Is DIE ANOTHER DAY the worst Bond movie?

Discussion in 'Visual Arts' started by John B Good, Aug 16, 2018.

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  1. snowman872

    snowman872 Forum Resident

    Location:
    Wilcox, AZ
    Skyfall was very good. Specter just fair. Really unusual opinions on this thread about Bond movies. :confused:
     
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  2. razerx

    razerx Forum Resident

    Location:
    Sonoma California
    Pre-Craig movies were fun. Craig movies are not fun; they may be many things but fun they are not.
     
  3. snowman872

    snowman872 Forum Resident

    Location:
    Wilcox, AZ
    All I can say is, you missed a lot of fun movies Chazro. Moore will always be great.
     
  4. GodShifter

    GodShifter Forum Member

    Location:
    Dallas, TX, USA
    Moonraker was excessively terrible. Never Say Never Again was awful, too.

    A few to pick from in terms of “worst” in other words.
     
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  5. But despite Richards being miscast, that was otherwise a really good Bond movie. Each Bond actor seems to have made at least one really bad one.

    Connery - Thunderball and it's remake - both pretty boring

    Moore - View To a Kill and Moonraker (I liked Octopussy and the earlier ones)

    Dalton - License To Kill (a bit of a sick revenge fantasy)

    Brosnan - Die Another Day (insipid dialogue and the horrible invisible car)

    Craig - Quantum of Solace

    The one Lazenby film is a winner, due to locations and its emotional content and in spite of his acting.
     
  6. Octopussy was fun, especially the opening sequences. But that was the first Bond film I saw so there might be that.
     
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  7. tommy-thewho

    tommy-thewho Senior Member

    Location:
    detroit, mi
    Worst Brosnan movie for sure.

    Not the worst Bond movie.

    Don't even like the theme song.
     
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  8. Left Field

    Left Field #1 Shinboner

    It's easily the worst Theme Song (Madonna has always been a terribly over rated artist), but I'm not sure about worst film.
    The first 90 minutes of Moonraker is quite enjoyable, but the Shuttles take-off it flies off into the absurd. Die Another Day is just plain boring for the full 120+ minutes.
    The Brosnan films are generally pretty poor with the exception of GoldenEye which is one of my favourites, but it has nothing to do with Brosnan and everything to do with Onotopp.
     
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  9. BeatleJWOL

    BeatleJWOL Senior Member

    I remember enjoying it. The only catch for me was the surfing scene, but part of it is I ruined myself on it by watching the special features first and seeing it was greenscreened. Maybe I wouldn't have noticed that otherwise.

    For the Brosnan years, though, nothing can top Goldeneye. A true classic. (and yes I like Eric Serra's score, fight me - they got the big brassy Bond theme in there where it counts)

    (also who can hate Skyfall? I mean really.)
     
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  10. Vidiot

    Vidiot Now in 4K HDR!

    Location:
    Hollywood, USA
    I would rather hammer flaming nails into my eyes than to ever, ever see Moonraker again. That is a haaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaarible film.

    I liked Roger Moore as an actor, but I never quite bought into him as James Bond. We've talked about this in other threads: in order to be Bond, an actor has to look great in a tux, be believable and cunning as a deadly killer, intelligent and resourceful enough that he could stop the bad guy, and also a quick wit with sarcastic retorts.

    Moore was too "light" to me to be believed as a killer, except possibly for that one scene in For Your Eyes Only where he kicks the bad guy's car off a cliff, killing him in cold blood. Timothy Dalton was deadly dull, with almost a zero sense of humor. I thought Connery was perfect and Pierce Brosnan was extremely good. Daniel Craig is a solid actor, but I don't think he's in the same league. Audiences clearly disagree, because the Craig movies have made far more money than any other actor playing that role.
     
  11. Etienne Hanratty

    Etienne Hanratty Forum Resident

    Location:
    uk
    Is DAD the one where Brosnan morphs into 1973 era Carl Wilson and spends the first third of the film taking in his actual Irish accent only to revert to standard RP as soon as he chances upon a pack of Bics?

    If so, that one was pretty poor but I’d take it over any of the Mendes films, which I find to be dull, bloated and humourless, with a weird, brown cinematography.
     
  12. gabacabriel

    gabacabriel Forum Resident

    Location:
    Bristol, UK
    Don't sit on the fence, Vidiot - let's us know what you really think :laugh:

    I guess to an extent it depends where you come in - Moonraker was the first Bond I saw with my Dad at the cinema, so I have a soft spot for it because of that. It ain't great - even then I thought they were trying to riff a bit on Star Wars with the space battle - but there was worse to come (to this day, I've never been able to sit through the entirety of Octopussy)....

    I agree that Moore was too light, too comedic, but I think Dalton got a bad press (and some overly earnest scripting -they were trying to get back to basics and missed the mark). Brosnan I always saw as a bridge between Connery and Moore, with limited success (he didn't have Connery's physicality, for one thing). Craig in some ways is almost a cross between Connery and Dalton - but he needs to lighten up. Or his scriptwriters do. Spectre for one was a flipping mess.

    Still not as bad as Octopussy, though :D
     
  13. Scooterpiety

    Scooterpiety Ars Gratia Artis

    Location:
    Oregon
    Just the opposite for me. The only "unwatchable" part of Moonraker for me is when they are in space, that was the stupidest part. I like most of the rest of the movie okay. I really disliked 'Die'. I've only seen it once, that was enough.
     
  14. Scooterpiety

    Scooterpiety Ars Gratia Artis

    Location:
    Oregon
    Octopussy is my favorite of the Moore films, the one I really don't care for is Man With The Golden Gun. I even like View To A Kill, though I will concede that Moore was probably too old to play Bond by that time. He was probably too old in Octopussy!
     
  15. Scooterpiety

    Scooterpiety Ars Gratia Artis

    Location:
    Oregon
    I still haven't seen Spectre, so I can't comment on it, but Quantum Of Solace was easily the worst of the Craig films.
    I still don't know what the hell it was about!
     
  16. HenryH

    HenryH Miserable Git

    Octopussy is largely an over the top parody. One can’t take it too seriously, and each time I watch it it gets more enjoyable.
     
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  17. Graham

    Graham Senior Member

    Location:
    Perth, Australia
    By far the worst film in the series. Pure excrement.
     
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  18. Vidiot

    Vidiot Now in 4K HDR!

    Location:
    Hollywood, USA
    Octopussy was a very, very, very bad movie as well.
     
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  19. Purple Jim

    Purple Jim Senior Member

    Location:
    Bretagne
    Me neither. He was great as The Saint as he brought more character and humor to the role.
     
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  20. The Hermit

    The Hermit Wavin' that magick glowstick since 1976

    Spectre is clearly the worst... and I mean that.

    Dull, boring, empty, ugly... even the other perceived 'worst' Bond films (and that's an entirely subjective debate by itself) had some merit to be found therein... Spectre had none that I've yet to discover.

    And from what I hear from some people close to that production, pretty much no-one involved was happy how it turned out... witness the paltry extras on the Blu-ray; there's very little enthusiasm for that film from those that actually made it... that's telling in itself.
     
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  21. The Hermit

    The Hermit Wavin' that magick glowstick since 1976

    No it wasn't... I'd rate Octopussy as The Moore's second best Bond movie next to The Spy Who Loved Me... it's a cracking Cold War thriller with a touch of the exotic thrown in for spice... I like it a great deal, always have done... people who moan about Bond in a gorilla or clown suit always take those scenes completely out of context. Louis Jordan was a classy Bond villain too, it has to be said.

    It would have been a fine last entry for Moore's tenure as 007... a pity he signed on for one more (and even he regretted it).
     
  22. Holerbot6000

    Holerbot6000 Forum Resident

    Location:
    California
    Yeah I thought he was better in Ffolkes. That role seemed to suit him and his 'Pussycat Grin'.
     
  23. Sammy Waslow

    Sammy Waslow Just watching the show

    Location:
    Ireland
    I watched Die Another Day recently, for only the second time ever, in order to comment on it in the James Bond film-by-film thread.
    This is an edited / re-written version of my post there.

    As far as I'm concerned, it's the worst Bond film. There is so much wrong with it. Most people immediately think of the invisible car or the Madonna cameo as being the main issues. They're bad, for sure, but there are many, many other problems.
    Toby Stephens is dreadful and far too young to be credible as a Bond nemesis, something that is not helped by the fact that Brosnan has aged during his tenure, lending him more gravitas. Stephens' entire performance is just relying on flared nostrils and sneering like a petulant student. It's also not remotely credible that the Graves character could emerge from nowhere, be established as a billionaire philanthropist, receive a Knighthood (no chance) and set up Icarus in the space of fourteen months.
    The film is let down by bad CGI and green screen and jarring, distracting moments of either sped up or slow motion sequences. Halle Berry is side by side with Brosnan on most of the posters, making the alliance seem more like a bona fide duo, but Bond beds Jinx apparently within minutes of meeting her (after some appalling double entendre dialogue), which undoes any good work the producers might have been aiming for in having a strong female lead.
    On the plus side, John Cleese isn't as Fawltyesque in his character here, despite some quips at Bond's expense. The clumsy buffoon persona of his debut appearance is thankfully gone. Also, Rosamund Pike is effective in her role (I was pleasantly surprised on watching it again), her ice maiden character a good foil for both Bond and Jinx.
    But you add up all the problems: the techno tinged music score, the absurd decision to blast London Calling by The Clash in a scene when Bond flies back into London, the kite surfing sequence, the subtle-as-a-sledgehammer product placement, and - yes - the aforementioned invisible car and the Madonna cameo, plus, on top of all this, the truly wretched theme song, it's indefensible.
    Dreadful. The low point of the series.
     
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  24. Vidiot

    Vidiot Now in 4K HDR!

    Location:
    Hollywood, USA
    Let's agree to disagree. I could put sign that said EVERYTHING I SAY IN MY MESSAGES IS JUST MY OPINION (which I actually do on the BSN forum), but let's just have an understanding that this is what it is. It's the internet: there's going to be opinions out there that you don't agree with. Doesn't make me wrong -- it's just a value judgement.

    Nobody better in the role of The Saint than Moore -- he was a terrific actor in that role. I'm also told that he was a charming and good-natured man in real life.
     
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  25. PH416156

    PH416156 Alea Iacta Est

    Location:
    Europe
    The first act is actually excellent. After Bond enters the ice palace, the problems begin, horrible "tsunami" surfing scene included, possibly the worst CGI stuff ever seen in a major blockbuster.

    The car chase on ice (Aston Martin vs Jaguar) is, imho, one of the most beautifully coreographed, shot end edited chases of the whole franchise. Heck, sometimes that's the only part of the movie I watch!

    And of course, this is another reason to watch Die another day

    [​IMG]

    Worst Bond movie? Hmmm imho, it's a tie between "The man with the golden gun" and "Quantum of Solace"
     
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