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Really? Everyone has their own opinion of course, but you find LALD to be the best film from the Lazenby to Brosnan period..?
Fair enough. Like I say, horses for courses, but I would put TSWLM, FYEO, OP & TLD firmly ahead of LALD - it just looks & feels like a mid 70's TV movie to me.
I know you're one of the resident Brosnan bashers but I'm not sure how anyone thinks GE looks cheaper than LTK. The production design and production values alone are enough. Never mind that the cinematography is leagues better. The lighting in LTK is laughably poor at times.
You don't have to prefer the film, as that's an entirely different opinion, but I definitely think LTK is probably the cheapest "looking" entry in the series by and large.
I used to think this way for years. Not so much now.
I recently rewatched LTK, and was actually surprised at how good it looked. I realized I had been too harsh in my earlier judgements. It's a standard John Glen production with all the trimmings from that era. The Florida Key West set pieces were excellent (the pretitles plane sequence, Sanchez's escape) as was the finale (the disntegration of Butcher's Meditation Institute). Some of the Isthmus stand-in locations in Mexico were quite nice too (including the hotel). The location work at sea during Bond's confrontation with Krest, the plane and the money is absolutely first class imo. Sure some of the stuff in this film is Miami-Vice lite, but there is undoubtedly some great stuff there too.
GE has some pretty cheap shots, including the notorious special effects work during the pre-titles plane jump and the destruction of the Goldeneye facility which are clearly models. Don't get me started on the Onatopp/Bond final confrontation with the helicopter and the tree in the jungle. Obvious cheap set work there. However, GE is a 'cool' film, redeemed by excellent acting and some superb location work in Monaco and in the finale atop the dish.
I think subconsciously that impacts our perception of its production quality vis a vis LTK, which does absolutely the opposite by going out of its way not to be 'cool'
You make good points, but I think overall GE just looks much better and has less of the "made for TV" aesthetic that (i personally think) plagues LTK. I think it boils down to cinematography.
Again, this is just my opinion. There are some good shots in LTK, and the action is filmed very competently, but the lighting just isn't to my liking. It looks very poor and adds to that aesthetic I mentioned above. When compared with, say, YOLT or MR and other "high points" of the series visually it pales.
Maybe it's just my problems with the film in general (americanized, Die Hard-lite, poor score) but I feel that my opinions on its production values and cinematography are valid. Lamont's production design for the casino in Isthmus is really pretty good but they just shoot those scenes to shit with that awful harsh lighting. Obnoxious.
Yes, but not by much. For me, it gets the nod by a hair over OHMSS, TSWLM, and LTK. I'll put it this way: If I were deserted on an island and had access to one film from that era, it would be LALD.
I personally expect Bond films to look and sound great. (luster, lushness, etc)
It's all subjective. While campiness and fun can work for me in one film (LALD or LTK or even DAF) it doesn't work for me in another (MR, FYEO). And I have no concrete explanation for why/why not.
The criticisms I am making aren't part of the "cool department." I just think (in many scenes) the film is lit like shit. I see what you're saying though.
However, GE is also similarly unbalanced, with a lot of model work and green screen, yet very few, including myself, bring that up much.
I personally think I was harsher on LTK for years because it was lacking style, something GE has in droves. That's why I brought that up, to see if it may have impacted others perceptions as well.
It never looked cheap like the film that preceeded it and followed it.
:))
Bless your heart @chrisisall
>:)
LTK does look cheap as well, I will give you that. The Brosnan films however have a straight-to-video feel about them. Nothing you should need to watch in a cinema.
As for LALD, it does not have that sparky glamour about it that the 60s entries did.
I think it's the sets that give LTK that cheap feel. A lot of the locations (particularly early on in the film) are inside fairly mundane looking rooms (Felix's house, the hospital, the warehouse, Bond's mainly white bedroom in Sanchez's mansion). It's this aspect which (IMO) gives the film a TV feel. The main set pieces are the water-skiing and the climactic tank chase, which are of course impressive.
Goldeneye does indeed have a cheapness to it in some sequences but a lot of the sets/locations also look impressive and high-tech (the facility, the casino, Monte Carlo, the Seveneya computer room, the Mi6 HQ).
Also, there's no comparison between the opening credit sequences of each film.
Personally I don't think there's a lot in LALD that warrants a cinema viewing other than perhaps the boat chase. GE at least has the tank chase, the statue park meeting and the bungee jump which all look impressive on a bigger screen.
What I did notice on first viewing was lack of a big final battle in villain lair or large-scale setting, defended by small army and attacked by same, with Bond in the middle of the fray.
This was more mano-a-mano finish.
I was quite relieved to see Kananga's very Bondian lair, and eager with anticipation as to what might follow.
There had been no hint of this lair's existence eariler, so its revelation was very exciting.
I immediately thought throwback to DN,YOLT and DAF pts, and sat forward in my seat.
I do like the elaborate lairs built into natural rock formations. Even the underside of Piz Gloria featured some of these looks.
My only disappointment with LALD, is that the lair wasn't better exploited with a bigger battle, even if it was only Bond dealing with more henchmen, and visibly destroying more of it, but it sure was a good-looking, well designed lair, even if could maybe have been better exploited.
The lair scenes still were the hilite of the movie for me.
The setting even conjured up the book somewhat, where Bond penetrated Big's island hideaway situated in a rocky cave setting.
If... you... asked me to... I just might give my heart. And stay here in your arms forever.