#24WeeksofBond
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Moonraker - #24WeeksofBond
Happy Labor Day! Here we are, the last Bond film until November’s release of No Time To Die. In a world, and in a year where everything has seemed to slow down due to the chaos and the uncertainty of a global pandemic...this project has done what I wanted it to, which was speed things up. I can’t believe we are already in September and only two months away from No Time To Die’s release. This has been fun and watching all the Bond films out of order has opened my eyes and offered a fresh perspective of each film respectively. That being said, Moonraker finishes our Bond marathon out and it actually was exactly what I remember it being, so no real eye opening, out of body experience here.
As a young adult I always rather enjoyed the humorous side of the Bond films. I thought the dirty one liners were hilarious and the gadgets were super cool. Which is why Moonraker had been one film I looked forward to as we would go through the Bond films in sequential order, over and over again. These days my palate is a bit more refined. I’ve matured and developed a taste for good story over anything else. Moonraker offers everything on the surface, a rather “paint by the numbers” Bond film; there is nothing hidden, nothing to go back and figure out. Not saying that that isn’t welcomed sometimes, but I would still like to try and figure out just who is behind everything rather than just being told right away.
Moonraker was a reactionary move on the part of Eon productions after Star Wars came out and after the box office numbers saw huge dollars, they decided to change gears. It had become customary after every Bond movie to reveal the title of the next Bond film in the closing credits, after The Spy Who Loved Me the credits rolled and said “James Bond Will Return In: For Your Eyes Only”. Whoops. Well because Bond is being reactionary here and because they only allowed a couple years in between each Bond movie, it was hard to change pace and give each Bond movie a unique flavor like the Daniel Craig Movies; therefor we get just another run of the mill, funny ha-ha Moore Bond movie...but in space with freakin laser beams!
We open up in the pre-title sequence with an airplane carrying a space shuttle called the Moonraker, but gets hijacked mid air. This causes alarm so Bond is called in, but before he reports for duty Bond is accidentally thrown from the airplane he is in by the returning Jaws! Yes, Jaws had been so incredibly popular that he had to come back, but this time...he’s pretty much a clown, but I’m kinda into it. Not the creepy ass clown we see in a dark alley which was horrifying...but just a regular clown that entertains kids at barbecues. I think it really would’ve worked better had they not re-introduced Jaws until after Drax’s man Cha dies.
Back to the film...Well, Bond says the shuttles are made by Hugo Drax (Michael Lonsdale) so that must be it. And yep, it is. Pretty simple. I wonder if they could’ve at least gave us a few scenes with Drax to speculate if it is him, or if he is being set up before we see Drax’s evil side. Drax and Bond have tea and Bond can’t even get out the door before Drax is telling his guy to F him up. So the plot is pretty much spelled out for you, the only thing we have to wonder...is why? Before we come to that answer, we are pretty much taken on a 2 hour ride of Drax’s people trying to kill Bond, but failing. Seriously, Drax has someone around every corner, how does he get these people to go along with these plans??
One heart wrenching scene in this film is when Bond discovers a safe, and Cha finds Bond with the pilot who took him to the property. They then stick the dogs on her, this poor girl is running through the woods like she is in “The Grey” trying to get away from the dogs, but ends up getting ripped apart. Unfortunately Bond never finds out that he had a hand in her death by getting her to help him - this could’ve added a little weight and dramatics to the film. But I love the part in that same scene where Drax wants Bond to shoot a pheasant from the sky for sport, but instead Bond shoots a gunman out of the tree, and as Drax says “You missed Mr.Bond” the shooter falls out of the tree and Bond retorts “Did I?”. Love it.
Bond eventually finds a laboratory where some vials are being filled with some toxic gas but Drax tries to throw everyone off the scent by replacing the lab with a giant office. Bond convinces M that the Lab was there, and M keeps Bond on the mission - but on the DL.
Along the way Bond is introduced to one Holly Goodhead, oh those funny sex pun names for females that have not aged well...Goodhead, played by Lois Chiles, is an undercover CIA operative working for Drax as a cover. When we first meet her she takes Bond to the flight simulator where all our worst nightmares about amusement parks come to life. Cha takes over the controls and damn near takes Bond’s face skin off before the wrist dart gun comes in handy. Pretty intense stuff there. Bond finds out she’s CIA and they begin working together. There’s nothing special about Chiles performance here...she skates by.
They follow the trail of crumbs until they are eventually finding themselves on one of the Moonraker space shuttles lifting into orbit and inside a space headquarters that will be used as a sex pit....yes, Drax is scheming to kill everyone on earth and replace them with men and women who are physically superior, and they are to breed and make babies so that the new world will be physically fit and sexy and Drax will become God. Hot. Well, of course Bond is not about that...even though maybe he could’ve prevented COVID-19 had he let Drax wipe out the population? Thanks a lot Bond!
Another funny avenue they take with the Jaws character is that he finds love in a woman we are supposed to believe would fall for someone like him...because she has pigtails and glasses? If she had had braces it would made sense...two metal mouths, ya know? But because Jaws finds love, he turns babyface and starts helping Bond kill Drax, because Jaws fears Drax is going to eliminate him for not being genetically superior. This ends with Bond and Goodhead trying to escape but can’t, so they enlist Jaws to break then free, and Jaws and girl fly off into the sunset...literally.
All in all, Moonraker is meant to just be a fun ride. I don’t mind that every once in while, and I do find a lot of Moonraker’s bits to be amusing, but because there is a lack of depth in the story and a lack of interesting personalities in Goodhead and Drax, this movie falls a little short. Not Moore’s worst, but not his best - just very middle of the road. And while it does have it’s moments of suspense with Bond and Goodhead being trapped underneath the ignition of the shuttle, and the cable car scene with Jaws - we are also taken for idiots with the gondola scene where Bond is driving it through the city - forcing birds to do double takes. Yeah you read that right.
Thank you to everyone who followed this little blog of mine closely, this was super fun for me, and I am going to use this as a way to rank all the Bond films once and for all!
Sound off, what did you think?
Reviews from Friends:
Curtiss Frisle
Pretty great until they get to space.
24 Weeks of Bond will return in November with -
No Time To Die
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Skyfall - #24WeeksofBond
We are officially past the halfway mark, and what a way to kick off the second half of 24 Weeks of Bond then with “Skyfall”? It’s hard to place “Skyfall” when it comes to comparisons between all the other Bond films because it is just so unique. Looking at the entire film collection up to this point you could place these movies in two different sub-catagories, Action Bond & Comedy Bond. Skyfall falls under its own sub-catagory - Thriller Bond. This visually stunning masterpiece has a hair raising plot with eerie characters, brooding cinematography and it is topped off with a dusting of humor. Not only is it incredible to look at, but the writing and directing make you connect with the characters of Bond more so than any other film. Plus, it’s the film that ties all the classics in together to give us the cast of characters we had been missing prior. M, Moneypenny, & Q are now all established and everything is right in the world of 007.
Back in 2006 when Daniel Craig first came on, Barbara Broccolli and Michael G. Wilson, the main producers of the Bond series, had decided to essentially hit the reset button, and bring us back to give us the journey of how Bond came to be Bond, James Bond: License to Kill 007. These first three Daniel Craig films are building blocks for the continuation of the world of James Bond that we all know and love. But that meant 3 Bond movies that didn’t have cool gadgets delivered to Bond by a snarky head of Q-Branch, didn’t have a sassy, flirtaious Moneypenny at the desk of M, and worst of all, had no gun barrel sequences. That was probably what made me more frustrated than anything, the first three movies with Daniel Craig, and not one gun barrel sequence to open up the film...it’s just not Bond without it!
But by the time you had left the theatre after seeing Skyfall in IMAX, you felt a sense that everything was back to normal. They even threw a gun barrel sequence in at the end, which didn’t appease me, but when I went to go see “Spectre” in theatres, I was literally PRAYING that they would put the bun barrel sequence in the beginning. Once I saw that white circle in the middle of the screen, I literally yelled out loud with excitement.
But that is the end of the film, let’s keep with the theme of the film, and go back in time to the beginning of the film.
This is the story of M, and the coldness and callous thats required to do her job, and it’s also the story of how that affects those that fight for her and their country. Never before has M been so deeply entrenched in the plot to the point where M is the main character. Her decision making about her operatives who are in the field is quickly highlighted in the pre-title sequence of the film where everyone is out looking for a stolen data base of all NATO agents who are undercover - putting them all in danger of being exposed. Bond comes across another field agent Ronson who appears to have been shot. Bond tries to save him, but M directs Bond to “just leave him”. Then later, after Bond has caught up to the man we will know as Patrice (after a classic scene where Bond jumps to a disconnected moving train car and shoots his cuffs), Bond and Patrice are struggling on top of the train where M directs Moneypenny to take a shot at Patrice - even though M was told it wasn’t a clean shot and that she might hit Bond. Well, she does hit Bond and Bond dies...(but not really of course).
You will start to notice a pattern with the Daniel Craig movies...he always finds a way to lose his job. He is either resigning, getting stripped of his license, getting suspended, or dying. I hear he retires in “No Time To Die”. lol.
This would be the first out of two movies to be directed by Sam Mendes who wasn’t really known for making action movies. Sam Mendes is a storyteller and a visual artist and he makes that known here. Everything about the cinematography in this film is just absolutely stunning. The shots in Shanghai where Bond is swimming and later catches up with Patrice in a high rise office made of glass (one of my favorite fight scenes). The shots in the Macou casino, the breathtaking views of the hills of Scotland and firelit shots of Skyfall Manor after it had been blown to smithereens. All these scenes are just a feast for the eyes, and gives the film a sort of suspenseful energy making this film to be classified as a thriller.
On top of that, we have Raoul Silva who is played by the incredible Javier Bardem. There was a lot of hype surrounding this casting choice as he was pretty fresh off of “No Country for Old Men” fame. People waiting on pins and needles to watch his performance...unfortunately we don’t get to see him until halfway through the movie. But when we do see him, we are introduced with one continuous shot of Silva walking towards Bond and delivering a long monologue about rats and coconuts. As a former actor myself, that is not easy to do. Bardem gives Silva a nightmarish psychotic coat of paint, but can also make you laugh with just the slightest look accompanied with a bit of sass.
The story is that Raoul Silva had worked as an MI6 agent who was apparently M’s favorite. But Silva had gotten caught along the way, and was tortured, but never gave M up. He tried to kill himself with cyanid, to make sure he wouldn’t break and protect MI6 - but the cyanid didn’t kill him. This left his face scarred for life and left him broken and vengeful that M had given him up so easily. Now Silva has concocted a master plan to get captured, only to escape because of his forward thinking ability to hack someone who is trying to hack him, and get M into a position where he can get a clean shot to kill her. Pretty straight forward plot, but to say “This time, it’s personal!” may be putting it mildly here.
Inserted into this plot, is a slightly confusing run in with a women named Severine, who is ultimately Bond’s gateway to get to Silva. The reason I say it is confusing is because I don’t know what her directives are for the scene where she gets a drink with Bond. Severine is being controlled by Silva so her job is to be at the casino for Patrice when he comes and cashes in the chip that he had - but it ends up being Bond cashing in the chip. So, was the plan to have a drink with Patrice and kill him too? Or were they trying to get Bond to let his guard down so that they could kill him easier? And why were they going to kill him? So they didn’t have to pay up? Was Severine still a sex slave or was she merely Silva’s mistress? Not much is known about her, but she is clearly afraid of Silva and adds to Silva’s build up nicely.
Toward the end of the film, after some cat and mouse between Bond and Silva, Bond kidnaps M, uses her as bait (how does it feel, M?), and lures Silva to Skyfall Manor, which is the house Bond grew up in as a kid. Bond picks Skyfall because he knows of the gun room they had there, but Kincade, who had been the gamekeeper there since Bond was a boy, tells him that they had sold the guns to someone in Idaho. So now Bond, M, and Kincade have to get creative and “Home Alone” this house with booby traps. Any kid who grew up watching Home Alone would have been reminded of that movie right away after watching this. However, we see M getting shot in her side during the scuffle with the baddies and that will lead us to Silva’s killing, and M gasping her last breath in Bond’s arms. It sure was bittersweet to see Judi Dench leave the role. In my opinion, she is the best M of them all merely because of all she got to do with it. Not Bernard Lee’s fault, he just wasn’t given the depth of character that Dench got.
Between Sam Mendes’ commitment to directing the film, Adele gifting us with her incredible voice for the theme song, Javier Bardem playing the villain, and the 4 years it took to get this film into the theatres, this was one of the most anticipated Bond films ever - and it lived up to, or exceeded, everyone’s expectations. Skyfall is a beautiful and nerve-wracking action thriller that is just on another level as far as Bond films go. My only gripes with the film is how it slows down towards the end of an already long film, and all the mentions of Bond getting old...why mention his age when we are always going to have Bond movies?
But so many fun moments, like Q asking Bond if he was expecting an exploding pen (Goldeneye shout out), and bringing back the famous Aston Martin car from Goldfinger - that got an audible pop from the audience when I saw it in the Theatres. Skyfall is definitely Craig’s peak as Bond, but of course he has one more left. Only time will tell if he ends on a high note with “No Time to Die”, or if “Skyfall” was the high note of Daniel Craig’s Bond tenure. I’m sure there is more to say about this film, but I can’t think of them right now, so I will say goodnight!
What did you think? Let me hear you!
Reviews from Friends:
Andrew Albertsen
I read that Judi Dench has more screen time in this movie alone than Desmond Llewelyn has in 17 films as Q. I also read that there was talk of Sean Connery playing Kincade. God that would’ve been stupid.
My Mom
This was a fantastic movie. mark recently talked me into surround sound. I now have to look at little black speakers all over my living room. As I sat enjoying this film on my couch my heart was skipping a beat thinking intruders were sneaking up behind me. Turns out to be Daniel Craig and crew ambushing me with sounds of footsteps and guns. Terrifying.
Jake Benrud
Loved this movie. This is one of my favorites. Always a good Bond flick when there's a turned 00 agent.
24 Weeks of Bond Will Return Next Monday With -
Die Another Day
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The Man With The Golden Gun - #24WeeksofBond
Roger Moore is back for his follow up outing after “Live and Let Die”, and this time...IT’S PERSONAL. “The Man With The Golden Gun” quite surprised me tonight. I usually come into these Mondays with a pre conceived notion about the Bond movie I’m about to watch. For whatever reason, I came into tonight with the notion that this movie was on the dull side and that I might be in for a bit of a snooze fest. Well my notion was wrong, and I have to say that I enjoyed this movie. It’s not perfect by any means, there are some moments that leave me scratching my head, the plot with the energy crisis is a tad confusing, and we have a Roger Moore that is extremely short on patience - but it’s a good thrill ride, with a few laughs, cool stunts, kung-fu, and nipples.
Yes, nipples.
This is a story of a skilled hitman who kills for pleasure, and gets paid very well for doing so. Francisco Scaramanga, played by the great Christopher Lee, is portrayed as Bond’s equal in terms of marksmanship. He carries an unusual 4.7 millimeter gun, made out of gold, that is assembled with a lighter and a pen that shoots bullets that flatten on impact; making them untraceable. There is no photo of him and nobody knows where he is, making him the most sought after hitman who will kill anybody for the price of (cue Dr. Evil voice) ONE MIILLLION DOLLARS...go ahead, put your pinky to your mouth, I’ll wait.
This is a fun storyline especially with the wild and wacky funhouse that Scaramanga has at his estate for his human target practice. What also makes this movie memorable is Scaramanga’s personal butler Knick Knack (Hervé Villechaize) who helps Scaramanga with his game. In the pre-title sequence we see this play out with a man coming to the island, no idea why, but its apparent that he is there to kill Scaramanga for a chunk of cash. Knick Knack has a vested interest in this, in the fact that IF Scaramanga DOES meet his match, and is killed, he receives everything. So it’s a game between friends, Knick Knack makes it challenging for Scaramanga to get the kill, because Knick Knack kinda wants him to get killed, and because Scaramanga gets off on the thrill. Healthy relationship wouldn’t you say?
Scaramanga picks up the W (albeit unfairly with mirrors and such), and before we head into the title sequence, we see a wax figure of James Bond himself. This is just odd to me. Why go out of your way to make something like that? What purpose does it serve other than to establish that Scaramanga has his eyes on Bond? Silly things like this bother me. So it is set, we are about to witness Bond vs. Scaramanga, kill or be killed.
This brings us to my LEAST favorite Bond theme. I think they were kinda going for a hard “Goldfinger” thing here, but Lulu’s performance is just so obnoxious and the lyrics are so plain and straight forward...”He has a gun, he will shoot you, and you will die”, that could’ve been a lyric here. So points docked against the movie here for the song.
What they start to make us think in the beginning is that Scaramanga has sent a warning to Bond with a golden Bullet with “007″ engraved on it - signaling that Bond is next on his list. Therefor, M relieves Bond of his current mission, gives him a sabatical, and indiscreetly hints that Bond should use his time to hunt Scaramanga down before he pops up and puts a bullet in him. But what we come to find out later is that the plot is way more than what we think. Bond is tracking where the bullets were made and follows the scent until he comes across Ms. Anders (Maud Adams), Scaramanga’s mistress, who is picking up the bullets. She tells the most overtly aggressive Roger Moore Bond ever where he will be, and this is where the plot thickens.
Bond is where he thinks Scaramanga is gonna be, but Scaramanga shoots another man even though Bond was in plain sight. The man shot was the guy Bond was looking for in the mission he was let go from. This leaves Bond to question that if he is the target at all. Turns out, Ms. Anders sent the bullet to MI6 because Bond is the only man who can kill him, and she wants him dead because he is a creep who rubs his gun on her...not even being facetious, I mean literally. So Bond has been put into a hit job without him or Scaramanga knowing. But Bond comes to find out that Scaramanga has been paid by a Chinese 1%er named Hai Fat who has control over a Solex Aggitater.
Now I’m not going to begin to pretend that I understood any of the solar energy storyline, so I’ll spare you my wikipedia research and just leave you with this - there’s a Solex Aggitater and Bond wants it.
So we are led on this wild chase for the Solex, and along the way we meet characters like Mary Goodnight (Britt Ekland) who is a staffer for MI6 who has been working with Bond for a couple years now. Although, at the time, this character was intended to be humorous and light hearted...It just comes off very sexist. The dumb blonde trying to help Bond but keeps mucking things up because she’s a woman...did not age well, that’s for sure. We also run in to JW Pepper again, the foul mouth, racial stereotype spewing cop from the Bayou. He must have been a huge hit after “Live and Let Die” enough for them to bring him back for a second time. It’s rare that the Bond franchise brings back characters, so he must’ve made a good impression on the audience the first time around.
We also witness one of the more incredible stunts in the series with the corkscrew car flip over the river. This stunt was apparently done in one take and it’s still such a cool scene. One of the things that make the Bond movies so great is their heavy emphasis on real stunts, rather than relying on computer graphics. And this stunt is just an example of that.
Another amusing part of this movie is that Bond wants to go see Hai Fat, so he asks Q to make him a sticky rubber nipple. Scaramanga had one distinct characteristic, he had three nipples. So obviously a fake nipple stuck to your chest means you are now Scaramanga. I just find the thought of Q making a nipple amongst all the cars and gadgets he’s making hilarious.
Bond finally tracks Scaramanga down and flies to his island where Scaramanga is waiting for him with lunch. As usual, the villain treats Bond to a meal, explains his plans in detail, before he tries to kill him. They dine on some mushrooms, and have an awkward exchange in words that would make any dinner guest get up and pretend to go to the bathroom. During this conversation, it is decided that they will duel. Fun. But it’s all a ploy to lure Bond into his wacky funhouse for another game. But unfortunately for Scaramanga, he is dealing with the Yogi Bear of British Agents - smarter than the average.
Bond goes underneath the platform and hides in the scaffolding, away from all the cameras, putting Knick Knack in the weeds (a restaurant staff term for overwhelmed). Scaramanga notices that something is not right so as he is walking around, we see that Bond mannequin from the beginning, but Bond has replaced himself with it, puts a bullet in him, and picks up the W on Scaramanga. Then after retrieving the Solex, Bond has completed his mission. Now off to get steamy with Mary Goodnight on a boat. Fortunately for us, the film is not yet over. We get one last fight scene between Bond and Knick Knack that is just entertaining.
While this film is riddled with short comings and uncomfortable social norms that are not okay in this day and age, “The Man With The Golden Gun” is such a fun movie, and Roger Moore is beginning to hit his stride with the character. Not a huge box office smash however, it is one of the lowest grossing Bond movies in the series and almost put the franchise in jeopardy. It also gets pretty mixed reviews, but I have to admit that I enjoyed it more than I thought I would.
That does it for me this week, sound off! Let me hear you, what did you think?
Reviews from Friends:
Andrew Albertsen
Honestly hate this theme song...I appreciate they were going for a different tone.. it’s just that the results were poop
Jake Benrud
This song also gets stuck in my head, but I agree. The lyrics are dumb. Here's another one where if the Villain would have just killed Bond when he had the chance, he might have succeeded in his evil plan, but what fun would that be?
24 Weeks of Bond will return next Monday with -
Skyfall
#James Bond#Roger Moore#The man with the golden gun#24WeeksofBond#Christopher Lee#Austin Powers#dr. evil
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Diamonds Are Forever - #24WeeksofBond
24 Weeks of Bond returns this week with Diamonds Are Forever, Sean Connery’s reprising and final performance as Bond. (That is, of course, until Never Say Never Again - but that doesn’t count). This film was supposed to be a sequel to On Her Majestys Secret Service with Bond mourning the death of his late wife Tracey and going on a revenge mission. George Lazenby had originally been offered a 7 movie deal, but due to Lazenby’s unwillingness to cooperate with the studio and some bad advise from his agent saying that James Bond was flaming out as a franchise, he left after just one movie. This forced the writers to do a re-write, and for the studio to lure Connery back to the role for a hefty price tag and the promise of two non-Bond films of his choosing.
So here we are, the Bond franchise is in full on panic mode - and because of it, we get a rather odd Bond film with an aged Connery, some weird characters, and a questionable casting choice in Charles Grey as Blofeld....BUT it does have some rather fun moments, & cool stunts. I enjoyed this film a little more than I thought I would tonight, but the downright weird aspects of the film still weight the movie down in terms of overall standing within the franchise. I just can never get over this Charles Grey casting as Blofeld. Blofeld had been rocking a cue ball the past two films and that’s just how we know Blofeld to look...he can’t just GROW HAIR ALL THE SUDDEN!!!
Sean Connery is definitely just in it for the money at this point, but a little time away seemed to have done him some good as it looks like he is having a bit more fun with the role as compared to his last outing in You Only Live Twice. Still, it must’ve been so confusing back then to have three movies in a row have a different actor play James Bond. OHMSS, Lazenby....Diamonds are Forever, Connery....Live and Let Die, Moore...what a wild time that must’ve been.
We have Jill St. John playing Tiffany Case who is one of my favorite Bond girls. She has this commanding, no BS demeanor as a diamond smuggler should have but also has this way of comedically trying to weasel her way out of jail time when she finds out Peter Franks is James Bond. Tiffany Case is definitely one of the more memorable performances in the series. Although I still don’t know why she put on all those wigs in the beginning.
This film starts out with Bond on a mission to find Blofeld. Since this is the film after On Her Majestys Secret Service, you can only understand why he is desperately after him. However, any traces of a revenge plot quickly disappears when Connery enters the picture. No mention of marriage in this film at all. Except for when the guy asks how Bond’s holiday was, and Bond says enjoyable...what a sociopath. The story here is that there is a diamond smuggling ring that is operating, but the smugglers keep getting intercepted by two killer lovers named Mr. Wint and Mr. Kidd. Well business has been amping up and Bond is sent to Holland to see what he can find.
Meanwhile Blofeld is creating clones of him self by people who undergo some sort of mud therapy to transform their faces to look like Blofeld. The reason the diamond smuggling has been getting hotter is because Blofeld is constructing a satellite that holds enough power to be a floating death ray from space...any of this sound familiar?? This is pretty much the story that was used in Die Another Day with Pierce Brosnan (A way more over the top version). So Bond thinks he has killed Blofeld in the pre-title sequence, and I’m sure the audience was fooled as well. But while Bond is following the diamond trail and throwing everyone off by replacing the real diamonds with fake ones...he runs into TWO more Blofelds! Double Trouble.
The plot gets a little muddy when we are taken on the mission with Bond, it’s a little hard to figure out who has the diamonds and how they got to Q and when they were swapped out with fake ones, and so on and so forth. But there are some great moments to be had. One of my personal favorite moments is when Bond kills the real Peter Franks in a rather challenging elevator fight. But he replaces his wallet with Franks, and when Case goes to see who it was she yells “Oh my God...YOU’VE JUST KILLED JAMES BOND!”. Love it. There is also the part where Bond wakes up in a casket while it’s getting burned which is the stuff of nightmares.
We also get a few fun chase scenes with a moon buggy Bond steals from a film set? I have to wonder if this was kind of a humorous way to call out the idea that the moon landing was staged, but I don’t know the timeline of when those conspiracies started taking place. Bond then gets chased by some Vegas cops on the strip where he entraps a bunch of squad cars in a parking lot. So much fun to be had there.
But along with the fun, there are some strange elements. Mr. Wint and Mr. Kidd are such a strange duo. I don’t know where they got the actor to play Mr. Kidd but he seems like he has never acted before, meanwhile Mr. Wint seems like a classically trained stage actor. Who knows if that was intended or not, but I can’t help but feel like Mr. Kidd was a stage hand that got roped into playing the part because the original actor got sick or something. I don’t know, for some reason two cold blooded murderers found each other and fell in love. We know nothing about this duo at all. Missed opportunity, could’ve been a cool tandem, but came out looking liked a failed etsy project.
Diamonds Are Forever is what it is, it was a scramble job when Lazenby called it quits and it acted as a bandaid until they got Roger Moore in the picture. You really can’t blame Connery here, he did what he could and I’m sure having him helped bring the audience in. There are some good laughs here with this film, but all in all...it is what it is - and I can’t really think of anything more to say about it, so I shall say goodnight!
What did you think about Diamonds Are Forever...Let me hear you!
24 Weeks of Bond will return next Monday with -
Casino Royale
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Dr.No - #24WeeksofBond
#24WeeksofBond continues this week with the first ever James Bond film under the leadership of Harry Saltzman and Albert “Cubby” Broccoli who would form Eon Productions to produce the James Bond films. Hollywood was skeptical about the films and didn’t want to make too much of an investment in it, saying that the novels were too British and sexual. When they finally got the green light to produce Dr.No, they were only given 1 Million dollars...can you imagine that? It takes 10 times that to shoot a rom-com these days. Well even back then, 1 million wasn’t all the much to make an action movie - and it shows.
There’s only so much negative you can say about this movie before you start sounding ungrateful or pretentious. It’s hard to really shit on Dr.No since this would be the start of a franchise that will last 57 years and counting. The longest Hollywood franchise ever all starts here with this stripped down, methodical, detective thriller that brought Sean Connery into mainstream heights. Cary Grant was the man who was the strongest choice for the role, however he was only willing to commit to one film and they needed someone who could provide a bit more staying power. In walks Sean Connery.
Connery was a relatively unknown at this point, he had a few roles on stage and in film but landing the role of 007 was Sean’s breakthrough. He went from “oh yeah that guy” to household name in two hours (or whatever the run time is for this film). Ian Fleming was originally against the casting of Connery but quickly changed his mind after how much of a commercial success Dr.No would become and started to work Connery’s Scottish heritage into the character in the novel “You Only Live Twice”.
So here we are, off to the races in 007′s first ever adventure to Jamaica where he will go and stay. Usually with the Bond films they are shot in multiple locations, but with the budget they had - they shot everything in Jamaica and in the famous Pinewood Studios. Dr.No isn’t what I would call a high octane, action adventure. The film itself is quite dull and slow, but it is more about the mission than it is about the stunts and the gadgets and the cars. This is a straight up detective drama. MI6′s contact in Jamaica goes silent, so they send Bond down to Jamaica to find out what happened.
First of all, this opening is just so 60′s, I love it. No pre-title sequence that will start to be a tradition come the follow up film “From Russia With Love” so it opens with the gun barrel sequence that Connery’s stunt double films right into this psychedelic light show that makes you feel like you’re raving at Studio 54. (Not sure if thats the right time period for that reference, but oh well). We see a man named Strangways get shot and killed followed by his secretary. Now Bond is on the case. But first we are taken to the local casino where we will meet Bond playing his favorite card game. Connery looks so good here, and delivers his first “Bond, James Bond” line to perfection, complete with cig hanging out of his mouth.
Right away we get a sense that James Bond is as smooth as butter and takes a lovely lady named Sylvia Trench to the cleaners with the game they're playing. He charms her and they become a thing. But after that, Bond is now on the mission in Jamaica. We come to find out after Bond’s great police work that there is this island named Crab Key that people on the island are scared of and rumors of a Dr.No running the island like a camp. Bond’s ears are perked up and he is curious. But everyone who gets a little too close to the island ends up dead. Naturally Bond finds convincing Quarrel (John Kitzmiller) to take him there. Quarrel tells the story of a dragon that lives on the island and Bond rolls his eyes.
While Bond is on the trail, there is a few attempts at his life. One right away when he arrives in Jamaica and a man posing as a driver takes him in his car. Then he finds a freaking tarantula in his bed while he’s sleeping and Bond get sweaty with fear. Bond finally defeats the spider with some very intense shoe squishes. Then there is another “car chase” on his way to ladies house. This car chase is so hilarious. You can just tell Connery is doing everything he can to simulate a car chase in front of a green screen with wonderful uses of his facial work.
Bond manages to avoid all the attempts on his life and finds his way to Crab Key with Quarrel’s help. Here Bond meets Honey Ryder (Ursula Andress), an explorer & orphan who loves wildlife and is very guarded, strapping herself with a knife to protect her seashells. I love Honey Ryder, she’s sexy but also has a dark past that doesn’t allow her to get close to anyone and is untrusting of anyone. I guess that’s just what Crab Key does to you. Bond’s crew is complete and it’s now time to get this Dr.No fellow.
This is where the movie finally picks up a little when the “dragon” or tank that shoots fire kills Quarrel. Poor Quarrel. Bond and Ryder are then brought to Dr.No’s office where they will dine and be softened up. This is where we finally meet Dr.No (Joseph Wiseman), The character that partially inspired the Dr.Evil character in the Austin Powers movies. Dr.No reveals that he is a member of SPECTRE, a name Bond has never heard before, and little does Bond know that SPECTRE will soon be a big ole pain in the ass for him.
What Dr.No is doing is toppling missiles by use of a beam in an effort to control the airspace and use it to extort countries. So Bond kills Dr.No because that’s not okay. But in doing so he has made it so the whole place is going to up in flames. They escape and the place explodes! Now apparently the studio got an extra 100,000 dollars to finance this explosion shot. It was worth it, because that is the big climax that they were building towards. I think It paid off.
I mean, that’s about it...Dr.No set the bar for what the essence of Bond is, a charming and confident detective who is damn good at his job. While this film lacks in crazy fight scenes, and plane shoot outs, and remote control cars, it is meant for the viewer to just get to know who James Bond is. From Russia With Love will then raise the bar when it comes to action, while Goldfinger sets the standard all Bond films from then on will have to live up to.
If you like a Dragnet sort of pace in your detective movies, then Dr.No is the film for you. I have all the respect in the world for this movie, but it just doesn’t do it for me as a stand alone film, and that’s my take.
What did you think? Let me know!
24 Weeks of Bond will return next Monday with -
The World Is Not Enough
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Thunderball - #24WeeksofBond
This week we are treated to the 1965 film “Thunderball” with Sean Connery. This movie has always been one of my favorites, mostly because of all the beautiful under water scenes and action. The final underwater battle for atomic bomb supremacy is one of my favorite, if not thee favorite, ending sequences of any Bond movie. But on top of all the visual stimulation there is a well thought out plot perfectly executed by the direction of Terence Young. The downside to this movie and the Bond series in the long run is the producer, Kevin McClory...we’ll get to him later.
This would be Connery’s fourth outing and the last of his greats before he starts phoning it in. There is just so much to love and enjoy with Thunderball starting with the pre-title sequence. Thunderball opens up at a supposed funeral of a man who was working for Spectre and Bond appears to have his doubts. He goes to follow the widow to her place only for Bond to squarely knock the crap out of her...revealing it to be the man who was supposedly dead. This gave me a good chuckle, seeing Bond going to give his condolences to a grieving widow and then just punching her face.
If that wasn’t enough, he escapes by jet pack...JET PACK. How very entertaining already, and the journey has only just begun...CUE TOM JONES, MF!
Well, after a rather obnoxious performance by Tom Jones the film begins with Bond off getting rehab after his last mission. Little did Bond, or Blofeld know, that he was going to find himself on a another mission. Bond smells something fishy is going on and starts doing some digging off the clock. The plan is to steal a couple atomic bombs and hold England for a 100 million pound ransom, threatening to destroy a city in England or the USA if they don’t cooperate. Bond gets the files for the mission but sees photos of faces he saw while getting rehab including one of them who Bond found dead. So Bond already has a lead in this time sensitive mission, so Bond is on his way.
By this time Blofeld and Spectre are not good friends of Bond. He’s already ruined a few of their operations so it’s funny to me that Blofeld keeps coming up with these elaborate schemes instead of putting all his best men on a mission to just get rid of Bond. Largo (Adolfo Celi) is the man heading the operation and quickly comes to realize that Bond is going to be a nasty thorn in his side.
While Thunderball has so much going for it in terms of story and action, the cast of characters are a bit sleepy. Domino (Claudine Auger), whom I just learned had her voice dubbed over by a Voice Actor, pulls in a rather forgettable performance. Largo has a cool look with jet white hair and an unexplained eye patch...but even that doesn’t really save him or make him that memorable. No cool henchmen either, except for the crazy Fiona Volpe (Luciana Paluzzi) who likes to drive 110 miles an hour through narrow windy streets in the woods. Those deer better watch it.
As Bond works to uncover the truth and put the puzzle pieces together we see him being followed by a mysterious man with sunglasses....he evetunally gets to Bonds hotel door...Bond opens the door AND.....(suspense) IT’S FELIX! Ah they got us again! Good ole Felix from the CIA is here to help with the mission, and to get Bond of out what ever type of Jam Bond has found himself in.
After an escape through a madri-gras parade, a run in with a couple sharks, and some hand grenades, Bond has finally, and quite literally, uncovered the answer to where the bombs are and can now pursue the nasty Largo to foil his plot. This all leads up to a most wonderfully shot action sequence between the good guys and the bad guys under the sea. Carrying harpoons and welding knives to cut the oxygen tube of your enemy as the key strategy to victory, we see an absolute war in the water. We also see shots of all the beautiful sea creators who are like “WTF?”. I just can’t imagine the skill it took to film the whole thing. With the intense score backing it up, I’d be hard pressed to point you into the direction of a better fight scene in the Bond series.
This leads to the big fight between Bond and Largo on his runaway ship. The green screen work here is just laughable. The boat, from the inside, appears to be going 1,032,231,318 miles an hour and somehow they are still able steer it away from the rocks that are 5 feet in front of them. After the evil Largo has been killed by Domino, the final scene is Bond and Domino getting whisked away by a plane catching a string that is attached to Bond. They make this look romantic, but in actuality, they get hauled away so fast that I would be crapping my pants. It made me laugh anyways.
I do also wish we got one last reaction from Blofeld finding out his plans got spoiled once again. This movie lacks a touch of closure at the end. Largo dies and they get whisked away without seeing MI6 relived of the mission being a success or Blofeld pissed and angrily changing his cat’s litter box.
Thunderball, while plentiful of shortcomings, is stimulating to the senses and takes you on an epic journey - but this script would come back to haunt Eon Productions years later. Kevin McClory had worked on multiple screen adaptions with Ian Flemming and got partial credit for this screenplay. McClory had eventually been given the rights to the script and would go on later to make a Bond film of his own with the same script. It was called “Never Say Never Again”. 12 years after Connery had said good bye to the role, would come back to play the part again...only as a grandpa.
Never Say Never Again is an abomination and is not an official entrant into the series, so no, I will NOT be watching that garbage...if you want to on your own time, be my guest, but it’s just a bad movie. McClory would go on to have multiple lawsuits against the Bond producers, even trying to remake the same movie again in the late 80′s and trying to recruit Brosnan for it. But it fell through...thank the lord.
All that nonsense being said, I still love Thunderball, and is one of the highlights of the Connery series. I hope you liked it too! Let me know what you thought!
Reviews from Friends:
My Mom:
Boy Sean Connery was really in his glory days here wasn’t he? So young and handsome. You could always identify him in a crowd under helmets and googles by those puppy eyes. A couple things that were really funny was that silly jet pack at the start. With all our tech stuff now that scene was almost cartoony. The way his body didn’t move and the wind picked up not a whisp of hair or clothing. Then when we got a look at those nuclear bombs. They had the words printed on them. “Treat like Eggs”. Ha. It seems like it’s unique to Connery (from what I’ve seen so far) to punch a woman in the face (seemingly) or use her to shield a bullet. Don’t know if Bronson or Moore or Dalton would do that. It was a Tense under water battle but I loved the ending. It was just simple and fun. No need to string out a big explanation or closure.
Alexandra Hein-Roberts
I find Claudine Auger to be the most iconic Bond girl. She had something most didn’t.
Jake Benrud
So many things taken from this movie for Austin Powers... sharks or Ill tempered mutated sea bass? I enjoyed the movie, and laughed out loud when Sean Connery punched that woman in the face who was really a disguised man. I guess I wasn’t expecting that. Also, whoever SPECTRE employs as a plastic surgeon, I want their name. That was a perfect clone. The SPECTRE agent should have known better to try to extort more money from Largo. That’s never going to end well. The death of Bond’s assistant/field operative kept it a little bit more real. I thought the plot was decent, but I thought the underwater battle was really slow moving for my tastes especially in the beginning. Kind of a cool concept though. Bond was able to swim pretty well for getting shot in the leg. I liked that Domino got the kill in the end. Classic Bond. Great movie despite the sometimes unbelievable parts!
24 Weeks of Bond will return next Monday with -
A View To A Kill
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Goldeneye - #24WeeksofBond
24 Weeks of Bond continues this week with Goldeneye. Ask anybody who grew up with an N64 what their favorite Bond movie is. I’d be willing to bet 9 out of 10 of those people will tell you this film. I grew up with an N64, I knew the Goldeneye video game before I even knew it was a Bond Movie. The Goldeneye N64 game was my introduction to James Bond. Today, i feel like shouting from the mountain tops...I can now confidently say, that Goldeneye is my favorite Bond movie.
Besides the incredible amount of nostalgia playing multi-player Goldeneye in the basement of my best friends house almost every day after school - this movie is gritty, dark, witty, complex, and full of “punch you in the gut intensity”. Sean Bean plays 006, and it is the ultimate villain. Who would be a bigger adversary to Bond, then Bond himself? That’s how close 006 compares to 007. This film is as close to Bond vs. Bond that we will ever see. We also have the overtly sexual psychopath in Xenia Onotopp (Famke Janssen) and Boris Grishenko (Alan Cumming) a high level computer programmer and overall sleazy creep who uses “boobs” as his passwords.
It’s hard to top this cast of characters. It doesn’t end with the bad guys either, we have our seductive Natalya Simonova, who isn’t the obvious “sex appeal” pick, which is nice. When we first see her, she has a wool sweater on, a “Karen” hair cut, and a voice lower than mine - but she gets her shit done and nobody is going to tell her no. I love seeing Natalya boss Bond around, one of my favorite Bond girls for sure. We also are introduced to the new M, Judi Dench. Of course, with any new boss, there is chatter within the work force and M finds herself over hearing some of it. I do wish we had some moment where M proves her trust, but it’s all well and good in the end because she’s Judi Dench, the best M ever...with all due respect to Bernard Lee of course.
This movie starts hot, with Bond bungee jumping off a giant dam in Russia. He then infiltrates their military base where he meets up with his pal, 006 Alec Trevelyan. We see them tackling this mission together, but Alec finds himself in trouble. Bond decides to improv, and adjusts the timers to 3 minutes instead of 6 - but Alec gets killed despite following orders. Bond is now pissed. He manages to escape by driving off a cliff to catch a falling airplane.
This is probably the most eye-rolling part of this movie. I can suspend my disbelief more than most (I’m a pro wrestling fan), but this is just non-sense. He manages to catch up to the nose diving airplane, get in, buckle up, adjust the rear view mirror, throw on some AC/DC for the road, and escape. We see the bombs going off, Bond has completed this mystery mission. We never really find out what the mission was for. I guess just to introduce us to Oromov and Trevelyan who will become key figures later on.
We come back from an intoxicating rendition of “Goldeneye” sung by Tina Turner, and we are now 9 years into the future. Think of all the potential movies we missed out on in those 9 years! We see Bond in Monaco being evaluated where he meets a crazy speed demon who turns out to be Xenia. Bond later goes to a casino where he find Xenia there and starts to realize that something troubling is brewing. After further digging, he finds out she has a connection to the Janus Group - a crime syndicate who has an unknown leader. Not really sure what Bond is doing in Monaco. Was he on holiday? Was he sent there for something in particular?
ANYWAY (thanks mom), Xenia ends up killing an admiral with her apparent titanium alloy thighs during a hot night and steals a “Tiger” helicopter that can withstand any sort of electro magnetic blast. Bond doesn’t get to it in time, and the helicopter takes off. Now Bond is really curious...and pissed. General Oromov from the opening and Xenia set off one of the Goldeneye satellites which trigger an electro magnetic pulse, destroying every type of computer generated device. They then enlist the help of Boris, who had just hacked into the FBI security system all nonchalantly before having a cig.
The Goldeneye destroys the area and Oromov tries to cover it up by blaming it on British separatists. But doesn’t realize that Natalya had survived the blast. Bond now wants to meet thee Janus, and goes to see a russian mafia don who Bond has had history with and gets a meeting set up. This is when we find out that Janus is actually Bond’s ole mate, Alec Trevelyan. Bond is stunned and shaken. 9 years after he saw his death, here he is. Trevelyan notes that he didn’t account Bond improving and setting the timers for 3 minutes which burned half his face, and broke his heart. “007s loyalty is always to the mission...never to his friends”. Tear.
The plan is to set off another Goldeneye in London, creating a financial meltdown, putting England back into the stone age. But now Bond has entered the fray, and is keen on throwing a wrench into the plans. He does so...with a tank. In one of the more entertaining chase scenes in Bond history, we see Bond chasing down Oromov with a bloody tank. Destroying everything in his path, and finding time to adjust his tie in the process. Man I love this scene. Oromov is also another great character. Played by Gottfried John, Oromov is a desperate, corrupt General - trying to put on a front as head of Russia’s space division, but also keep Janus’ plans in tact. With flask in hand, and sweating profusely, he has to tell Janus that Bond escaped.
(Seinfeld reference alert)
Bond saves Natalya from the bad guys, yadda yadda yadda, SATELLITE FIGHT SCENE!! Bond comes to blows with 006 on the second base where another Goldeneye detonator is being held. This fight is so brutal and hard hitting that it really feels like Bond is fighting Bond. These two, once friends, now bitter enemies. Just watching this fight hurts. And just when we think Bond is at a dead end, he kicks a lever for the ladder and drops all the way down to the tiniest platform on the bottom of the satellite, leaving himself with no room for error. The fight continues on this tiny platform where we eventually see Bond kick Trevelyan off and grab his foot for a final farewell.
I don’t necessarily have a fear of heights, but I do have a fear of falling. What happens next always leaves me with the feeling of my stomach being sucked up into my throat. Bond has Trevelyan by the foot as he dangles thousands of feet in the air. Alec finally looks up and says “For England, James”, then Bond says “STFU” and lets him go. I get shivers just thinking about it.
Oh, did I mention this score??? The music that plays throughout this scene is heart pounding and really gets me going. There’s nothing like incredibly written fight music and Goldeneye has the cream of the crop.
There is just so much to love with “Goldeneye”. But unfortunately for Pierce Brosnan, this movie will be his first and his best. Goldeneye was such a tremendous success coming off a 6 year hiatus after “Licence To Kill”, that all Brosnan’s next films suffered because of it. This film was so good because it was dark, had an unforgettable cast, and had a TOUCH of humor. That scene where Bond goes to see Valentine is really all the humor you need - how about that Minnie Driver cameo? After this, I guess the writers went all in on the humor bit of it because the rest of the Brosnan catalog can be little more cartoony and goofy. While I did enjoy “Tomorrow Never Dies” - it just does not compare to “Goldeneye”.
Pierce Brosnan is the perfect Bond for this era and this film in particular. I just cannot imagine and older Timothy Dalton doing this film justice. Goldeneye ushered in a new style of James Bond. This film would be a taste of what was to come with the future Daniel Craig movies, and it provided an opportunity for a new generation of young, teenage movie goers to hop on board the Bond Band Wagon with the N64 video game. It got me, that’s for sure. This was the first Bond film I ever saw, and I’m proud to say that it is my favorite Bond movie ever.
That’s it for me this week, let me know what you thought and why it was your favorite Bond movie ever!
Reviews from Friends:
My Mom:
I watched with your dad and two of your brothers. It was a very intense and exciting film. Brosnan is so good. But it was pretty complicated and as is typical, I have a hard time keeping up with it all. That is why I loved the simplicity of last weeks choice. Lol. Because I’m old. The characters were great and I loved the feisty females
Jeremy Tillema:
Greatest bond movie produces greatest first person shooter on the greatest gaming console of all time.
I said it.
Jake Benrud:
Great review Sam, and I’m with you on this one. This is a fantastic Bond movie and one of my favorites, if not my favorite. I think I have seen this movie more times than any other (I think Casino Royale might be second). I’m pretty sure I had the VHS, and I think you and I watched it numerous times. (I think Joanna was getting sick of me quoting the movie when we were watching it since I knew all the lines.) This is the movie that really got me into Bond movies. The action, the plot, the twists all made this an excellent and entertaining installment in the Bond series. Makes me want to fire back up that ‘64 and get the rumble packs out!
Tyler Dahlgren
I have been following along to these and have been giving them the Facebook like, but haven’t been commenting or watching along because honestly I could probably recite every Bond moving verbatim from start to finish. My earliest childhood memories (way, way earlier than any kid has a business being exposed to Bond) are of sitting with my Grandpa in his recliner while he munched popcorn and watched Bond. For better or for worse they are like a comfort food for me.
I say all of that to say this. Goldeneye is my favorite. I still remember watching it for the first time with Mark Kulig. We played the game and watched the movie more times than you’d think possible. The double cross, resurrection storyline. The characters. The cast is stacked. It all adds up so well and revived the franchise from some abysmal showings. I love this movie.
24 Weeks of Bond will return next Monday with -
On Her Majesty’s Secret Service
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A View To A Kill - #24WeeksofBond
This week’s feature is 1985′s “A View To A Kill”. This would be Roger Moore’s 7th and final Bond performance, and judging by Moore’s appearance in this film, it really was for the best. Man, am I torn with this one. I know as a self-proclaimed “Bond Expert” I should hate this movie...take a look at any Bond ranking blog out there and you’ll find the usual suspects rounding out the bottom 5, this film included. While it definitely has its faults (no pun intended), there is just something so unique and charming about this Bond adventure. Maybe it’s the horses, maybe it’s the unforgettable May Day character, maybe it’s the Christopher Walken effect, or maybe it’s the way Bond cooks up a killer Quiche...whatever it is, I just can’t help but enjoy myself when I watch this movie.
It all starts with a fun ski chase scene where Bond is out trying to find the body of a missing 003...he finds him and discovers a microchip in his locket. He must have been on the hunt for Zorin before Bond took over. Not sure, I may have missed it, but eventually the ski chase scene boils down and Bond picks up a board from his snow mobile that got shot down. This leads to “California Girls” playing while Bond snow boards his way out of a pickle. Watching this now - it’s utterly ridiculous and doesn’t quite fit the vibe of the rest of the scene, but when I watched this as a teenager, I absolutely LOVED it and it still brings me back to when I was a kid watching these Bond films for the first time.
We are then treated to a bad ass tune by Duran Duran. This song is one of my favorites. When I think of this movie, 2 things pop into my head right away: that California girls scene, and the Duran Duran song. So far this movie is hitting on all cylinders.
But before we go on with the plot...let’s talk about the elephant in the room, shall we? Bond is so uncomfortably old in this movie. It’s a shame really, this movie has a wonderful plot with amazing characters, incredible action, and a killer score, but the only thing a lot of people take away from it is how old Moore is. I don’t blame them, Moore is definitely a week past the sell by date here and he is still managing to get intimate with a few women. Eh, I really hate to say it, but it was a different time I guess. If Roger Moore had been a little younger or if Dalton had taken over this one...I think this movie would be towards the top of Bond lists everywhere.
Onto the plot...
It turns out this microchip is a copy of a Zorin Microchip that are designed to withstand a nuclear blast. So Bond is set to find Max Zorin (Christopher Walken) and see if there is anything suspicious. Well turns out his horses are really good...that’s enough to get a green light from her majesties secret service. Bond goes to meet some weirdo at the Eifel Tower to talk all things Zorin, but the weirdo gets killed by a poison butterfly toy. That’s funny to write. Anyways, now Bond is really on a mission...
The movie continues with Bond going under cover as a super rich and bossy horse buyer with another man from MI6 who is a horse expert. This part of the movie is just light hearted and fun. We see Bond bossing “Tibbit” around and schmoozing other party folk, and getting to know all the evil bad guys along the way. This is where we find out that Zorin inserts these microchips into the horse for an added boost during races.
Not only do we get to admire some beautiful horses, but we also get our first glimpse at Stacy Sutton (Tanya Roberts) who will go on later to be Bond’s helping force in taking Zorin down. She is seemingly getting a big pay off, for what? We don’t know yet. But instead of Bond getting information from her, how Bond usually does, in a steamy hotel on a moonlit night. Bond finds himself in bed with May Day, and the audience finds themselves uncomfortable with seeing old Moore naked in bed with naked Grace Jones.
Yeah....soooo anyways....
Like with most Bond movies, the plot always starts out rather simple but ends up being something bigger. Yes, Zorin is cheating to win these horse races, by steroids and microchip injection...but then we also find out that Zorin is an ex-KGB who is now doing his own thing. And apparently that thing is to destroy Silicon Valley, taking control of the microchip industry. We never really find out why he needs this, other than having a monopoly. But, why do you want a monopoly on the microchip business? Seems rather lame in my opinion, but it’s Zorin, and he’s got his reasons.
We really don’t deserve a Christopher Walken here, but we get him and its wonderful. Here is something I’ve never picked up before...apparently the old evil guy Hans Glaub was a nazi scientist who experimented with steroids in pregnant women in the concentration camps. The women who gave birth, gave birth to kids with extremely high IQ’s but were psycho paths, leading Bond to suspect Zorin was a product of that. NEVER KNEW THAT BACKSTORY UNTIL TONIGHT! CRAZY!
Well that definitely explains Walken’s performance. Christopher Walken does a fantastic job of playing an extremely charming, highly popular public figure, but also a completely sadistic, ruthless killer who finds killing people “neat”.
On top of having Christopher Walken and Grace Jones as the evil tandem, we get to witness some wonderfully absurd action. We have a Horse riding obstacle course that Bond must complete with 10 guys trying to knock him off; we have a Fire truck chase scene with Bond hanging on the ladder as it’s swinging through on coming traffic; and of course, the final boss battle on top of the Golden Gate Bridge. Some pretty awesome stuff here...but man is Roger Moore old.
Not only is this Roger Moore’s last Bond movie, it’s also the swan song for the best Moneypenny ever...Lois Maxwell - who had served as the Bond flirting secretary to M since the very first Bond movie. Lois had a wonderful career in the Bond series, but she too was getting old. It only seemed fitting that she and Moore go out at the same time to bring in some young blood.
Despite Moore’s age, and yes I know I’m beating a dead horse (that was an intended pun), but this movie does all it can to make up for it. There are so many memorable scenes in this film where I simply cannot in good conscious give this movie a bad review. I would definitely put this movie in a solid place in the middle of the pack, but not bottom 5, I mean come on, Christopher Walken alone moves the movie up 6 spots.
This really was fun to watch tonight. What did you all think? Let me know!
Reviews from Friends:
Dan Perch
Bond as St. John Smythe has to be my favorite fake name😂 Walken and Grace Jones were such a cool team to watch!
My Mom
Omg Sam this was the best bond movie and a fantastic write up on your blog. I laughed so hard at your commentary. You have the makings of a professional critic. You just have to fix that “anyways” habit. I can now see how you boys got addicted to Bond. I would put this brisk and boisterous film way up near the top. My gosh you should at the very least give it another half star. I loved it.
Andrew Albertsen
This was always one of my favorites
Jake Benrud
I had some of the same thoughts about this movie! "California Girls"? Really? I also don't think that Bond's knees could take those jumps at his age. It does make it kind of a fun scene though. I have had the "A View to a Kill" song stuck in my head all week. It's one of my favorite Bond songs as well. I also enjoyed the twang of the electric guitar with the 80's version of James Bond Theme song in the action sequences. Grace Jones as May Day was great. It was kind of funny to see the death by the poison butterfly on a fishing pole. I must have missed the connection on how the Nazi scientist who did experiments with steroids in pregnant women ended up being a father-figure to Zorin. Also, how did he become a KGB agent if he was the product of a Nazi experiment? I guess he could have jumped ship to the next "evil empire." Walken played the part well. I liked his laugh just before plummeting to his death.
24 Weeks of Bond will return next Monday with -
Goldeneye
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Octopussy - #24WeeksofBond
24 Weeks of Bond continues with “Octopussy” - a title I’m sure they are regretting today - otherwise known as “What the Egg is Going On?”. It’s not known as that, but it sure would’ve aged better than Octopussy. The title is just so snicker inducing that it kind of overshadows the fact that this is actually a pretty good movie! I was so surprised tonight by how much I enjoyed this film, it’s still an installment in Moore’s twilight period so I can’t say it’s one of his best, but it sure ain’t the worst. Moore has a little more swagger in this film in comparison to “For Your Eyes Only” which makes his age a LITTLE less noticeable. That might be due to the circumstances of the time...
1983 saw a battle of the Bonds. Kevin Mclory (the ole dastardly producer who has the rights to Thunderball at this time) decided now was the time to make a Bond film of his own with none other than - Sean Connery. Yes, Connery was set to reprise his role of 007 in a “Bond film” called Never Say Never Again. Of course, this movie is NOT apart of this marathon because it is not produced by EON productions and the Broccolli family. It is an UNofficial monstrosity of a off-brand Bond film. Never Say Never Again is a remake of Thunderball but with a VERY old Sean Connery who looks like he would be drinking Vodka in his coffee at his breakfast bar in his apartment while watching the birds. Of course this nostalgia was the only thing it had going for it, and it was set to run against the official Bond series as competition.
Roger Moore was still on a film by film basis, after “For Your Eyes Only” Moore wanted out but with the upcoming Connery film coming up, EON could not risk having a fresh face as Bond so they convinced Moore to give it another go, and stuck with the sure thing. So the stage was set...Roger Moore vs. Sean Connery. I’ll give you one guess as to which film did better...Octopussy came out on top, but still had mixed reviews.
Yes Moore is older in this film, I think I’ve exhausted all of my old Moore jokes in my “A View To A Kill” review so if your looking for fun Dad puns here, you won’t get much. This film is a story of a fabergé egg and the trail that it leaves. We open up this film with a clown seemingly in danger, who ends up getting killed by some twin throwing knife assassins. The clown ends up being an MI6 agent and he had a fake Fabergé egg with him. That sparks the curiosity of MI6 because these eggs are extremely rare...and it just so happens, a real one is being auctioned off. MI6 thinks Russia is involved (of course they are, it was the cold war) so Bond is out to sniff it out.
The egg leads Bond to Kamal Khan (Louis Jourdan). Jourdan plays the part of Khan with such class, but with the slightest adjustment of his facials, he turns into a menacing psycho. I really enjoyed his performance in this film. Khan is basically a con man who has a guy that makes forgeries of classic jewelry pieces and sells them at auctions for a high price and helps smuggle the real deals for his boss (I think), that we will come to know as Octopussy, played by the returning Maud Adams.
It’s funny how the studio brings back actors to play different characters. I’ve never really understood why they would do that, especially with the same actor playing Bond. We last saw Adams in “The Man With The Golden Gun” and now she has been hired back to play the title character. Octopussy is a women who is a jewelry smuggler who has hired a harem of ninja women to help her with her smuggling while also working as a career placement agency - helping these women find what they are good at and giving them jobs. It’s not very clear if Kamal Khan works for Octopussy, or if he just partners with her because he is in the jewelry game too, but Khan is going over Octopussy’s head and is planning something much more sinister.
Turns out - Khan has partnered with a raving lunatic Russian General Oramov who is thirsty for war and conquest. They are using Octopussy and her jewelry smuggling habit, to low-key get a bomb into a circus in an effort to cause confusion and to start a war with the USA, leaving Europe vulnerable to attack and conquest. Not sure what Khan gets out of this arrangement other than money, but it must be enough to be ok with setting off a bomb at a circus, killing hundreds of kids. Money really is the devil.
This movie has a lot of great action and locations with the majority of the film set in India. Lots of fun to be had here with a baby taxi car chase and Bond escaping the baddies by using your stereotypical Indian street acts, like a bed of nails, and a sword swallower. We also meet Vijay who plays the Bond theme to charm his snake. Moore gives him a rupee and says “Charming tune”...lol, he doesn’t even know that he has a theme song, and that THAT is it!! Bond uses the egg to his advantage to get to Khan in order to shake him, hoping that coconuts of information will fall from his tree.
This eventually leads Bond into infiltrating Octopussy’s island by alligator boat. This whole movie we are being led to believe that Octopussy is the main bad guy, but she informs Bond that Bond had a hand in her father’s death a long time ago (which was apparently a good thing) and wanted to meet him. So Bond and Octopussy become buds, then lovers. Khan is pissed about this new found friendship and hires a guy with a circular saw yo-yo to kill Bond...well, that doesn’t work.
This all comes down to the wire as Khan secretly transfers a bomb inside a cannon where Octopussy thinks the jewelry is. Khan and his muscle sneak out to let everyone die while Bond infiltrates the circus where he dons the outfit of one of the throwing knife twins (where he will find himself running away from like 009 in the beginning), a gorilla, and finally a clown. Somehow Bond is able to apply clown makeup and get in costume in 30 seconds. The picture of Bond in clown makeup tends to linger in one’s mind - giving this film another strike in its legacy. But, Bond saves the day by dismantling the bomb right at 0:00, spoiling Khans plans.
There are plenty of flaws with Octopussy, there is the pre-title sequence, which is actually great, but has nothing to do with the rest of the movie. There is the goofy decision to put Bond in a clown costume. And of course, the out of nowhere Tarzan scene in an otherwise awesome safari hunt. But it’s got such a bountiful array of stunt work like Bond clinging to a plane in flight, and a train en route. All the work and risk put into the stunts of this movie, to me, makes up for some of the lack-luster aspects of the plot.
This is also a PRIME example of why I wanted to watch these films out of order. I REALLY enjoyed this film tonight because I wasn’t Moore’d out like I usually am watching this film. Octopussy is Moore’s 6th bond film, when you are watching these in order, by the time you get to Octopussy, you are so sick of Roger Moore that you start developing tunnel vision and his films start to bleed into each other. After watching a few Craig movies and a dose of Brosnan, I am all buckled up for another Moore film. This allowed me to finally see what Octopussy is all about on its own two feet...or should I say 8 feet?
Anyone in the mood for stuffed sheep’s head? That scene where Khan eats that eye still gets me.
Let me know what you thought of Octopussy, I love all your comments!
24 Weeks of Bond will continue next Monday with -
Goldfinger
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Spectre - #24WeeksofBond
This week’s film in our 24 weeks of Bond marathon is the latest film in the franchise, 2015′s Spectre. This would be, (or so he thought at the time), Craig’s final Bond outing...hence why it’s been SO INCREDIBLY LONG for a new Bond movie to come out. Craig had other things he wanted to do before he could be convinced to suit up as Bond one more time. But man oh man, am I over these 3, 4, or 5 year gaps in between Bond films. Daniel Craig has held the role of Bond longer than any other actor - even longer than Roger Moore! That’s is pretty crazy to think about. Hopefully the next actor to play Bond isn’t so wishy-washy and we get regular installments at a better pace. Here’s hoping...ANYWAYS
Spectre is a beautifully cinematic, high speed, throwback to the classics that all too often gets the “Tomorrow Never Dies” treatment. This film was Sam Mendes’ second Bond film in a row, the first one being “Skyfall” which has been regarded as one of the best Bond films not just of the modern era, but of all time. So when Spectre came out with the same director at the helm, everyone was expecting it to be the greatest film in all of cinema history. Unfortunately, it just didn’t quite live up to the hype and therefor this movie gets unfairly ragged on.
Not just ragged on...but absolutely SHIT ON. I’m not kidding. I’ve seen a lot of “Bond ranking” posts and YouTube videos where this film is in the bottom 5, and one time I even saw it at the bottom. THE BOTTOM. Like, worse than “Die Another Day”. If you actually think that Spectre is a worse movie than Die Another Day, then you either have no clue what you are talking about, have poor taste in action movies, or are just trying to be controversial to be controversial. Spectre is by no means the best Bond movie ever, it has its plot holes for sure...but it is CERTAINLY not the worst, and y’all need to start showing this film some damn respect. Pardon my “R” rated language, YouTubers got me hot!
All that being said, I REALLY enjoy this film. Right from the beginning we have an incredibly visually stunning pre-title sequence at a Day of the Dead parade in Mexico where we see Bond mysteriously tracking a stooge. With heart pounding music, incredible costumes, and a beautifully shot scene of Craig tight-roping the roofs of the buildings that causes my anxiety to explode...this is such a stimulating experience. We later find out that Bond was going rogue and M is pissed and suspends him indefinitely. But Bond is just following a trail that Judi Dench left for him in a video she recorded before she died. Why didn’t she tell Bond about this before she died? Whatever...it’s just a movie.
This leads Bond to uncovering an organization called “Spectre”. You can find the acronym for it in my “From Russia With Love” post! Bond infiltrates a secret meeting to where he finds out the man at the head table is someone from his past. The man, who eventually turns out to be Franz Oberhauser (Christoph Waltz) was once a boy who’s father had taken Bond in when his parents died, making ole Franz jealous, and eventually kills his father and fakes his own death...after he was declared dead he adopted a new name - Ernst Stavro Blofeld. Odd choice, but here we are. We have a Blofeld again!
Waltz was an exciting pick for the part, but he doesn’t blow me away in the role. There is always a subtle creepiness to him, but I think he could’ve done more with it. There was talk of him being replaced as Blofeld in the next Bond movie, but there was enough fan outrage where they squashed that...so I guess he’s doing something right.
One fun aspect of this film is that there is a Bond villain, that Bond never deals with. Max Denbigh (Andrew Scott) or “C” as Bond dubs him, not really sure why, is a surveillance officer working for MI6, but secretly for Spectre. Not so secret though, if anyone has seen “Sherlock”, the mere sight of Andrew Scott makes you think he has to be a villain. He strolls in and politics his way into dumping the double 0 program in favor of ultra cyber security and drones. If successful, Spectre would have full control over everything. This guy is all M’s problem, and he deals with him from concept to completion. Atta boy M! I just always liked how M was on his own with this storyline.
Another aspect about this film is Bond is falling in love with Madeline Swann (Lea Seydoux), the daughter of Mr. White who has been a thorn in Bond’s side working for Spectre. Mr. White has seen the light and now Spectre has poisoned him, giving Mr. White reason to give Bond all the info he needs and to protect his daughter. To me this relationship is a bit rushed and forced. Bond and Vesper in Casino Royale was done properly, but here, Swann seems to fall in love rather out of the blue. And we’re supposed to believe he is leaving MI6 for her.
We’re also treated to a badass train car fight! I love me a good train car fight...sadly I don’t think there are any more in the series. Bond comes face to face with the silent, giant, dagger thumbnail mammoth of a man named Mr.Hinx (Batista). I’m a little biased here because I’ve been a lifelong Pro-Wrestling fan. But I gotta say, Batista has acting chops. This train car fight scene is BRUTAL, and is the scene I think about when I think about this movie.
In conclusion, Spectre is a beautifully shot film with an extra dash of humor, and an excessive amount of call backs to past Bond films. The voodoo-esque nature in the opening (Live and Let Die), the clinic where Bond finds Madeline Swann (On Her Majesties Secret Service), the crator where Blofeld resides (You Only Live Twice), the ejector seat! (Goldfinger). While it’s fun to see Spectre tip it’s hat to the past, as a die hard Bond fan, you kind of go “ok, I get it”. And of course, they kept dropping hints in the movie that Craig was leaving the franchise which stressed me out - especially at the end. I LOVE Daniel Craig as Bond and I, for one, was not ready to let him go just yet. Also, because of the number. What I mean by that is the number of films each actor has done has been different. After “No Time To Die” this will be the movie tally:
Lazenby: 1
Dalton: 2
Brosnan: 4
Craig: 5
Connery: 6
Moore: 7
The next actor to play Bond, can ONLY do 3 movies. If he doesn’t, it just might bother me for the rest of my life. Unless he goes for 8? Well, my obsessive compulsive disorder aside, Spectre is not the perfect Bond film...but it deserves respect for the cinematography, characters, and action scenes. We should all be thankful Sam Mendes came into the world of Bond, and threw a splash of paint on the franchise.
That’s it for this week! Hope you enjoyed it!
Reviews from Friends:
My Mom:
I was mesmerized by this film. I think the theme song and opening artwork were stunning. Daniel craig was an older, darker version of Bond. I was pretty thrilled to see him with a mature love interest for once. Someone near his own age. I was hoping she would go on through the story but it was not to be. I thought it was very well done. Anxious to see more of this mysterious dark Bond.
Jake Benrud
Until reading your blog, I didn’t realize this wasn’t a well received Bond! I actually really enjoyed this movie. I think this is the third time watching it for me, and I really appreciate the portrayal of Bond by Craig. I thought Waltz did a great job with Blofeld. The drilling scene is always a bit unnerving, but I’d expect nothing less from a sadistic Bond villain. I did think that for all the intelligence that Blofeld and the SPECTRE organization should have that it was pretty poor planning to be able to destroy their entire facility with one shot to the propane regulator. I mean if you can arrange for an elaborate Bond haunted house at MI6 ending with Blofeld hiding behind bullet proof glass, maybe take the time to protect the propane tank at your facility. Chances are if you’re an evil genius looking for world domination, you’re probably going to have Bond at your door step shooting up the place. I digress. Despite this, I thought the story moved along well and it’s a solid installment of the series.
24 Weeks of Bond will return next Monday with -
Thunderball
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Die Another Day - #24WeeksofBond
24 Weeks of Bond hits the low point this week with Pierce Brosnan’s swan song as 007 in “Die Another Day”. Oh man, there is just so much to say and unpack about this movie, it’s hard to put into summary every which way this film fails to deliver. This film came at a cross-roads for film goers who still loved Bond, but were starting to grow a little tired of the hokey-ness and sleaze of James Bond and were wanting something a little rougher. “The Bourne Identity” had come out just a few months prior to high praise for it’s hard hitting, intense, stripped-down style...it was fresh. A few months later “Die Another Day” comes out with an older Pierce Brosnan, some god awful writing and cartoonish cinematography. Change needed to happen, and this movie would mark the end of the sex puns, over the top gadgets, and far fetched scenarios.
Listen, I LOVE Bond. I really have a hard time saying a Bond movie is bad...but this movie. is. bad. This is a tale of two films. The first half is an action packed drama that is gritty, and dark and the second half is like watching a Joel Schumacher Batman film (the one where Batman has nipples). The plot is also a rip off of “Diamonds Are Forever” and constantly goes for the cheap pop - bringing out all the old gadgets and familiar looking scenes for the 40th anniversary of Bond. There is just so much trash talk to shell out here, but let’s start with the good stuff.
Die Another Day actually starts out quite promising and delivers a thrilling pre-title sequence with Bond infiltrating a North Korean Army base where he has stolen the clothing of a man trading African Conflict Diamonds for some weapons with a Colonel of the North Korean military and his stooge Zao. Bond is eventually found out but manages to escape the firing squad to chase down Colonel Moon on a HOVERCRAFT! Pretty neat. Colonel Moon eventually runs out of road and takes a fall appearing to be slain, but Bond is caught again by Moon’s dad and for the next 14 months, Bond will be held prisoner and tortured.
I always liked how they utilized the title sequence to take us through Bond’s captivity (even though we are forced to listen to Madonna’s over produced and just flat out weird song...what’s the deal with the random “Sigmund Freud” lyric?). Though the song is hard on the ear drums, it does a great job in providing an aura of despair and pain in the torture aspect of the title sequence...maybe because the song is torture?
We come back from Madonna, and Jesus Bond is now being traded for Zao who has diamonds permanently implanted in his face from Bond’s intrusion. This makes Bond angry and makes him question why MI6 would give Zao up. M is also pissed about it, it appears that there is someone who is playing MI6 for fools. M is so mad that she essentially burns Bond and relieves him of his 00 status, but this doesn’t stop Bond from forcing himself into cardiac arrest to escape and find out who is behind all of this.
See? Starts out great! If only they can keep this momentum going...(spoiler alert: they can’t)
Another positive about this movie is a great fencing scene with Bond and Gustav Graves (Toby Stephans). I've just always been tickled by how much this scene escalates from a little game of fencing to an all out sword fight. It is one of the few highlights of the film, complete with a cameo made by Madonna...something I’m sure she negotiated to sign on for the Bond theme. Get that payday, Madonna!
Well thats about all the positive I can muster for this film. It’s time to take the gloves off. Die Another Day’s wheels start to come loose when Bond is in Cuba looking for Zao...during this time, he meets Jinx (Halle Berry), and the dialogue that will unfold, sounds like the writer brought in his perverted nephew, who is just out of high school, looking to write a scene to get his friends to laugh when they watch it in his parents basement. Halle Berry is the victim of poor writing, and possibly poor directing, yes, but she also tries WAY too hard to be a cool, witty, and deadly agent. I’ll give Berry the benefit of the doubt to an extent, but I really think she just over acted here.
On top of that - Brosnan and Berry have absolutely ZERO chemistry. Brosnan is no spring chicken anymore, so we are supposed to believe a woman like Halle Berry would welcome the advances from a bird watcher in his mid-50′s who says Mojito really weird? Come on. And the obvious dick jokes and creepiness from Bond who is foaming at the mouth, desperate for sex after being tortured for over a year makes this scene so uncomfortable to watch.
But we later come to find out that Jinx is more than just a reincarnation of Honey Ryder from Dr. No...she is also a secret agent that seems to never take anything seriously and in the face of death by laser, still has time for jokes. We find out Zao is trying to do gene-therapy treatment to change his identity to someone else. Much like Colonel Moon had done, turning himself into the man we will come to know as Gustav Graves. The adrenaline filled, publicity junky, billionaire with an eye for diamonds.
Speaking of over acting, Toby Stephans puts out a good effort with the Gustav Graves character but he is just so over the top with his “evil” looks that there is no denying that he is indeed the villain. Some of the best villains in cinema and television are villains that get you to like them. They play to your emotions, let you in on their dark secrets, give you a smile and a laugh, maybe even make you connect with them in a twisted way...but Graves lets you know by his nostril flares and angry glares, that you couldn’t possibly like him if you tried.
Graves invites Bond to his party in Iceland, (isn’t Greenland the icy one?). This is when the movie goes off the rails completely, the second half of the film that looks like the props, sets, and lighting design were borrowed from the Power Rangers. This ridiculous ice palace accompanied by the super ridiculous revelation of the “Icarus” - a satellite made out of diamonds (exactly like Diamonds are Forever) is just so off-putting. The Icarus shoots a beam as powerful as the sun and can also be used as a freakin sun beam death laser from the sky. Yes, you heard that right. At one point Bond is involved in a chase where he is being tailed by a sun beam death laser from the sky. This leads to the most cringe worthy scene in all of Bond...Bond escapes by CGI surfing.
I’ve said before, one of the aspects of the Bond films that makes the series so successful is the heavy emphasis on real stunts. REAL STUNTS. Director Lee Tamahori thought it would be fun to amp up the CGI because he thought that CGI was the future of the Bond franchise, oh was he sorely mistaken. He also thought it would be a good idea to insert a bunch of slow motion shots throughout the movie, they were going for the ‘Matrix effect’ but it did not play well. It’s choppy and pixilated and just ruins any momentum they managed to build up - it just ends up being annoying.
If that wasn’t bad enough, Q Branch comes out to “Jump the Shark” by delivering an invisible car. Really? This is just another example of the theme of this film taking everything one step too far. But maybe you could argue that that is what we needed in order to know what our threshold as a Bond audience is. You could say that maybe Die Another Day was the most important film in the canon for that reason. Maybe Die Another Day was the sacrificial lamb to fall on it’s own sword to prevent us from going in that direction again, maybe...this movie SAVED THE BOND FRANCHISE??
Eh, Now I’m just devil’s advocating myself. This is thee worst Bond movie of all time and anyone who says differently has no idea what they are talking about, or are just trying to be ‘Ironic’, or whatever. This film ends with Gustav Graves becoming an electrifying super-shredder villain whose design was probably stolen from the Mega-Man video games. The final battle taking place on a plane that is crashing due to a window being knocked out and is also being destroyed by the Sun Beam death laser from the sky. In other words...more CGI.
And to top it all off, we end on another uncomfortable scene with Bond and Jinx again, spitting out blatant toilet humor dialogue making us think that they are getting busy, but it turns out Bond is just putting diamonds in her belly button (which she really wants to leave in for some reason). Traditionally, a Bond movie would end with some witty pun being the last bit of dialogue you would hear before credits, but this...I still can’t figure out how this left the writer’s table.
Bond: “I'm still not quite sure how good you are.”
Jinx: “I’m sooo good...”
Bond: “Especially when you’re bad.”
huh?? It’s not even a pun, it just doesn’t make sense.
Honestly, you can tell Brosnan is thinking “who the hell wrote this shit?” while he is delivering that final line. sigh. The good news is that we can only go up from here! This would be Brosnan’s final performance as James Bond, even though he publicly announced he was going to do another one. Didn’t quite work out that way, the film studio eventually phased him out, leaving Brosnan at curbside. Probably for the best, Brosnan was great for that time, but the pressure was on for change. And change we would get - with Daniel Craig.
That’s all for me tonight, let me know why you hated this movie!
Reviews from Friends:
Tyler Dahlgren
See I like Toby’s Graves. That guy plays despicable well (Black Sails anyone?). It’s the redeeming part of the movie for me. That and the car. I love the Aston Martins, let’s stick to those.
Andrew Albertsen
I think the whole movie should’ve just been about Bond’s incarceration and torture and eventual escape.
My Mom
Sam you don’t mention Rosemund Pike in your review. I thought she made an outstanding ice queen. This had its moments and I do love Pierce Brosnan as Bond but this film was way too long and too much continuous action. A person tunes out.
Jake Benrud
The end of an era. All the gadgets and the over the top villains complete with "diamond face" and a genetically modified psychopath with daddy issues. I don't understand why he needed to drive his car in the ice palace in the first place. Also, that was an epic dive by Halle Berry.
24 Weeks of Bond will return next Monday with -
Quantum of Solace
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Licence To Kill - #24WeeksofBond
My 24 Weeks of Bond continues with Licence To Kill - a story of vendettas, cocaine, and iguanas. This Bond movie has always been one of my favorites because of the story and the characters, and in my opinion this one doesn’t get nearly the credit it deserves. Maybe it’s because of how they spelled “licence”? Maybe it’s an english thing but my wife made sure to let me know that I spelled License wrong on my facebook post. oh well.
Maybe it was fate that Timothy Dalton had landed the part, as it was originally supposed to go to Pierce Brosnan back then, because Dalton shines in this movie. After 12 years of Roger Moore’s light hearted, snarky portrayal of Bond - Timothy Dalton walks in as a man ahead of his time. There is nothing flashy about Dalton, nothing over the top, gone were the silly one-liners. Dalton was a shakespearian actor who took this role very seriously. Dalton was known for going back to the novels by Ian Fleming and drawing inspiration for his character through them. If there was any actor in the history of Bond who played the character as originally written in the books - it was Dalton.
We start out with wedding bells, Felix is getting married! Of course Bond is his best man, and en route to the ceremony - the DEA gets a tip that Sanchez (a huge columbian drug overlord) is nearby. Sanchez is wanted by everyone so Felix jumps at the chance to nail him - and does (or so he thinks). After capturing him, with Bond’s help, they skydive right in front of the church just in time for the wedding. Not a bad day for Felix.
Until Sanchez pays off the local agent tasked to bring him in and escapes. This part of the movie always stuck with me. As a teenager watching all these movies it was hard to see a character like Felix put into such a predicament. Felix was always known as the friendly neighborhood CIA agent who pops in every once in a while to help Bond out for a few scenes. Since it was ALWAYS a different actor playing him, the writers liked to tease the audience and make us think he was a bad guy following Bond around a while, until he catches up and we hear Bond go...”FELIX!”. We would all breathe a sigh of relief and have a giggle then.
But that was all he was used for...now they’ve killed his newly wed wife and had a shark bite his leg off. oof. Poor guy. This sends Bond on a personal vendetta mission to take Sanchez down. In other words...Bond. Is. PISSED.
We all know how dangerous Bond is when he has just clocked in and on the job, but when Bond gets pissed? He goes and takes out El Chapo all by himself. Of course he acquires help along the way, but that was the mission. Bond has gone so rogue that he ends up killing the American agent who took the bribe money forcing M to try to revoke his License to Kill, but Bond says “Nah, I’m gonna get El Chapo”.
Franz Sanchez, Robert Davi, is such a wonderful villain. With an iguana on his shoulder, he plays the character with such manipulative charm that you almost come to like him. He talks about loyalty over money, he charms the pants off of potential buyers, and takes Bond in and makes him coffee...even asks if he wants milk and sugar. What a host.
Bond infiltrates Sanchez’s operation unbeknownst to him and starts playing everyone for fools. He even goes so far as to walk into Sanchez’s office at his casino to inquire about employment. But this story is more than a vendetta operation, we learn that there is more at stake - somehow, Sanchez has a hold of a few stinger missiles that the CIA is trying to get back and Bond ruins that. Hong Kong narcotics has infiltrated Sanchez’s operation and is about to bring him in, Bond ruins that as well. This story is so straight forward yet so complex.
What is also fun about this movie is seeing a young Benicio Del Toro playing the evil henchman Dario and a cameo by Mr. Las Vegas himself - Wayne Newton. I’m sure that got a good rise out of the movie goers back then. There is so much fantastic action and sombering storytelling making Timothy Dalton a perfect fit for this film. Pierce Brosnan would not have pulled off this level of weight to the character back then. The best though, is toward the end when the bad guys have finally had enough of Bond and pull out one of the stinger missiles to kill Bond with it. Bond is driving one of the tankers and drives up a bank tilting the tanker on one side of its tires to avoid the missile...wonderful.
Licence to Kill is the only Bond movie rated ‘R’ for violence, and they pulled off a wonderful installment in the franchise while showing us a darker side of Bond that we would later get used to with Daniel Craig, but of course back in 1989, not sure if Bond fans were ready for it. This movie gets mixed reviews mostly because Dalton fizzled out after only his second film. So while Dalton’s performance in Licence To Kill was wonderful, he was gone by the time he really got his footing with the role. Making his contribution to the franchise a bit forgettable in the long run.
But a killer cast, an intense story, and one awesome Bond theme by Gladys Knight (One of my favorite themes ever), makes Licence To Kill one of the most compelling Bond films in the catalog. After this movie, however, Bond would go silent for 6 years with lawsuits and things. So this movie was really the end of an era, but one thing was for sure, if Bond is ever going to go out...its going to go out with a damn explosion.
That’s it for this week. Let me know your thoughts!!
Reviews from Friends:
My Mom:
I thought it was a great show. But for me it was a bit too gory. Watching a character be slowly eaten alive or pressure cooked in front of our eyes was enough to lose a little sleep over. I did like the unique quality of Timothy Dalton. He was just a little clumsy. And we caught him with bad hair on a few occasions. And then those stumbles he made. Before this, Bond was just too errogent to err. It was somewhat refreshing. It kept me on the edge of my seat for 2 hours that’s for sure.
Jake Benrud:
It was pretty dark, but enjoyable. No wonder why Felix disappeared from Bond until Casino Royale with Craig - he had to grow a leg. I guess it’s not a good idea for double 0s or their CIA counterparts to get married. It doesn’t end well. It’s interesting how the Bond movies tie some things from prior Bonds but completely ignore other things that have happened. In this movie they reference Bond getting married for instance, but I don’t think it’s mentioned in other Bonds (correct me if I’m wrong.)
24 Weeks of Bond will return next Monday with -
Spectre
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Tomorrow Never Dies - #24WeeksofBond
Welcome to the 90′s! Pierce Brosnan is fulfilling his duty as James Bond in this action-packed adventure about a media mogul trying to manipulate the world for complete control over Chinese news media. A story with a villain that hits a little too close to home these days with our current political landscape.
As a kid who went through his teenage years in the 90′s - Pierce Brosnan was the absolute man. Until Daniel Craig came along, Brosnan had taken a clear lead in the “Best James Bond Ever” race. I certainly thought that. “Tomorrow Never Dies” was the first Bond movie I saw in the theatres. I went to see it because my friends and I, (and every other video game kid back then) were obsessed with the N64′s first person shooter - “Goldeneye”. One of the best video games in the history of video games.
That game is how I got to know James Bond. So of course when the new Bond movie came out, we were all first in line for a ticket. Ultimately the “Tomorrow Never Dies” video game would come to be an utter disappointment in comparison to its predecessor.
Unfortunately, like the video game, this film kind of gets the same distinction. A bond film that is an utter disappointment compared to its predecessor, 1995′s “Goldeneye”. While that may have been true back then - watching it on its own now, I have to say that this is an extremely under rated Bond film. Just take away your “Goldeneye” colored glasses for a second and judge this movie as a stand alone installment. It is high octane, colorful, and witty with some wonderful over acting...it was the 90′s. That’s how we took our Bond in the 90′s - we wanted our one-liners extra cheesy, our gadgets over the top, and our female characters salacious.
That’s why Brosnan was a perfect fit for this era. He was cool, handsome, & mysterious like Connery, but charming, care-free, and arrogant like Moore. He was the perfect balance. These days, you’d be hard pressed to find someone who thinks Brosnan was the best Bond, because of how we take our action movies now. But back then....Brosnan was the damn bee’s knees.
The plot is that the Chinese and British are being tricked by Elliot Carver (Jonathan Pryce), and his network of evil henchmen, into thinking that they have attacked one another’s military. Carver is trying to create a world war so that he and his media empire can cover it, creating a monopoly on mass media, and gaining the power of being able to control the news and therefor, control the world. MI6 is given a tight deadline to dig up whatever they can find about a massacre that had taken place on a British Naval fleet in the South China Sea. So Bond has to act quick.
One of the interesting things about this movie (besides Bond’s new biting fetish he has seemed to develop...#Brosnanscharaterchoices) is his past relationship with Elliot Carver’s wife Paris (Teri Hatcher). We hadn’t seen Bond in love since his wedding in “On Her Majesty’s Secret Service”, so this story line seemed a little out of nowhere. We knew nothing of Paris in any previous movie so trying to believe and invest in this relationship is somewhat of a tough task, but Pierce and Hatcher do the best they can. Would have worked better had they brought a bond girl from a past movie back, but oh well.
The real relationship is developed between Bond and Wai Lin - a Chinese secret agent who has been sent out on the same mission as Bond. Michelle Yeoh is great in this role because she is not the obvious sex appeal pick. She is a driven, kung-fu fighting, cold-hearted killer of a secret agent who becomes sexy because of how bad ass she is. Later in the movie we are treated to a Jackie Chan style fight scene between Wai Lin and a bunch of evil dudes who just cannot measure up. Looking back, she was a wonderful pick for the role, and very much looked over as far as iconic Bond girls in the series.
Jonathan Pryce is intoxicatingly evil, sadistic, and insane in his role as Elliot Carver. His portrayal of this character is over the top, and perfect. And what makes it better is his group of lackeys. You have Stamper, the big German muscle, and Henry Gupta, a techo-terrorist who uses a GPS encoder to manipulate satellites to send the British naval ship off course without them knowing. This encoder is what Bond and Wai Lin are both, unknowingly to each other, trying to get.
I’ve always liked Pryce’s performance as Carver. He makes him look desperate for world wide adoration which makes him susceptible to Bonds foiling. Bond is sent to attend Carver’s big media launch party which sees Carver schmoosing big groups of people with stories about himself. Bond eventually gets sniffed out and taken away to be “taken care of”. But Bond says “nah” and eventually ruins Carvers big night by shutting off his news feed in the middle of his big speech. Humiliated, Carver is now in full on “Bond must die” mode. The switch is made so clear because of Pryce’s performance and there’s a moment toward the end where they show Carver in the moment where he realizes he’s screwed that’s just beautiful and sad.
When you look at the entire Bond collection of movies as a whole, the Brosnan movies tend to have a reputation for being too goofy, outlandish, and out right unrealistic. While that may be true for Brosnan’s two follow-ups, I still think “Tomorrow Never Dies” is one of the better films in the Brosnan series. Keep in mind, the Brosnan series didn’t have the books behind them. The film makers behind the Bond series had exhausted all of Ian Fleming’s novels and now they were forced to just make up Bond stories which probably wasn’t the easiest of tasks.
So while the Brosnan collection may have lacked as far as story and simplicity they made up for in action. Lots of great action scenes in this movie with Bond and Lin, hand-cuffed, co-driving a motorcycle being chased by a helicopter is one of the most iconic vehicle chase scenes in Bond history. And who can ever forget Bond in the back seat of his remote controlled car, using the track pad to drive it to his escape from the bad guys?? This is just solid, 90′s action movie gold.
While “Tomorrow Never Dies” may never be considered one of the best Bond movies, it sure created unforgettable moments which, sometimes, is all you need in a movie franchise as deep as the Bond franchise. With Brosnan at his peak with the character, and the great supporting cast around him - including the great Jodi Dench as M - “Tomorrow Never Dies” deserves another look, and maybe a higher place on some “experts” Bond lists.
That’s all for this week! What did you think? I’ll leave your reviews below...
Reviews from Friends:
My Mom:
On All Bond films we are amazed by the ingenious gadgets that Bond is introduced to right along with the audience. Amazingly many of the features on his indestructible BMW are now reality, and in some cases, common place. (Voice activation, GPS tracking, remote start, self driving). Another striking aspects of this film is the comparison of Elliot (Jonathan Pryce) and our current maniacal leader. It seems more at home in an action film than in our precious world. I have known and loved Teri Hatcher in Desperate Housewives and what a surprise to see her here. The only other comment I have is that the film is full of outlandish situations as you stated. That’s what Bond is known for but when 007 and Wai-Lin cuffed up together, rode cheek to cheek at high speed, vanquishing all obstacles in their way but could not figure out how to unhook themselves, that was a hoot. Hey and now I know where Tom cruise and Carmen Dias came up with their high speed scooter chase in the tongue-and-cheek version “Day and Knight”. A favorite of mine. I enjoyed the film.
24 Weeks of Bond will return next Monday with -
Licence To Kill
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From Russia With Love - #24WeeksofBond
24 Weeks of Bond continues this week with “From Russia With Love”. Sean Connery has come back for a second installment in the Bond franchise, and unlike most sequels, it does not disappoint. Isn’t it funny to think about now? How Bond was once just a movie with a sequel? In fact, I would say in this case the sequel far exceeds the original...but I haven’t seen “Dr.No” in quite sometime, so it will be interesting to see how that opinion changes later on. But let’s get to the subject at hand.
This film, in a nutshell, is sort of a cat and mouse game. Except that the mouse is James Bond...and just when the cat thinks he’s nailed down his prey, the mouse opens up a can of tear gas in the cats face.
This is the first time we are introduced to the man behind the evil intelligence operation known as SPECTRE, an acronym for Special Executive for Counter-intelligence, Terrorism, Revenge and Extortion. (thanks wikipedia). In the previous film, Dr.No, we are simply told about SPECTRE by Dr. No himself, but here, we are fully immersed in the organization. Blofeld, the head and mastermind behind the organization, has hired two figures to plan out and execute a scheme to essentially, kill two birds with one stone.
They want a Lektor Cryptography decoder to extort the soviets with, and they want Bond dead for killing Dr.No...(spoiler, sorry...but it shouldn’t surprise you). So we have a master strategist creating the plan - that’s established right away because dude won a chess game...and Colonel Klebb carrying it out. Klebb is a former soviet counter intelligence officer working for one terrorist group who is now secretly working for a bigger terrorist group in SPECTRE.
Klebb hires a beautiful soviet cryptologist to lure Bond over to Istanbul where the Lektor is. Klebb also hires a big ox named Grant to secretly keep Bond alive until he has possession of the Lektor and then to kill him, and bring the Lektor to SPECTRE.
So Bond is sent on a mission by MI6 knowing full well that this is a trap, but like the master strategist predicted, the opportunity to obtain a Lektor is just too enticing to pass up. So the mission begins with Bond looking over his shoulder and trying to anticipate every move and countermove to somehow escape back to England with the Lektor, and hopefully Tanya Romanova, the girl hired to entice him to the Lektor. Of course throughout this mission, they end up actually falling for each other.
Whew...when I write it all out, it seems rather convoluted. But the good thing about this film, is that it doesn’t feel convoluted, it’s rather easy to follow and allows you as the viewer to put the puzzle pieces in place as you are watching it. While “From Russia With Love” isn’t very abundant on the action, it delivers with its methodical plot and story telling. That’s NOT to say that there is no action...we have a fight between two gypsies, a shoot out at the gypsy coral, a fight between Bond and a flying helicopter with grenades, a boat chase, and of course the scene that I always think about when I think of this movie...a nasty, brutal train car fight.
Bond and Grant (the hired hitman to kill Bond and retrieve the Lektor) eventually come to blows in one of my favorite fight scenes in the whole catalog. With no intense music behind it, just the sound of a train, Bond and Grant brutally beat the holy shit out of each other in a dark train car, shoving each other into the walls, applying full nelsons, breaking glass, and just straight up fist-a-cuffs that make you feel every hit. Theres just so much beauty in simplicity sometimes.
Speaking of simplicity, we are first introduced to the iconic character Q, played by the beloved Desmond Llewelyn (who would go on the play Q for the next 36 YEARS). He gives Bond a nifty briefcase with a bunch of defense mechanisms in it. I’m sure people went nuts over it, because the following movie you start getting things like ejectable car seats. But the briefcase really comes in handy.
Everything about “From Russia With Love” feels like it has a purpose. There is not one scene that has any sort of wasted dialogue. The only wasted scene, for me, is the pre-title sequence. It opens up with an unusually timid looking Bond who is seemingly chasing the man trying to kill him (Grant) in a hedge maze. Grant finally catches bond and strangles him to death...only for the lights to come up on this weird training session where Grant was being timed, and then they proceed to take the Sean Connery mask off to reveal it just being a guy.
This is amusing to think about, someone hired someone to create a mask that looks exactly like Bond to use for Bond killing training sessions. It’s like, why bother with the mask? Anyways, I get it...they wanted us to believe that this Grant guy just killed Bond. But it just seems so ridiculous.
From Russia With Love is a Bond movie I highly recommend and is regarded as one of the better Bond movies by numerous experts. I would have to agree. It also reminded me just how damn great Connery was. Everything he does is just so smooth. Theres a scene where Kerim Bey (Bond’s contact in Istanbul) tosses him something, and Bond just catches it in stride and carries on. It was a moment so small and insignificant to the story, but I saw that and went, “man, that’s why Connery is so awesome”. Give this movie a watch to remind yourself of just why Connery is regarded as one of the best Bonds ever.
That’s it for this week...Let me know what you thought, and I’ll paste it on at the end!
Reviews from Friends:
Jeremy Bent
Train fight is maybe my all time favorite Bond fight.
My Mom
I enjoyed it. But I liked the other one more. I always thought Bond was kind of futuristic but this movie had a shoot out at the OK Corral feel. It was a surprise to see a young blonde Robert Shaw. I hate to admit it, but I think I liked roger Moore’s portrayal more than Connery ‘s.
24 Weeks of Bond will be back next Monday with -
Tomorrow Never Dies
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Live And Let Die - #24WeeksofBond
My 24 Weeks of Bond has kicked off in a big way with “Live and Let Die”. Roger Moore’s first installment of the franchise and one of his best outings. I have to say, I’ve never been a huge Roger Moore fan - but his movies have some of the most iconic & interesting characters in the whole catalog. While I prefer a more ‘rough around the edges’ James Bond, I cannot sit here and say that I don’t appreciate the witty nature of Moore’s performances...It’s only when they get too cartoony (Moonraker, Ahem...) that I start to roll my eyes.
Live And Let Die does a fantastic job of balancing the humor with action. With any Bond movie that is introducing a new actor portraying the role of James Bond, it’s vital they pull out all the stops to make us believe that this man is now Bond, and you’re gonna like it. However, usually you’ll see a dramatic reveal of the new actor like they did with Connery, Brosnan, hell even Lazenby. This movie fails to give a proper reveal to Moore - they simply open up on a scene with him in bed with a woman - then a few moments later, he’s brewing an espresso for his boss. Not exactly an astonishing first impression.
In fact, the only knock about this movie is the incredibly slow build in the beginning. The pre-title sequence shows a string of three agents being killed in different locations, with the last one being touched by a horrible looking plastic prop snake in the neck that is supposed to make us believe the snake bit him. (could they have at LEAST made it look like there was a bite in his neck? I get it, it was the 70′s, special effects were not the forte...). But that’s all, no shots of Bond, no action sequences - just a few blokes getting killed for reasons we have no idea.
That leads into the BADASS hard hitting melodies of “Live and Let Die” by Paul McCartney and the Wings. One of the best Bond themes ever.
The movie eventually picks up when Bond’s driver gets shot while driving down the interstate and Bond has to gain control. From this scene forward - the movie really starts taking shape.
One of the greatest aspects about 1973′s “Live and Let Die” are the characters. This is the most epic gang of Bond villains you’ll likely come across. You have Kananga - the soft spoken prime minister of a Caribbean Island. Tee-Hee - A big muscle of a man with a robotic arm and claw that can bend hand guns. And of course, Baron Semedi - a Voodoo master - flamboyant, eerie, mysterious and apparently invincible. And that’s not even all of them!
And then there is Solitaire. man oh man did I have a crush on her when I was a teenager. (I wasn’t a teenager in the 70s but my brothers and I started watching all the Bond movies when we were teenagers - you could say when we were young and our hearts were an open book...). Solitaire is probably the coolest, most intriguing Bond Girl ever. Played by a young Jane Seymour, she is a tarot card reader working for Kananga to tell him the future whenever he asks her to. She starts out as a villain, but of course, Bond swoops in and throws her off her game by flipping over “The Lover” card on her table. From there she starts protecting Bond and herself, because she keeps flipping the damn Lover card whenever she is asked about Bond, putting herself in danger in the process. A way more interesting relationship than any other Bond/Bond Girl story in any other Bond movie.
A Bond movie is only as good as it’s characters - and Live and Let Die is well stocked with them. The story, locations, action, and drama are all there in this movie - and it ends with an epic fight scene in a train car. Man, I love a good train car fight scene.
Of course, this movie does have its moments of pure ridiculousness like J.W. Pepper - the sheriff of a small town in Louisiana, and the final fight scene between Bond and Kananga. Bond shoves an inflatable pellet in Kananga’s mouth where he then inflates and pops like a balloon. (where’s the blood? Where are the organs? He could’ve been a donor!). But still, it’s not enough to over shadow all the great parts about the film like the crocodile scene where Bond is left stranded on a small bit of land where crocs are surrounding him.
All in all, I think Live and Let Die is one of the best Roger Moore Bond movies, and, in my mind, one of the better Bond installments in the whole franchise.
What are your thoughts?
Reviews from friends:
My Mom:
it didn’t have the wit and brilliance of the latest versions. But I’ve never seen these old ones and this was a lot of fun. I couldn’t believe that was Jane Seymour. This was very nostalgic for me. Kind of like Gilligans Island paired with the old Mission Impossible TV show. I loved it. Joe said it was one of his oldie favorites
Alexandra Hein-Roberts
This was always my favorite growing up, though I still don’t love Roger Moore’s portrayal of James.
24 Weeks of Bond will be back next Monday with -
From Russia With Love
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The World Is Not Enough - #24WeeksofBond
Only two more films to go in my 24 Weeks of Bond marathon and already we are just a few months away from the big release of “No Time To Die” (so I hope). This week we are capping off Pierce Brosnan’s career with “The World Is Not Enough” the film that got its title from the Bond family crest motto. It is always rather funny now going all the way back to “On Her Majesty’s Secret Service” when Bond goes to learn all he can about genealogy and they throw Bond’s family crest at him with the phrase The World is Not Enough on it - Just a little easter egg for all of you new found Bond lovers that have been following this journey. The year was 1999, Marilyn Manson was the hottest act in music, Stone Cold Steve Austin was in his prime, and Star Wars was coming back...things were getting heavy, gritty, and Bond started to get a little lost.
This was my first time seeing this movie in a really long time and I forgot just how dark is was intended to be. Things have gotten really personal with M and Bond. This is the first time that M had a major role in the plot. Every year before, M is just handing out the orders, sending Bond on a plane to some exotic location and interrupting Bond and Moneypenny’s game of temptation. Not this time. M is now involved after one of her beloved friends dies in an explosion in MI6. There is quite a lot to unpack with this plot, so forgive me if I don’t get to everything. Let me try to summarize this plot in one paragraph...
Elektra King (Sophie Marceau) had been kidnapped by a terrorist named Renard (Robert Carlyle). Elektra develops Stockholm syndrome and falls in love with her captor, they then scheme a plot to kill her father after M’s strategy of using her as bait failed to play out, and steal a nuclear bomb to be used to destroy the city of Istanbul in order for oil to be redirected to a giant oil pipeline that is owned by the company that Elektra now owns after her father’s death. All while making the whole thing look like an accident so Elektra can get by with the millions of dollars and total power over the oil industry. I think that’s all! I did it!
There is so much going on in this movie where it takes a few views to really put all the pieces together. However, I do like the dark and personal direction they were taking it. Something tells me that if they had saved this plot for “Quantum Of Solace” and Daniel Craig’s acting chops, it would’ve been a fantastic movie. Unfortunately Brosnan, while excellent in his own right, just can’t pull off a script of this weight. Pierce is great with the everyday Bond mission films, but when things start getting a little emotional or edgy, that’s when I start to lose him.
One key element to this film is that it sadly marks the end of Desmond Llewelyn’s career as Q. Shortly after this film’s release Desmond would pass away in a tragic car accident. Desmond’s contribution to the Bond series in indescribable. He was the face of the Bond gadgets that made the films so much fun over the years. Although he had only been used in a few scenes here and there in each movie, his long term impact would be incredibly significant. Llewelyn’s tenure spanned the first 5 Bond’s, first appearing all the way back to From Russia With Love. It’s a streak of films with a character played by one actor that can’t be measured up to and the Bond series will live on in his honor. Thank you Desmond Llewelyn for everything!
Llewelyn was retiring anyways, so they wrote John Cleese in as his replacement which was such a smart choice. Although the Q character had become comical over time - John Cleese was brought in from Monty Python to carry the comical Q flag into the future. Unfortunately for Cleese, they went in a different direction after Die Another Day. On top of the well known John Cleese coming in, we were also force fed Denise Richards as Christmas Jones...ugh eye roll.
Denise was a pretty obvious sex appeal choice here as that was starting to become the trend. Casting a well known actress as the leading Bond girl starting with Terri Hatcher, then Denise Richards, and finally Halle Berry. The character Christmas Jones was written for one reason, and one reason only...for the final line of the film where Bond says...(and I can’t even type this out without gagging)...”I thought Christmas only comes once a year”. Yeah, they went there. While watching this movie in the Theatres I was starting to get the feeling that Bond was getting a little too over the top with the one liners and the sex puns. I didn’t know it then, as I was watching the film sitting in the aisle because the place was packed, but I was ready for something different. I thought we deserved better. Then Die Another Day came out, and I for sure knew it then.
The World is Not Enough sparked the beginning of the end for Brosnan. He came out guns a blazing with Goldeneye and had a solid second outing with Tomorrow Never Dies, but The World is Not Enough was starting to feel like campy Brosnan is not enough.
This movie has it perks though. The pre-title sequence is the longest pre-title sequence in the franchise’s history, and is packed with exciting action which includes a high speed boat chase with Bond doing triple barrels and adjusting his tie under water. It’s in this pre-title sequence we see the beginning chain of events taking place that set up the rest of the film. One of those key events is when Bond jumps off the boat and grabs onto the rope thats attached to the hot air balloon that is holding the woman Bond is chasing. Bond tries to tell her that he can help her but she says “Not from him” and shoot the gas can, triggering Bond to just let go, dislocating his shoulder from the impact. Pretty exciting stuff for just the opening.
Sophie Marcou is also excellent in this film. She plays the victim so brilliantly that you are legit shocked at the reveal of her being the one who set everything up. Again, it’s the bad guys & gals that make you like them are that are the best villains. Elektra ranks for me as one of the best Bond villains just because you don’t, or don’t want to, suspect it. Bond is also becoming increasingly infatuated with her which makes the story even more deep.
But to me, this could’ve been a great film, but it was just too bogged down with the complication of the plot, the hokey character traits (Renard being immune to pain), the weird saw copter, and the blatant use of over sexualization in the Christmas Jones character. Also, Denise Richards is just kind of bad. There’s hints of sarcasm with her character giving her a bit of a rough around the edges feel, but overall it just comes off as bad acting.
There is much to like about this film, however, there is also much to dislike - I want to like this movie, I really do, but my typing fingers are saying otherwise. But that’s it for me - what did YOU think?
Reviews from Friends:
Tyler Dahlgren
I didn’t have a problem with Brosnan in this one. I mean he didn’t write the dialog. And I think he does fine with the edgier/emotional parts. He has to go a good chunk of the movie playing off Richards who is an absolute anchor dragging every scene to the dark abysmal depths. I think she’s honestly just that bad. It was after this one that Pierce started talking he was done. Can’t imagine why.
24 Weeks of Bond returns, for the last time, next Monday with -
Moonraker
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