Amph James Bond: Now Disc. "Skyfall" Video Blog by Sam Mendes

I'd go so far as to call it the second worst Bond of all, exceeded in crappiness only by A View to a Kill. One thing the two movies share is over the hill Bonds, who are clearly only in it for the paycheck at that point. Connery seems less than enthused from beginning to end. The two henchmen guys are basically doofuses, St John is a total dud.

This is the 4th book, and having just finished Moonraker, would be up next. My disdain for the movie, however, has caused me to interrupt my reading of the Bond series for the time being. I realize the book is probably significantly better, but, well, I can't disassociate the one from the other.

 

I wouldn't say that this was worse than TMWTGG, but it's definately the arse end of Bond films. It ushered in the grating low point of Moore's era, and if you think that this film downplayed Tracy's death, then wait until my review of FYEO and it's opening (which Dalton could have pulled off and Moore, ever the lightweight actor, butchered).

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Live and Let Die is far superior to DAF. The storyline is tighter, and the acting is spectacular. The villain is very good in this film. The action scene with the double decker bus is amazing. And although the ending feels tacked on, I liked how "Death" never dies.

 

Eh, but you've still got this period from 1969 to 1987 when the real James Bond is offscreen, replaced by a walnut-faced old man with a shock of dated, wavy brownish hair who almost impersonated the real Bond once, in 1981.

The Dark Ages of 007, I'm going to call them.

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For me the Dark ages of Bond start with Lisence to Kill all the way to Casino Royale with Goldeneye and DAD being annomolies.

 

Um, you do realise that in both going back to Fleming, Daniel Craig and Timothy Dalton played the most similar, most linked Bonds, right?

I'm actually really anticipating CR on DVD so I can watch it, OHMSS and LTK back to back. There's a real character arc there; the vulnerable James Bond...

Hmmm...

Rogue, what do you say; should we try and chart the growth of 007 the human, not the Wrinkly Unflappable Man With The Raised Eyebrow Who Was Too Old For This ****, in order of the character's growth, not the films?

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Well, I liked Casino Royale, at least it had actual acting in it. And an actual plot. And it was actually exciting. Unlike the majority of the Brosnan's.

 

Be fair. Brosnan's films suffered from too much pyrotechnics and restraint on behalf of the Purvis-Wade writing team. Brosnan was damned good at 007; easily the best thing about Die Another Day. And the cast, save for Denise Richards, was fantastic in TWINE.

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Bond had great continuity in the Brosnan movies. I love how Q was the same, the goofy gadgets that Moore had was even kept in to an extent. M was a great character, too, and I liked how Miss Moneypenny was recast and much sexier.

One of my favorite Bond/Q scenes is in TND where Q is the car insurance salesmen selling to Bond.

 

Eh, it's arguable that Bond had continuity int he Brosnan films; if anything though the Q scenes were the left-over cliches. It would be very hard to top Q's finest moment, however, which was in your "favourite", LTK.

I can't even recall Q in DAF, and I know he wasn't in LALD, so that says something about those films right?

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Q is in DAF. He's trying to use some gadget to trip up the casino slot machines. I cant remember him in Live and Let Die.

One thing I liked about the Moore films was Boba Fett played Q's assitant Smithers in most of them.

 

He wasn't in LALD. That was deliberate, to avoid anything remotely Connery-esque about the character. Hence, no vodka martinis, no Moneypenny, no briefing with M at SIS HQ, etc.

And Bulloch was a RN officer in TSWLM and Smithers in FYEO. So only once.

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I think Smithers was also in Octopussy. He's got a broken arm. Bond walks in and says, "How's the arm, Smithers?" and then Smithers uses the cast on the arm to smash some mannaquin, and Smithers goes, "Very good sir."

 

That's FYEO.

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Oh, well, he's in three Bond movies.

 

Smithers is in Octopussy. He's in the Taxi that tails Kamal Khan.

Blasphemy. For Ypur Eyes Only is one of Roger Moore's finest hours and an extremely well made adaptation of Fleming's short stories "For Your Eyes Only" and "Risico". The screen writers show great skill in combining two stories into one.

As for Timothy Dalton he's become somewhat irrelevant in light of Daniel Craig. Craig's the Bond Dalton should have been. His title as "Fleming's Bond" belongs to Craig now.

 

The story for FYEO was fine; it was just ruined by having Roger Moore in the lead.

I mean, he's visiting his wife's grave then smirking his way through the helicopter scene including patting "Blofeld" on the head.

A real actor, a real Bond actor, could have made the opening scene work. Moore just saundered through it, raising an eyebrow here, and another there...

And Dalton was still "Commander Bond", of the Royal Navy; not ex-SAS trooper Bond.

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Craig is still Commander Bond. Although it wasn't mentioned in the film Bond's bio on the official Casino Royale website mentions it. Personally I'd loved to see a movie where Bond's naval experience came into play more.

 

I mean, he's visiting his wife's grave then smirking his way through the helicopter scene including patting "Blofeld" on the head.

Eh, blame it on the writers.

 

Diamonds are Forever definitely sounds the death knell; get ready for several years of utter dreck, lightened by the occasional bright spot.

I don't think Connery looks that much older, but the film definitely stinks. Jill St. John is grating and I hate this Blofeld with a passion; I mean from Telly Savalas to a pompadour in one movie? Please. Even Pleasance managed to not be this fey and that's saying something.

And Wint and Kidd I found utterly grating; I have nothing against gay stereotypes, I guess (?), but this was just insulting. Oh, how I hated those two.

I think the car going up on two wheels was the worst bit; no, wait, the moon buggy. No, wait, Blofeld talking with a southern accent.

Damning with faint praise: Plenty O'Toole is fricking gorgeous. Of course, they kill her off in about five minutes. Good job there, guys; back to Jill St. John, I guess, who manages to hide a tape in the rear end of her bikini without anyone noticing. Not sure what that means, but when you mention little illogical touches, that must be mentioned.

The curtain of the cornball has fallen. Bond won't be 'right' for quite a few years . . .

 

Rogue, once again, for the win.

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DAF is one of the worst of the franchise. I think it paved the way for the more jokey aspects of Bond that typified the Moore era. Connery looks terrible and appears to be sleepwalking through the film. Hard to blame him when he was offered a huge salary as well as a multi-picture deal for other productions. Jill St. John has never been a good actress nor had much charisma, she couldn't even carry episodes of "The Love Boat". From the Howard Hughes references to the fake moon landing in area 51 to the silly villains it is a 180 degree turn from OHMSS. The biggest problem is that DAF was quite successful. It did far better than OHMSS box office wise and probably showed the producers what the public wanted in James Bond.

 

I'm glad, Gobi, that you didn't trash it (Diamonds Are Forever) from start to finish. I agree that there are some good things about it. The fight in the elevator was one of them. (Wasn't that supposed to have rivaled the Red Grant fight scene in Russia? Because of the close-quarters? I don't know if it actually did, but it was still a fun scene to watch.) And, in my opinion, the best thing about Diamonds is Lana Wood.

 

"Hi I'm Plenty."
"Of course you are."
"Plenty O'Toole."
"Named after your father perhaps."



DAF is still fun. Unfortunately "fun" seems to be a dirty word when associated with Bond for some people around here.

 

The cuffs and collar line is also a good one

On the DVD there is a deleted scene with Sammy Davis Jr. I'm surprised it didn't make it in the film considering how light in tone this film is. There are fun moments in it but I think on the whole it's quite lacking. Although I do think this was about as close to death as Bond ever got.