrifying-looking. Some good suspense here.

    The ski chase is one of the best. I just don't understand why the writers insist on putting machine guns on motorcycles that don't come close to hitting the one they're chasing. Reminds me of the Stromberg copter in TSWLM. Who is designing these things and if you're the villain, wouldn't you insist on better placement?

    The chase ends on a dumb note with Kriegler picking up the motorcycle and hurling it toward Bond, who he has no chance of hitting. It's just awkward. If he's such a great athlete, Kriegler should've caught up to Bond instead of a pointless show of strength. Compare that to Oddjob crushing the golf ball and it's even more laughable.
  • chrisisallchrisisall Brosnan Defender Of The Realm
    Posts: 17,795
    BT3366 wrote: »

    The chase ends on a dumb note with Kriegler picking up the motorcycle and hurling it toward Bond, who he has no chance of hitting.
    It was a show of intention & power. A later date to die... or maybe all of these movies make no sense upon intense scrutiny. Except Dalton's... ;)
  • marcmarc Universal Exports
    Posts: 2,610
    Haha, well, I'm thinking about whether 'boring' is the correct word, but I still tend to think it's adequate in my case.

    When I'm watching QOS, I desperately try to grasp at straws, looking for a touch of a grand villain's plot, or an interesting set piece, anything that I can really look forward to, but there's hardly anything. And the editing just makes me shut down during the action scenes, not wanting to form ulcers trying to follow it.

    Yes, there's a lot of action. But then, this thread exists because some people find FYEO boring, one of the most action-packed Bond films imo, because they don't like this kind of action and are immune to its excitement. Same for me with QOS, I guess.
  • Posts: 7,507
    Yes, I agree @DarthDimi. My problem with FYEO has always been those underwater action scenes. It's not necessarily because I don't like underwater action, it is mostly because they are so ill timed and unecessary. Based on the pacing and flow of the story, no action scenes are needed here. We have just had a hefty action scene ending with Bond killing Loque in an epic way. What matters for the story is what happens after the ATAC is retrieved. There is more than enough suspense in the scene by itself, you didn't need two quite ridiculous looking assassins as well. I might have forgiven them if they left it with one of them, but slapping on a second one is just a criminally bad decision! It is just a waste of time and slows down what at that moment really matters suspense wise: The story.

    It is one of the fairly few sequences in any Bond film (up until the 90s) I feel like skipping. That being said I think FYEO is a triumph overall and Moore's best film.
  • mtmmtm United Kingdom
    edited December 2021 Posts: 16,383
    Yeah rather than featuring baddies it might've been nice if that scene had featured some natural adversity, like the boat on the edge of a cliff or the sub leaking or something. Something better than those anyway!

    Mind you, I do like that Bond uses the destructive charge from the ATAC to kill the baddie. Although really he should have just blown the ATAC up right there and then, I'm not sure why he recovers it at all really.
    It might actually have made more sense if they'd been captured down in the St Georges and Mantis Man had prevented them from getting the ATAC.
  • NickTwentyTwoNickTwentyTwo Vancouver, BC, Canada
    Posts: 7,547
    chrisisall wrote: »
    marc wrote: »
    Most boring ones for me are QOS

    WHOAH, wait, WHAT??? This quickie of an adrenaline shot of a Bond movie is boring?
    Dude, tell me you hate it, tell me you don't like the fast editing, anything, but saying it's boring is like saying being in a major car accident is boring. Don't drive drunk.

    :)) I love your enthusiasm.
  • Posts: 54
    I love FYEO. Even as a kid I felt like it had a different (and higher) energy to it compared to a lot of the other films, and I suppose Bill Conti’s score certainly contributes to that feeling. To this day I find it one of the easiest Bond films to breeze right through.
  • Posts: 1,630
    LTK the most boring. Once you realize you saw so many drug lord TV episodes and made for tv movies which were awfully similar - and got there first - it's an embarassment and a waste of many talented folks' efforts.
  • chrisisallchrisisall Brosnan Defender Of The Realm
    Posts: 17,795
    Since62 wrote: »
    LTK the most boring. Once you realize you saw so many drug lord TV episodes and made for tv movies which were awfully similar - and got there first - it's an embarassment and a waste of many talented folks' efforts.

    That's ALL you saw in it?
  • Posts: 1,917
    Since62 wrote: »
    LTK the most boring. Once you realize you saw so many drug lord TV episodes and made for tv movies which were awfully similar - and got there first - it's an embarassment and a waste of many talented folks' efforts.

    So why not post this in the Thoughts on LTK thread?
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