James Bond 007 film-by-film thread

Don't be racist.

 

Was a joke.

 

B

I know,I was joking too. Always wished Dalton had done a third film.

 

Well he would have been better ( just) than Brosnan.

 

Because the alternative location for the satellite was at the base of a volcano.

 

License To Kill...

This movie has always been an odd one for me to figure out. Generally, a decent film, but I'm not sure how well it fits into the whole Bond series.

Weird how it brings in an element of the original Live And Let Die story and other marginal aspects of Fleming's writings. But it never entirely seems cohesive. It's like I can drop in at any part of the film and watch 10-15 minutes and find it interesting, yet as a whole the movie lacks that overall satisfying impact.

Also a bit weird, Carey Lowell is one of my absolute favorite Bond women.

When I originally watched this film at the theater I thought it was decent, but far from a top level Bond. Later, watching it on DVD, it came across like a mediocre "made for TV" movie, particularly the last half hour. Then, more recently, watching this on blu-ray it wasn't as bad as I had remembered. It just seems to be missing some kind of element, (Villain? Action? Plotpoint? Direction?) that keeps it from being more interesting. That's too bad since this movie seemed to have helped push Dalton out the door. Not that it was his fault by any consideration. As I had mentioned, I've always thought he was a good Bond. It's just that he didn't have the platform to really stand out.

So, good movie, but in the lower half of the Bond rankings.

 

Interesting Bond music fun fact:
The title track License to Kill was initially credited to Walden, Afanasieff, and Cohen as songwriters.
However, years later John Barry , Anthony Newly and Leslie Bricusse were added as additional songwriters due to the opening notes of the tune being similar to Goldfinger.

 

Did Barry get anything for Skyfall /Diamonds Are Forever.

 

Always wished Dalton would have done 1 more Bond.

Living Daylights was the better movie.

Barry should have for Diamonds.

 

Barry did accept co credit for Robbie Williams hit- Millennium using the basis of Barry's -You Only Live Twice opening few bars. Barry thought the idea was ok, but songwriters should write their own tunes he mused.

 

License to Kill remains something of an outlier in the official Bond movie canon to me; it feels completely unlike any other movie in the series, probably by virtue of being shot mostly in Mexico City's sprawling Churusbusco studio (where the likes of Dune and Total Recall were also shot); United Artists was still supposedly paying off interest on the cost overruns to Moonraker a decade previously, and got rather snippy with the budget on License to Kill... seeing as the entirety of the film took place in the Caribbean-Americas region (both North and South) anyway, they felt shooting at Pinewoood in London was not necessary and too expensive, so they set up shop at the cheap-as-chips aforementioned Mexico City studio location, which certainly knocked a few million dollars off the budget from the outset... trouble is, the craftmanship south o' the border is nothing like in Blighty and it shows onscreen, with sets and cinematography that look more like an expensive television movie than a prestige theatrical franchise picture... the usual Bond behind-the-scenes crew are as good as ever, but they were being asked to deliver with less time and less money than before, and in a foreign and unfamiliar working environment of a third-world country (with all the problems that entails)... the previous few Bond movies all had something like a $40m budget and a five-month shoot from September to February, Licence to Kill had a $32m budget - a character even makes a barbed comment about it in the actual movie - and an earlier, shorter July-November shoot (Timothy Dalton once commented on getting the final script draft a mere week or two before filming began!) which was hampered even further by the Writer's Guild of America going on strike that March prior to filming, so screenwriter Richard Maibaum was unable to contribute past the first draft, leaving producer/co-writer Michael G Wilson to finish the screenplay by himself.

It's still an entertaining movie all told, and it's still Bond so it's all good - plus it's a much better movie than Spectre at the very least - but had they not been hampered by budget cuts and writer strikes, I wonder if it would have made for a better film overall, or would the difference have been marginal? Still, I give them kudos for taking a chance and showing the dark side of Dalton's Bond only briefly glimpsed at in The Living Daylights, he gives it his all and he deserved better. Robert Davi is a pretty good Bond villain, almost likable and sympathetic at times, Carey Lowell is a decent enough Bond girl (never been that fond of her though, even when she was in Law & Order), Q gets out of the house and has more to do which was nice, and the climactic truck chase is still an all-timer for the Bond films. Wasn't fussed on Michael Kamen's rather unmemorable score - which was apparently done at the last minute, unsurprisingly - or the 'Americanization' of Bond, whether intentional or not... it just seemed to me that they were pushing too hard for the Miami Vice feel to the film, which is all well and good, but it's not really 007.

Frankly, at this point, the series had been going for 27 years and badly needed a nice rest anyway, so it worked out in the end... pity Dalton didn't get to do at least one more, although as I stated before, he should have took over for A View to a Kill four years previously, alas...

 

On the subject of scores, or good score John Barry married Jane Birkin when Barry was 30, the Wonderwall /Blow-Up actress 18, in 1965.

 

I agree with many of the comments already made about Licence to Kill. For me, it's a below-average entry. It's two star stuff, and I say that as someone who loves The Living Daylights, so it's not an anti-Dalton stance on my part. If anything, my affection for the 1987 film accentuates my disappointment in the follow up.
It just doesn't remotely look or feel like a Bond film. The decision to go for a return to the essence of the original Fleming character, which producers felt was a match for Dalton's style, was a good idea in theory, but shorn of a decent plot or a top tier villain, at times - such as the terribly-executed quayside bar brawl - it genuinely threatens to play out like a generic Steven Seagal action revenge thriller.
The Michael Kamen score is far too redolent of his work on Die Hard and Lethal Weapon, especially in the pre-title sequence, which - as an opening - doesn't work at all. They throw in the occasional James Bond Theme motif to remind us that we're watching a Bond film, but it's unconvincing. You're expecting to hear a David Sanborn saxophone or Eric Clapton guitar at any moment.
Matters are not helped when, in a bizarre, "everything but the kitchen sink" approach, we meet both the villain and one of the leading ladies (Sanchez and Lupe) within the first few minutes, which must be unique for Bond pre-title sequences, traditionally only tenuously connected (if indeed linked at all) to the main narrative.
Another early glitch for the pedant in me is the fact that Della - who clearly has a relatively close relationship with James, even remarking that both her and Felix love him - is apparently unaware that he was once married. I know this makes for the brief scene at the end of the night, but it undermines their relationship. Hell, even Triple X knew Bond's wife was killed, and Della is supposedly a close friend.
The decision to have the Wayne Newton character, Professor Joe, is ridiculous, and one of the biggest mistakes of the film, not least considering they were supposedly going for a tougher, more realistic style. How can you reconcile the increased violence with a caricature like this? Also, Sanchez's financial advisor is a completely unnecessary addition, yet another American character to populate the film, but so anonymous and unnecessary that his death at Sanchez's own hand is neither as shocking nor as callous as we're presumably supposed to think.
Kudos for the realism of some of the stunt work, obviously, especially the tanker finale, even though it seems strange to be concluding a Bond film more like Mad Max meets Duel. Despite the lack of logic in some elements (not to mention the tiresome reappearances of the dust-covered henchmen, looking like they've wandered in from Home Alone), it is undeniably impressive to see sequences like this played out on real roads with real vehicles, as opposed to modern CGI visuals.
For me, shallow though it may sound, the film's only real saving grace is Carey Lowell, who is absolutely beautiful and one of my favourite Bond Girls, though the actual character of Pam is a bit all over the place. I particularly find it bizarre that - given the almost chaste approach in The Living Daylights - Bond manages to conquer Pam within about two minutes of them fleeing the bar in the speedboat. However, I do love Pam's later cynical impersonation of Lupe; "I just love James so much...", not least because Lupe's comment comes out of nowhere in the first place.
Overall, the decision to try and capitalise on action trends at the time backfired spectacularly (the fact that it was given a 15 cert in the UK and Ireland, unheard of for a Bond film, was a major talking point), and the very American style of the film meant a huge loss of identity. It simply didn't fit in the Bond series. I still regard it as an odd one out.

 

With the Bond series chasing trends post Connery, it seems that the producers decided (albeit late to the game) to do an 80s topical Miami Vice-ish type of Bond movie.

I do with Dalton had another outing, but it should have earlier.

 

No idea.

 

Thought maybe his estate.
Very similar melody I thought.

 

Licence to Kill (1989)

James Bond (Timothy Dalton) goes after a drug lord.

By the standards of the previous Bond films this is noticeably nastier with a brutality to it that seems excessive for the series. It's a pretty good story, although arguable not particularly Bond feeling. There's some good action scenes (the oil tankers climax in particular). The two girls fall madly in love with Bond remarkably quickly for little obvious reason. In Carey Lowell's case they meet, get into a fight with some baddies and then as they escape on a boat she's coming on to him. This made me laugh out loud as not even a nymphomaniac works that fast. It's more solid than inspired but it was a good film.

Good


Best to worst IMO (films ranked as I watched them so this list has some weight to it)


Live and Let Die (1973)

The Living Daylights (1987)

Diamonds Are Forever (1971)

Licence to Kill (1989)

Goldfinger (1964)

Dr No (1962)

Thunderball (1965)

The Man with the Golden Gun (1974)

Moonraker (1979)

The World is Not Enough (1999)

Goldeneye (1995)

Octopussy (1983)

On Her Majesty's Secret Service (1969)

Casino Royale (2006)

For Your Eyes Only (1981)

Never Say Never Again (1983)

Tomorrow Never Dies (1997)

Die Another Day (2002)

The Spy Who Loved Me (1977)

You Only Live Twice (1967)

Skyfall (2012)

Spectre (2015)

Quantum of Solace (2008)

A View to a Kill (1985)

From Russia with Love (1963)

 

Best Bond ladies man?
Has to be Sean Connery!!!
Least convincing ladies man Dalton ,
and Brosnan...too narcissistic, pleased with himself. Wouldn't say Craig as Bond is much of a ladies man, he respects them and will avenge their death.

 

"Today is the first day of the rest of your life"
"Compliments of Sharky!" (nails the bad guy with harpoon)
Anthony Zerbe's head exploding covering the money with blood
"what about the money?" "Launder it"
Q on actual location doing some spy stuff
Carey Lowell
Best bond of the 80's
It's pure Fleming, badass, brutal, violent, passionate.

 

License to Kill
I had pretty high hopes for this one after being overall very impressed with The Living Daylights, but I was not at all satisfied by License to Kill. One of the central problems for me was the depiction of James Bond himself. Timothy Dalton's portrayal of Bond in The Living Daylights was second only to Sean Connery IMHO, but I cannot say the same for License to Kill. I thought that LTK made Bond seem so... lame. All the exposition just seemed to present Bond as an uncool middle aged guy with uncool middle aged friends. I think the attempt at showing a glimpse of Bond's personal life was a big mistake that made the character barely feel like Bond at all. It was especially clunky since they were clearly going for a darker, more gritty direction in terms of plot, which painfully clashed with what silliness was left in the franchise, as well as the happy-go-lucky early sections of the film. The way they tried to show a darker side of James Bond while simultaneously portraying him tamer than ever personality-wise gives the film a very confused tone that feels comparable to a kids' movie trying to tackle heavier themes. The idea of Bond taking on a drug cartel was an interesting idea, but it felt extremely sanitized and poorly executed IMO, especially for a film coming out in the wake of Scarface. The silliness and sanitization can't really be enjoyed for what it is in the same way a Roger Moore or Sean Connery film can, because they were very clearly trying to make a serious action film, but just failed in the execution. I thought the villains and Bond-girls were pretty uninteresting in this film, especially the American one, who is one of my all-time least favorite Bond-girls. Overall, I did not like this film. It had potential that showed through occasionally, but I think it was very poorly executed.

 

Goldeneye (1995)

James Bond (Pierce Brosnan) searches for a stolen helicopter.

I rated this as either the very best Bond film or at least the number two movie after Goldfinger (1964). Nostalgia may play a part in that high opinion.

Sadly on this viewing it was merely above average. As a story it plods from set piece to set piece and doesn’t become much more than okay. The tank chase is the definite highlight of the whole film, and even that’s not something to get overly excited about. The last half hour on the satellite dish is slightly dull.

It’s an okay film but it’s nothing special.

Above average


Best to worst IMO (films ranked as I watched them so this list has some weight to it)


Live and Let Die (1973)

The Living Daylights (1987)

Diamonds Are Forever (1971)

Licence to Kill (1989)

Goldfinger (1964)

Dr No (1962)

Thunderball (1965)

The Man with the Golden Gun (1974)

Moonraker (1979)

The World is Not Enough (1999)

Goldeneye (1995)

Octopussy (1983)

On Her Majesty's Secret Service (1969)

Casino Royale (2006)

For Your Eyes Only (1981)

Never Say Never Again (1983)

Tomorrow Never Dies (1997)

Die Another Day (2002)

The Spy Who Loved Me (1977)

You Only Live Twice (1967)

Skyfall (2012)

Spectre (2015)

Quantum of Solace (2008)

A View to a Kill (1985)

From Russia with Love (1963)

 

Testament to how poor the Brosnan films are is the fact that GoldenEye stands out as something of a gem. At one point, I had it sneaking into my top five, but I've become a bit revisionist of it in recent times. Even so, I still rate it very highly. It's a very solid four stars, and undeniably way above the standard of the rest of his tenure.
In general, Brosnan's Bond is just too smug for my liking, as if he's somehow smirking his way through the entire series, like the proverbial cat that got the cream. "I nearly had this job a few years ago, and now I actually have it, so I win." The problem is that, most of the time, he's got very little to be smug about. Fortunately, it's less of a problem with GoldenEye than the subsequent films, as they're obviously initially trying hard to find a happy medium between what they felt was Dalton's somewhat alienating darker persona and a Bond that they felt audiences would relate to a bit better. It would soon go horribly wrong, but they get it right here.
GoldenEye is very close to being really excellent. I just feel it's let down by some clunky narrative and technical missteps. We get a shot of our hero just before the opening dive from the top of the dam, and it is clearly not Brosnan. Such glitches might have been excusable in other films, but this is indefensible, as it's the introduction of "the new Bond". Also, the airplane stunt in the pre-title sequence is absurd in its own right, but at what altitude is this military facility supposed to be? He's had to jump off a dam, and then proceed to go deeper into the base. How is it that he's still apparently at such an altitude that he can catch up to a falling plane?
Yes, these are all pedantic grievances on my part, but at a time when would expect there to be more credibility with the films, such massive plotholes are redolent of some of the earliest entries in the series.
One could argue that Sean Bean is too anonymous for a Bond villain (this is all relative: at the time, we didn't know what awfulness was coming) and that Alan Cumming's Boris is unnecessary, but there's a good dynamic between all the key players that keeps things ticking over nicely.
As with Carey Lowell in Licence to Kill, the leading lady is a massive bonus, even on a purely aesthetic level. Izabella Scorupco's Natalya is a top five Bond Girl for me. But then you've got the added entertainment bonus of Famke Janssen as Xenia Onatopp, whose breathless carnal excitement at moments of violence is played to perfection. She clearly relishes every second of her time on screen, though it's more effective when she's machine gunning the satellite station staff (leading to Ourumov's slightly quizzical/disturbed expression), as opposed to enthusiastically choking the admiral to death with her thighs, which - to quote Graham Chapman - is just getting far too silly.
For all its flaws, GoldenEye somehow manages to work as a well-paced and highly enjoyable entry, striking a very good balance between "suave Bond" and Bond as man of action. I also feel it has aged very well for a film from the mid-nineties. As I said at the outset, it is head and shoulders above every other Brosnan entry.
"Invincible!"

 

I like GoldenEye a great deal; it's a solid upgrade from License to Kill, and obviously it was a very important movie to get right... six years away from the screen and a changed geo-political world, in addition to a new actor playing Bond (and 'M'), all meant everyone having to bring their A-Game... and like most installments with a new Bond, they did for the most part. There's a noticeable tension throughout the film with regards striking the balance between a newer modern Bond that still retains the traditional ingredients of the previous films... they don't always get it right (Xenia's post-slaughter orgasms get a little tiresome after the first time!), but it's a sterling effort all round and I personally think Pierce Brosnan was born to play 007, he's the love child of Moore and Connery's portrayals, but at the same time, made the role his own... even though he himself isn't happy in retrospect with his tenure.

Brosnan's best Bond movie, Tomorrow Never Dies, is up next... and I don't care what anyone says... beautiful cinematography, razor-sharp editing, they find the right balance in all the constituent ingredients, a perfect running time for a Bond movie (two hours), some crackerjack action sequences, a terrific Bond girl who more than holds her own... and possibly one of the best scenes in ANY Bond movie (I'll not spoil the surprise but a certain German city is mentioned to hilarious effect!). And the best thing of all is how troubled that production was behind the scenes and how much of a disaster it could have been... a testament to all involved that it turned out so well at such a brutally accelerated schedule they were all working under at the time!

 

I found it silly, only moderately better than the chase in A View to A Kill. Overall, I like Goldeneye a lot though. A definite top 10 Bond movie for me. It's too bad that his talent would later be wasted on forgettable scripts and 90s action formula films.

 

I tend to rank the Bond films into 3 tiers: Great/Good, Middling, Poor

So, not including "unofficial" films (i.e. Casino Royale '67 and Never Say Never Again), here's my ranking of everything (I left out Spectre because I haven't seen it yet):

Great/good tier: Dr. No, From Russia With Love, Goldfinger, On Her Majesty's Secret Service, For Your Eyes Only, License To Kill, Goldeneye, Casino Royale

Middling tier: Thunderball, You Only Live Twice, Live and Let Die, The Spy Who Loved Me, Moonraker, Octopussy, The Living Daylights, Tomorrow Never Dies, Skyfall

Poor tier: Diamonds Are Forever, The Man With The Golden Gun, A View To A Kill, The World Is Not Enough, Die Another Day, Quantum of Solace