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Just went back to my files and it appears you ranked it 17th :)
Ah, thank you, 😂
Don't know why I thought it was 21?!! But same applies. Lots to love, but as a whole didn't give me that jolt.
This was a Bond film that for many years didn't appeal or work for me. I enjoyed it when it first came out in '95 and saw it five times at the movies. But after the 80's John Glen Bond films this had a completely different look and feel. It took time to get onboard.
But when I did see it for the wonderful film it is, it surged up my ranking to a place within my top ten.
Good :
The pts is a classic and one of the best. Though I've never been a huge fan of the skydiving after the plane bit. It never looked good.
The tank chase is one of the best chase / set pieces in all the Bond films. It's wonderfully set up, does everything I'd want in an action scene and looks fantastic. Chuck in a large dose of the Bond theme and you have a real winner.
The villains, Trevelyan, Onatopp and Ourumov are all terrific bad guys, and really elevate the film.
The climax is one that feels very Bondian, a larger-than-life villains lair, an epic fight high above the ground that puts Bond in real danger. Great stuff.
Pierce Brosnan, he may not be my favorite Bond, but in his debut he really sells it. He's wonderfully suave and charming. Looks great and can do the action and humor easily.
It's a very good Bond performance.
Bad :
I'm not a huge fan of the Eric Serra score, for parts of it feels like a rehash / blend of his work on Leon: The Professional from the previous year.
Some of the model work is a bit iffy. No disrespect to Derek Meddings but some of the model work is clearly a model. The exploding chemical factory in the pts and the jets crashing into Severnya being a couple of examples.
The BMW Z3, I have no idea why they chucked this in. Obviously for some promotional exposure. When we're introduced to the car in Q's lab we're told of some of the gadgets, but when it's seen driving later in the film it does sod all.
For a Bond film this is not good enough. A gadget car should be seen using said gadgets.
Luckily the good far outweigh the bad, so GE earns its place in the top ten.
THE SPY WHO LOVED ME (1977)
Directed by Lewis Gilbert
"Well done, James."
Without gold medals, this one, which means no-one rated one of Rog's entries as their favourite.
TSWLM did obtain two bronzes, three 4th places and seven more top 10's between the 6th and the 10th spot.
(We should mention here, that the highest any Moore entry ended, was when OP ended 2nd in one member's ranking.)
Eight participants ranked TSWLM between 11th and 20th, while two members gave it a bottom 5 spot. The lowest score was one 23rd place.
Still though, Spy remains the highest-ranked entry of the Rog years. And even though some may have expected an even higher finish, this one still stands as a classic for a large portion of the fanbase.
TSWLM ended up with a total of 136 points.
The film is more spectacular than Rog previous Bond movies and with better cinematography, but I have to say I don't find a lot of the action very exciting, and the end battle a little slow! The pts ski sequence is superb and the ski jump outstanding moment, after that there isn't one set piece I can say is a standout. Oh, I must mention Binders cheeky titles sequence, though the song is just ok, not one of my favourites!
Some of the silly stuff is a bit much for me. Also, things happen "for reasons" that make little sense to me. The plot is not great -- serviceable but not great.
All in all, this is "the one that had Kubrick on the set." I love the film. But in this ranking, it ended where it did. I'm sorry.
One thing I actually find really interesting about the plot is it's very modern in a sense. Once we get to Egypt Bond gets into a routine of having to find a specific character, get whatever information he needs from them, go through some sort of fight/action scene, and then move on to the next character/objective before ultimately getting to Jaws. Even after that there's a very 'objective' oriented flow.
It might be because it's a film with a quick pace, but it reminds me much more of a modern Bond film or even a video game. I like it personally. It feels like Bond has to constantly stay on his toes due to all the things that get thrown at him. Some are a bit more random (it's one of those Bond film mysteries as to what is actually going with the girl who gets shot).
It's a film that I do find a bit overrated, I give the credit for how iconic it is, much like Goldfinger, but the film have so many flaws that I wouldn't call it one of the best.
If there's a worst sin that a Bond film could commit for me, personally, it's disappointment, and this film have nailed it, it's a film with many wasted potentials and I disliked it for that very particular reason, I'm disappointed, I have high expectations but this film just didn't lived up to it.
The cast were dull, and so their characters, Stromberg is not that menacing and threatening as a villain, Curd Jurgens' performance clearly didn't helped and I don't even get his motivation behind his plan of starting a World War, Valerie Leon was stiff, the man playing Sandor was very forgettable, Olga Bisera (Felicca), Fekkesh, I mean every supporting characters failed to leave a mark in terms of performance, then there's Barbara Bach (the big elephant in the room) who can't act to save her life, the obvious line readings, stiff, robotic and wooden acting, lack of facial expressions and the silly and unconvincing Russian accent really plagues the film everytime I'm watching it, then Anya Amasova, a character with a potential but was never realized, for one, I will never ever buy her as a well experienced, high ranking Russian Military Agent (KGB), just no, she did nothing, mostly depending on Bond and can't even fight to save her life that Bond needs to save her many times (first, against Jaws in the train, the second was in the finale), she's very incompetent as a Russian Agent, very passive, a complete damsel in distress (she's just Solitaire 2.0 just turned Agent), she would've been more believable as a Tatiana Romanova like character instead of this, then, as much as the killing of her boyfriend was an interesting aspect, the film never fully realized its potential, mostly at the backseat and the inclusion of it in the second half was almost felt like an afterthought, it's a good character study, no doubt, but I want more focus on that, then there's the rivalry that again, I don't buy and will never will because Anya fell in love too quickly with Bond, even showing her jealousy towards Naomie (Stromberg's secretary) when Bond got smitten by her, I don't need any (even subtle) love triangle between Anya and Naomie, her jealousy was on par with Pam Bouvier in Licence To Kill when she became jealous of Lupe.
Jaws was never menacing for me either, mostly a cartoon like figure, very OTT, he's no Oddjob or Red Grant (and I think Moonraker would've been better without him), yes, I agree with @Mathis1 here, that Van scene is a bad scene at all, mostly comical, and doesn't helped that Bond was not taking the situation seriously.
And speaking of Bond himself, he comes more as smug here, if Pierce was smug in Goldeneye, then Moore was Ten Times more smug, sexist and arrogant in this film.
No danger felt in this film, mostly because Bond was in control for most of the time, beating the villains effortlessly without even breaking a sweat and mostly comfortable and relaxed, not showing signs of fear or vulnerability.
Moore's delivery of lines was mostly like phoning it in, not in the mood and flat, just dull, those humors that should be funny never landed because of how Moore delivered it without any feelings.
The pacing was slow and the middle act was almost forgettable that I don't remember anything about it sans the Lotus Esprit car chase.
The score was discotheque and doesn't have the Bondian feel to it.
The cinematography is okay, particularly in the Egyptian scenes but most are dull, particularly in the Tanker scene at the end.
The plot was interesting, although a rehash of You Only Live Twice.
I liked the Title Sequence, the PTS, and the theme song, and the plot, I'll give it those, but that's where it all ends, the film just didn't lived up to the hype of what it was trying to do, it had a great potential, on paper, but was never realized, and I know that my ranking for it would be for a long time.
If there's Bond film I'd liked to see got a remake treatment, it's this film, correct those mistakes of this film and make the premise better in execution.
A lot of the things I used to love about this movie when I was younger (Jaws in particular, but also the climax and Bach’s Amasova) now seem subpar or downright corny compared to other Bond films from the classic era.
It is essentially YOLT v2 but I vastly prefer Gilbert’s first effort.
That said, it still features several outstanding moments that are pure Bond magic, pushing this entry (just barely) into the 10th spot.
Bang in the middle of my Rog rankings.
It's a gorgeous-looking extravanganza with a few very fine stunts (ski chase + Lotus chase), and I also quite like the disco score. I guess I'm just a sucker for that kind of sound.
Quick shoutout to Shane Rimmer, who I think made a superb ally here and gets often overlooked. Undeservedly so, imo.
What takes this down a bit, is the robotic performance Barbara Bach gives, or maybe she was instructed to do so, whatever the reasons are, it's so-so acting for a potentially great character. Rog is too smug to her too, except for that scene in which he admits to have killed her boyfriend. I wish there was a scene in which her competence got more highlighted. She then even becomes captured near the end too. Potential wasted here, if you ask me. In MR we get a similar Bond - Bond girl relationship, but I'd say it's much better handled.
Also the Liparus climax goes on and on and on. Gilbert gave us better finales in YOLT and MR.
I like this one, though I'm not its biggest defender.
Among other moments, she basically beats Bond to the microfilm, which is more of a victory than Nomi ever got in NTTD!
What other moments? That's what she only did (and it's mostly by luck or chance even), apart from that, I couldn't think of any, she's mostly a damsel in distress and relying on Bond.
I get Nomi, she's there to help Bond, so, she's really not there to overshadow Bond, although she have some tough moments (mostly the scene in the lab and the Cuban shoot out where she's the one who had got Obruchev), I doubt Anya could do what Nomi had done (mostly the flying kicks and some shooting skills that Nomi had shown throughout the film).
Anya was there to challenge Bond, but she failed in that aspect, she's definitely a second fiddle to him, and to think she had the Siberian Survival Course and other things laid out in her CV which at the end didn't turned out to be true (because we didn't see it).
The real thing about Anya was about her dead boyfriend and her quest for revenge regarding it, that's her main dish, her KGB standing was mostly just a validation to say that she's a Russian to act as a foil for Bond, that's why like what I'm always saying, it would've been more better if she's a Tatiana Romanova type of character instead, the writers put too much on the table that they couldn't eat it all (they've gave Anya too much of a tough and high background in being a KGB agent but none of it was ever proved in the film).
True, though Bond did check the microfilm on the boat and already knew there was nothing on it. Still though, I suppose she did outsmart him since he looked quite surprised when he passed out.
In any case, I still feel her performance is a bit lifeless. Now I'm big giallo fan and I've seen her in a few of those. While these roles were definitely less-demanding, she did fair better in them. Which makes me wonder if she was asked to portray Anya with as little emotion as possible...
I think it says a lot about the concept and the writing. It's not perfect, but no film is anyway. Bach wasn't going to win an Oscar for her performance, but I find it works and it's far from the worst Bond girl performance I've seen (I find Lois Chiles much more wooden in MR, and Goodhead is a less interesting Bond girl).
Like what I've said the thing that makes her character interesting is the fact that her boyfriend was killed and how she would handle it and confront it, and how Bond would earn that so called 'forgiveness' from her, I think that adds to their partnership.
But she's not going to be Bond's equal, I even think that Natalya could even outsmart Anya in some occasions (she knows survival way better than Anya and much more resourceful), Anya was not resourceful or tough enough, she's just not tough as some make her out to be.
Nomi is tougher than Anya, but again, I do understand that the more tougher Bond Girls tend to be less interesting because all they have is toughness and being Bond's equal, but not in dynamic, again like Wai Lin, Jinx and Holly Goodhead, with the possible exception of Tracy who was both a tough Bond Girl and at the same time, an interesting character.
That's fine, the case that we're just making here is the fact Anya was not a tough Bond Girl, she's not Bond's equal, we're just debunking it, her main role was to confront Bond as a killer of her boyfriend and how it would have a resolution by the end.
Personally, I think she didn't outsmarted Bond, it's more of a luck or chance at her part, Bond was just happened to be smitten by her seduction and never saw it coming, well as a result of his smugness, but if it happened to be a different person, he wouldn't fall into that trap.
The part of Anya was a demanding one, really, something that could only work for an actress with some experience, the nailing of the Russian accent is very hard to play already, and the character was meant to be complex, someone with an inner grit inside of her because she's seeking revenge, just like Melina or Camille, something like that, and Barbara Bach just didn't have the chops to pull that off, as you've said those roles in the Giallo films were less demanding.
She's not asked to play that way, actually Barbara Bach just auditioned for a minor role, but Cubby had chosen her because she have the looks (she's beautiful) and more affordable, financially, Catherine Deneuve wanted to play the part.
Barbara Bach just played it that way, she failed to portray the emotions needed to made the character's perspective convincing to the audiences.
In terms of acting, I think both Claudine Auger and George Lazenby both acted better than Bach, personally (at least both have showed emotions, facial expressions,and realistic reactions and have more natural acting), Bach was just miscast.
And personally too, I don't even think she had chemistry with Roger Moore, well I could argue most Bond Girl actresses had no chemistry with Moore (possibly due to age gap) maybe except Maud Adams, or maybe Britt Ekland, at least a little bit, Roger Moore had way better going on with Swedish women ;) in fact his wife, Kristina Tholstrup is a Swede.
Yeah, to be honest I don't really care how much of 'Bond's equal' she is in practice. She outsmarts Bond once, and while not perfect it's good enough to establish that she's a cunning agent. I guess she also manages to operate the Lotus' system and she says she stole the blueprints. I also like the scene where she's able to 'read' Bond/knows about his background. She's also able to keep up with Bond when he follows Jaws, and she even uses the truck to get them away. Again, it's not necessarily Bond's equal stuff, but we get a sense that she's relatively capable as an agent, at least at those points.
Yes, but the thing is, the film built her up so much that her background and her status were quite high for what she had done: she had completed a Siberian Survival Course, a high ranking military officer in KGB, and even said that the "best KGB agent that Russia could offer", that got my expectations high for her, but while she did okay (the reading of Bond's background is something that's natural for an agent, even Bond is reviewing some of his contacts and knows about Anya as much as Anya knows Bond), the stealing of the blueprints of the Lotus is a bit of a plot hole especially if the car was just newly made (possibly made in England and was shipped to Sardinia) so I don't know how she could steal the blueprint, she's with Bond in Sardinia (I will check it when I watch the film again, maybe some scene will help explain things), again, back to the main topic, while she did okay, given her background and how she's introduced and built up as a character, that's not enough, what she had done could be done by other (normal) Bond Girls too, she didn't do things that would at least give credibility to her background (especially in a Military one), those skills that not any non trained individuals could do like physical skills for example (those of what Wai Lin, Holly Goodhead and Paloma could do), she doesn't have any of that.
I get that she's capable, but her capability was almost on the same level as those other normal Bond Girls (Kara Milovy, a Cellist, could even pilot a plane, who knows she could do that), given her background, it's just a bit disappointing to me that she ended up like that, I was expecting more from her.
Xenia Onatopp was Anya should've been really, in terms of background, status, and job, at least the closest, like Anya, she's a KGB well trained Military Agent, but she got a complete skill set.
That's why she's not convincing to me as well trained KGB agent, and she would've been better if she's written a la Tatiana Romanova type of character.
I think if she'd have been more of a Tatiana Romanova you'd miss that element that they're in the same line of work. The 'you know as well as I do that it was either him or me' from Bond about killing her boyfriend would fall flat. Anyway, she's far more cunning and savvy than Tatiana is.
The car blueprint plot hole is pretty negligible, and very much in the realm of Bond suspension of disbelief (worth saying Anya looks a bit nervous when they go into the water, even though she presumably would have known the car was able to become aquatic. But again, it really doesn't matter). It's the same with Kara being able to fly a plane! In fact the latter is more in the realm of absolute nonsense. Either way it's not the sort of thing many would think about in the moment, and I'm not sure if it's worth thinking about too much in hindsight.
It's not an unfair criticism that she could have showcased a bit more of her secret agent skills (maybe a judo chop or two), but at the same time I don't think it's something that completely undoes the character. For me, I buy her when she's able to match Bond 'reading' her, when she's able to trick him into getting the microfilm, follow up leads pretty much the same time as him etc. Her story is compelling and I think Moore and Bach have chemistry. Not a perfect character, but a really interesting and unique one.
The most successful shot of Atlantis for me is that handheld one we get as Bond and Anya approach it by speedboat and some mad person has painstakingly cut out and manually tracked a photo of it onto the bobbing horizon frame by frame: it's a brilliant shot and it must have driven them mad. And because we're seeing it from Bond's point of view with actual people in shot it's the only time we get a sense of the scale of the thing. Although if anything it actually makes it too big as it's sitting on the horizon which is too far away, so almost looks a mile high, but there's not much else they could do.
I will, don't worry. I'm about to reveal out number 6, and then I'll update the first page :)
DR. NO (1962)
Directed by Terence Young
"I'm flattered."
The highest-ranked entry that did not receive a single top spot finish, DN's highest placements were one 2nd, three 3rd, two 4th and two 5th places.
Additionally, another seven top 10's were awarded to it, and five more members ranked it 11th or 12th.
So that means that only two participants ranked DN outside the top half. One of those just ended inside the top 20, at 20th. The other one was a surprising bottom finish.
So even though DN received one bottom finish and no top finish, it still ended up 6th overall, because almost everyone ranked it in their top half.
In total DN received 152 points.