James Bond 007 film-by-film thread

Someone remarked on Bond already being old and tired in Skyfall, and that does illuminate why (IMO) they need to be more creative in picking their franchise actor. Whenever I see lists of actors in the running, they are usually middle aged. They need to look eight or ten years down the road and imagine what they will have then.

It's a shame they didn't get Roger Moore in there younger. Physically, he's a great Bond in his first film (and you can see it in him the years before that), but he really seemed to age rapidly. I've had the same feeling about Daniel Craig. Don't get me wrong -- these guys look great for their age, I just think the role would be better served by someone with a bit more physical youth.

Sean Connery was younger when he retired from Bond than Brosnan was when he started Bond, right? Would they put someone in there in their early thirties today?

 

Time for a good looking Bond for a change methinks.

 

If not ...

"I've never been offered that job"
Jason Statham was quoted at the premiere of The Meg about him being the new James Bond,

 

One of the reasons that Connery was a perfect fit was that even when he was young, he had the gravitas of an older man. Nobody ever looked at Sean Connery and said "Eh, he's just a kid." If I recall correctly, Roger Moore was actually a bit older than Connery, but at least in Live and Let Die, Moore looked younger than Connery did in Diamonds are Forever.

 

My response to SPECTRE at the time, as retrieved from old e-mail correspondence:

I really liked it, but yet it's not something I could come out of and say "You HAVE to see it!". It's very good in a very understated way, especially by Bond standards. I thought it was very well shot. It's very serious, but it's not dark. There are moments where, in a Roger Moore or Pierce Brosnan film, you just know they'd have dropped in a gag, but they don't here.
Now, it's far from perfect. I'm sick of them bringing in back story from his previous Bond outings. Some of the supporting cast are weak, there's a car chase that doesn't really involve anything beyond two cars driving really fast around Rome in the small hours of the morning. It's hardly The Bourne Supremacy. Or Ronin. But I preferred it to Skyfall, which I basically hated, though a lot of people thought it was great.
The much-hyped presence of Monica Bellucci as the "older woman" is absurd, 'cos she's barely in it, and it's an utterly thankless role anyway. I also cannot really take to Léa Seydoux 'cos I hated her character so much in Blue is the Warmest Colour. Seydoux also seems too young. ... [Goes off to check her age]... Okay, she's thirty and Craig is forty-seven. But she seems even younger.

This is quite interesting. I'd still stand by a lot of this, but it's nevertheless fair to say that since Skyfall and SPECTRE were first released, where - as is evident above - I saw Skyfall as very weak and SPECTRE as very strong, I've probably come to appreciate Skyfall more and, in tandem, see more issues with SPECTRE. However, despite its many flaws, I find SPECTRE more satisfying (or certainly less infuriating) than Skyfall, but this is all relative, since I don't like Skyfall as much as most people seem to.

The main issue (even more than the contrived Blofeld/Bond back story) is their stubborn continuation of the Casino Royale narrative. Bond finds a videotape of Vesper's interrogation. Photos of former villains are pinned to the walls of the ruined MI6 building. Blofeld says everything up to this point has been a grand conspiracy to lead Bond to him, despite the numerous close calls Bond has had throughout the previous three films (not least effectively flatlining in Casino Royale, which would have killed Blofeld's plot stone dead - literally - at the outset) and this one. Come on! Perhaps worst of all is Blofeld taking credit for the death of Bond's "beloved M", who - let's not forget - is only dead because a stray shot from a random henchman fatally injured her in Skyfall. Her death was effectively a fluke!

The pre-title sequence has an unnecessary caption card, atypical for the franchise, that serves no purpose. The opening action setpiece is too artificial in its style and execution. The idea of having thousands of people screaming and running back and forth throughout the square while the helicopter swoops and dives above them is utterly alien to a Bond film. The whole thing just looks fake.

The title song is hideous. I don't know what they were thinking in accepting it. And I find myself rolling my eyes at the reappearance of past characters in the title sequence. As I said in my Casino Royale comments, "Let it go, EON." I'm also fairly certain that - as with Quantum of Solace - when I first saw SPECTRE and Bond tracked down Mr. White, I was thinking, who's this guy again?

The car chase in Rome really is just two supercars, drifting around completely empty streets in the small hours of the morning; at times it's no more impressive than a well-filmed Top Gear TV report; and it ends with a whimper. Andrew Scott is appalling, constantly threatening to drift into Moriarty mode. The plane pursuing Madeleine's abductors is like something from a Brosnan film.

On the plus side, the fight on the train doesn't suffer from the rapid fire editing that marred Quantum of Solace, it's well shot (though the pre-title sequence looks too artificial for my liking, and Tangier never looked like that in The Living Daylights either) and I actually like Blofeld's lair and his rows of screen-watching minions. It's like something from a sixties Bond transposed to present day. The Craig/Seydoux pairing didn't jar as much on a recent viewing, I like Ralph Fiennes stepping up to the plate and I've no problem with Christoph Waltz: he's not to blame for concocting the Dr. Evil backstory.

Since the last two films are both problematic, I find it hard to explain why I prefer the latter entry. I cannot attribute it to the childhood nostalgia that places the much-maligned Moonraker high in my list of favourites. Maybe I just prefer Waltz to Bardem, maybe the ludicrous assassination plot is more problematic for me than any of the arguably equally nonsensical things in the follow-up. I put SPECTRE firmly in second place on Craig's Bond podium, behind Casino Royale.

 

Spectre gets a lot of criticism, but when it opened it was getting rave reviews and good worldwide box office. The reception took a downturn when it was released in the USA. I can see why there are complaints on this one, but it seems to me that a lot more is being made out of them this time, whereas Skyfall (with massive plot holes) gets a pass.

Sam Mendes' idea seems to be that as Bond has now been through the whole "Becoming Bond" process since Casino Royale, he can now reintroduce some of the traditional elements. A lot of the complaints at the time stemmed from these lighter moments not being welcomed. Perhaps this points to Craig not suiting light material, or just that the jokes in this Bond aren't as good as in alternative movies. Connery and Moore fluctuated between light and dark without it being such a problem.

Spectre starts well. The gunbarrel is back at the start, at last. I like that Thomas Newman has put some build up music over the logos before the gunbarrel too. A great touch. The PTS itself is a good one. I like that it has a slow build up ahead of the action. The street carnival is atmospheric. The helicopter fight is exciting enough.

Then we get the credits which are a bit odd. Craig is shirtless and octopi swirl around ejaculating ink. It's weird, but I don't mind weird. What I can't stand is a high pitched assault on my ears. What a rotten song. His voice to me is not a good one when he sings the verse, but the chorus (if that's what it is) is hideous. The song structure is feeble. Nice instrumental start. The verse sounds like a nursery rhyme. He's been here before, but always hit the floor. What? It builds up to one reasonable moment which feels like it is going to open up to something grand, but instead we get his falsetto. He is singing as Bond, and Bond just sounds like an emotional mess. Don't let the door smack you repeatedly on the back of your head on the way out Smudger.

M is cheesed off with Bond who has gone rogue again. I think he has a right to be. C is introduced as a stuffed shirt, bean counter guy. He is a transparent baddie, although he does seem like he is just a devious git rather than Blofeld's no 2, with his 9 Eyes computer surveillance sub-plot.

Monica Bellucci is beautiful, and wasted here. Lea Seydoux is a bit blank and soulless.

Bond crashes a Spectre meeting. It's an eerie take on the Thunderball meeting. No one gets electrocuted, but the threat is there. Lots of long pauses and some eye gauging. Bond escapes and we hit a bit of a bump. It is a stylish car chase. It looks fine. But all the threat built up at the meeting is lost. Tough guy Mr Hinx is a worry and Bond should be fleeing, but instead he gets on the phone to Moneypenny for a chat. I don't get it. Playing for laughs straight after a tense scene doesn't work.

There is an ok plane chase. It looks good but Bond seems to have gone a bit mad here and crashes into the car out of control. Luckily he doesn't kill our heroine.

Bond and Madeline go headlong into a meeting with Oberhauser. Bond often goes straight into such meetings with a baddie, and I like that when he meets him he just flat out says "I've come to kill you". Bond just about sees off Hinx in an excellent train fight before that. Oberhauser wears shoes with no socks. Clearly a bad guy. He has a high tech, Moonraker-style workplace with zombie-like workers. The drill in the head is quite scary.

The Bond/Blofeld personal back story doesn't offend me as much as it does some purists. It is however a bit of an overblown soap style story. The thing is, once it is announced they do hardly anything with it, so why bother.

Bond makes an escape from Blofeld's basecamp. Drilling the side of his head seems to have improved his shooting accuracy. It's a weird dream-like sequence. It concludes with the base exploding in a not that impressive (but hideously expensive) way. All a bit rushed as they try and steamroller on to the next climax.

Madeline gets kidnapped easily. Q stops the 9 Eyes countdown. Bond sets off after Blofeld and shoots his helicopter down easily. It's a pretty generic finale and Bond's last 20 minutes don't tax him much.

The score for Spectre is disappointing. I wasn't wild about Skyfall's soundtrack and this is more of the same, often literally. He adopts the same approach with little that is new or inventive. He takes a lot of Skyfall tracks and repeats them, or large parts of them. It's jarring at times. I don't hate the finale as much as many seem to. It's unneccesary (they could have wrapped things up at Blofeld's crater). But the one thing that is awful about it is the score. Thomas Newman takes that track from Skyfall "The Moors" and repeats it for 20 minutes solid. It's repetitive and torturous.

All in all Spectre does some things well, some things ok and makes a few mistakes. About the same as Skyfall in the league table.

 

Daniel Craig's Bond started good would like to see him go out with a kiss kiss, bang bang ..Bond 25 that is.

 

Prequel ... (Ala Better Call Saul ).
What about a back story to Eva Green's " Casino Royale "Versper Lynd's character made into a film, she was half the reason Casino Royale was so good.

 

I really enjoyed this. Very well written.

 

Well that's all the Bond movies done. But there are a few more movies featuring James Bond before we disappear into Bond spoofs and reimaginings.

Casino Royale 1954 is a tv episode from the series Climax Theatre. You can't really compare this up against any of the Bond movies as it is only 45 minutes long and was performed live. It is however well worth a look.

It follows the Fleming novel fairly faithfully. It skips Vesper and her ultimate decision. In fact Vesper and Mathis are combined into one character. Plus Felix Leiter becomes the English Clarence Leiter, and 007 becomes American card sharp Jimmy Bond. The torture scene has Le Chiffre pull out Bond's toenails. Other than that it is recognisably Casino Royale.

Peter Lorre is Le Chiffre and very good he is too. All the actors aquit themselves well. The tension and scope of the movie is decent considering the set and time restrictions.

If you do want to try it, it is on one of the DVDs of Casino Royale 1967 as an extra. If you check it out on Youtube there are two versions, one in better quality but with the end truncated, and one with an extra minute on the end but grainier.

I won't put it in the league table, as it doesn't seem fair, but it certainly wouldn't be down in the relegation zone if I were to try.

 

I found these mini-reviews I wrote in 2009. Some movies might have been watched at the time but I assume most were comments taken from memory.


Dr. No (1962)

Solid and entertaining if slightly creaky in places.


From Russia with Love (1963)

I used to find this to be very boring. I watched it again a few days ago and I liked the first half but found the second half went on too long.


Goldfinger (1964)

The gold plated Bond classic. Probably my favourite of the films.


Thunderball (1965)

It's a bit stop start, messy and all over the place. I think some interesting stuff is buried in the mess. One of my favourites of the series although it's very flawed.


You Only Live Twice (1967)

Great volcano set. The rest of it's a bit rubbish.


On Her Majesty's Secret Service (1969)

I have no idea how people can rate this so highly. A tiresome overlong film with a good ski chase scene. The film just doesn't work for me. And it feels badly made technically.


Diamonds Are Forever (1971)

One of my favourites and very enjoyable.


Live and Let Die (1973)

The best Roger Moore film. Has some of the best and most memorable set pieces of the entire series. One of my favourites.


The Man with the Golden Gun (1974)

A bit drab.


The Spy Who Loved Me (1977)

One of the most highly rated films in the series. I dislike it. I'm not sure why but I find it to be a bit boring.


Moonraker (1979)

Awful. A clunking conceptual mess and not well made either. Also poorly paced with a choppy feel to it. The worst film they made.


For Your Eyes Only (1981)

Really good. A minor film but enjoyable. The mountain top village set looked terribly fake when I watched it a few days ago.


Octopussy (1983)

I like it a lot but it has a curious ponderous quality to it, feels a bit like hard work for some reason. Maybe it's just too busy with too much going on.


Never Say Never Again (1983) Unofficial Thunderball remake

It's alright with some good stuff in it. If I remember right it cuts a lot of fat off the Thunderball story. Thunderball is probably the better film overall but I assume the remake improves upon a lot of things here and there.


A View to a Kill (1985)

It's a bit rubbish, but if you lower your standards and enjoy it for what it is then it's not too bad. One of the weakest movies though.


The Living Daylights (1987)

I've always rated Dalton much higher than most people. This is one of the best films in my opinion.


Licence to Kill (1989)

I like this a lot. Strangely brutal in a non-Bond way. I watched it recently and it felt like a six hour movie as it just seemed to go on and on. I enjoyed it though and I rate it as one of the best films.


GoldenEye (1995)

After Goldfinger this is my favourite Bond film. They just got everything right and it has some of the best action scenes. Also the N64 computer game means the sets are very memorable to me. Also by far the best directed film in the series.


Tomorrow Never Dies (1997)

A generic action movie with Bond in the lead role. Everything in GoldenEye felt right, nothing in this feels right. Tonally and visually it doesn't feel like Bond. I dislike it a lot.


The World Is Not Enough (1999)

The opening pre-credit sequence is the best they've made. This is one of my favourites but I can see why some people dislike it. The villains are a bit under-whelming though.


Die Another Day (2002)

Too sci-fi for me. The invisible car, the lasers etc. This rates down there with Moonraker as a dud. I was expecting Halle Berry to be annoying but she turned out to be the best thing in it as she has real charisma.


The Bourne Identity (2002)

A brilliant film and very refreshingly different from other actions films of the time. More French Connection than The Rock. I liked how simple and straightforward it was. It was nice to just see an action film that wasn't lit like a shampoo advert and edited with restraint.


The Bourne Supremacy (2004)

Bigger in scale than the first one and just as good.


Casino Royale (2006)

Daniel Craig channels Victor Meldrew in his performance as Bond. He's just a grumpy old man. The film is boring and the plot uncinematic. I really dislike this film. And in comparison to the Bourne films it looks dated and pointless. Also the product placement is way over the top (man opens a drawer to reveal a gun, except the gun is in the background of the close up and your eye is instead directed at the (now very dated) MP3 player in the foreground).


The Bourne Ultimatum (2007)

The plot kind of stepped back to be replaced with action for its own sake. It's still very good but a step down in quality from the first two.


Quantum of Solace (2008)

Badly edited fight scenes and banal plot. More Victor Meldrew as Bond. Non-ending anti-climax. Pretty poor but not terrible.


----------------------------------------


The Bourne Identity (2002)

An assassin with amnesia (Matt Damon) searches for information about his identity.

This was a massive breath of fresh air when it was released in 2002. In comparison to action movies of its time it was much less glossy, more intimate in scale, more realistic and felt more brutal. It was a big change to have big fight scenes between only two people or to have documentary-style visuals. It was so influential that pretty much every action film that followed used its style (would the rebooted James Bond film Casino Royale (2006) be how it is without Bourne?). Fifteen or sixteen years later with all its imitators that freshness has disappeared and it looks more generic than it once was. What has been left behind is a good story and some good action scenes. I can't say much more for it than that. It's a good film but it no longer feels revolutionary.

Good

 

Dr. No (1962)

Highlite : Sean Connery as James Bond ..Casino /Bond, James Bond scene,
Ursula Andress, bikini kill.


From Russia with Love (1963)

Highlites: Red Grant/ Bond train fight, Gypsy women fight.


Goldfinger (1964)

Bond golf scene replacing golfball, torture scene "No I expect you to die", Oddjob smile.


Thunderball (1965)

Jet pack scene.


You Only Live Twice (1967)

highlight: Barry score /Nancy Sinatra


On Her Majesty's Secret Service (1969)

Highlites: Best Bond score.
Romance with Bond. Tracy effective..used again in Casino Royale.


Diamonds Are Forever (1971)
Good score.


Live and Let Die (1973)

Inspired score from ex Beatle, gave the film class Roger Moore's best look in a Bond movie.

The Man with the Golden Gun (1974)

Bond gals save the film Maud Adams & Britt Eckland.

The Spy Who Loved Me (1977)

Highlight: opening ski chase Union Jack, disco score ala Bee Gees also welcome. Also Carly Simon tune.


For Your Eyes Only (1981)

Sheena Easton opening credits.


Never Say Never Again (1983)

Highlight: pre mini movie training scene, funny script, fight scene at the health spa.


A View to a Kill (1985)

Theme tune /Barry/ Duran Duran i suppose.


The Living Daylights (1987)

A-Ha / Barry soundtrack


Licence to Kill (1989)

Highlight : fight scene with Benico Del Torres.


Sorry Pierce love all your post non Bond movies, but not you as James Bond.

Casino Royale (2006)

Highlights: Daniel Craig as Bond, Eva Green as Vesper Lynd, opening credits-rock score, parkour action, best Bond villain Le Chiffre, brilliant ending.


Quantum of Solace (2008)

As viewed as a part 2 to Casino Royale it's not bad. Bond girl Olga Kurylenko best part of the film.

 

I’m quite sure that I’m the outlier here, but I genuinely like all of the Daniel Craig films, to various degrees.

Casino Royale is an epic film. It generally stays true to the original Fleming novel, and it brings in a load of great, modern cinematic indulgences. It’s a brilliant film that is quite enjoyable to watch. One of the best Bonds, rivaling the original three.

I realize that Quantum Of Solace isn’t a fave amongst many Bond affectionados, but I found it to be a fairly decent film. For many years I actually assumed that it was meant to be a part of the Casino Royale story, a kind of epilogue, written for, or during the production, of the initial film. But I've since learned that it was written completely from scratch afterward. The film is relatively short, the plot fairly straightforward, but it moves along at a decent pace. I suppose its weakness is an underachieving story; not enough of a spark to carry it through to the end. Yet, I still enjoyed it. Kinda in the middle of the pack.

Skyfall is another one that I really like. It's different, not the typical storyline of Bond on assignment. I enjoyed the plot and the action, regardless of a few particular quirks. And in a way it freshens up the cast of characters, moving the franchise forward. Solidly in the upper tier for me.

I'm still not sure how to interpret Spectre. I don't think it's a bad film by any stretch, but in some ways I just find the storyline a bit peculiar. The Blofeld character doesn't seem right to me in this context. He seems more deranged than sinister. And the plot seem overly complicated, tying the stories of the previous films together in an awkward way. The action sequences are quite good, and it's an enjoyable film to watch, but by the end I wasn't quite sure what to make of the whole experience. Maybe the next Bond film will expand on this one. The potential is there, but I wonder if it'll just make it worse. Again, middle of the pack, and could go in either direction from there.

 

I just read Danny Boyle has resigned as the director of this ''episode''. Never a good sign, I think....
Time for a re-boot of the series? An older Bond; more spying and suspense, less action and explosions?

 

Well, we all have opinions, but the the 3 above in a row are astounding to me. Regarding Live and Let Die, I get it has fans, but it's interesting to see it commented as the best when he also did The Spy Who Loved Me which offered a lot of the great things in Bond films and did it very well.

 

Sticking with James Bond one last time, and we have Casino Royale 1967. It is a spoof of Bond and spy movies, and a madcap 60s comedy.

The producer held the rights to the novel but instead of going down the Thunderball / Never Say Never Again route of trying to make a Bond movie to compete with the official series, he instead opted for a farce. I don't much enjoy those zany 60s comedies where anything goes. Something like What's New Pussycat seems dated to me, and the jokes don't appeal.

He also decided to use 5 (it's probably 7 or 8) directors to film scenes which are all stitched together at the end. There isn't much sense to it. This situation was made worse by Peter Sellers. Part way through the movie he disappears (with no explanation) because part way through making the movie he disappeared (because he was fired) because every point during shooting he disappeared (for any reason). David Niven steps in and the movie jolts from one story to another.

Niven is Sir James Bond, who is in retirement. MI6 recruit other agents to fill in as 007, including Sellers who is a card expert that they are going to use to face Le Chiffre at Casino Royale. Sellers insisted on this ruse. He couldn't be Bond, but he could be an everyman pretending to be Bond. Odd choice as he comes across on screen as quite suave and could have been ok as Bond if he wanted. Well a Roger Moore style Bond maybe.

With Sellers gone Sir James returns. There is a flying saucer, Orson Welles does magic tricks, Sellers dresses up as Napoleon, James Bond has a daughter with Mata Hari, Woody Allen is James Bond and a baddie at the same time, everyone is 007 even a seal, cowboys and indians parachute into the final battle. Typical Bond fare.

So it makes no real sense. It doesn't fit together, with parts being unrelated to each other. Most of the parts are unfunny. I wasn't even sure at times if they were trying to be funny. There are chunks of story missing, but they just blindly move on anyway. I can't recommend it.

But it isn't all a disaster. Sellers is ok briefly as Bond enters Casino Royale. Niven always tries hard. If you like screwball 60s mayhem you might like some of this. If you like early Woody Allen (you know the funny stuff) there are a few funny quips here. Plus the score is fantastic. Burt Bacharach produces a classic 60s soundtrack. The title song is a zippy instrumental. The Look Of Love is a beautiful ballad wasted here. Mata Bond's Indian dance, MI6 meeting Bond, Moneypenny selecting a new Bond, flying saucer, Bond attacked by milk float are all great tracks. Super stuff.

This is why I like Casino Royale 1967, because when I think of the Bond league table I don't have to worry about which one is going to be last.
Where are we - Rock Bottom, tragedies we got 'em.

 

I deleted this from my 2009 run-through but you may find it interesting:

Casino Royale (1967) Peter Sellers etc. comedy

I've only ever seen bits and pieces of it. Seems to be pretty bad but I laughed really loudly at the arrangements for the auction (the Russian's will stand to bid, the American's will sit and the British will sort of hang around and do a bit of both).




The Bourne Supremacy (2004)

The assassin with amnesia (Matt Damon) is framed for a crime in Berlin.

Bigger in scale than the first one with a more thrilling story (Bourne is as much the hunter as the hunted). It's a notch up from the first film.

Very good



The Bourne Ultimatum (2007)

The assassin with amnesia (Matt Damon) becomes implicated in a conspiracy.

The plot of this one suffers from being about a vague CIA secrets MacGuffin. The thing that sets the story in motion and what everyone cares about is much weaker than the motivating factors in the previous movies. The film suffers from this as it means a lot of the action feels like busy work as you're not quite sure why people are chasing him with such intensity. It just gives the story an air of poorly thought out vagueness - a film made for the box office, not because they had a great story they needed to tell. The action is good and the film works so it's not a big issue but it does make it weaker than the previous movies. The ending was not so much anti-climactic as just a bit disappointing. It is a good movie.

Good

 

Thanks to the OP for starting this very interesting thread. It inspired me to purchase the 25 box. ($80 Amazon). It arrived yesterday. I'm going to watch them all in order, including the commentary tracks. I expect I will be at it for months.

It will also allow me to view the only two Bond films I have never seen: The Man With The Golden Gun & Moonraker.

 

Wasn't sure whether to start a separate thread, but The Guardian is ruffling some feathers with their last-to-first rankings of the Bond films (incl non-canon) here:

James Bond on film – ranked!

Must. Not. Get. Furious....

 

What was that reviewer smoking.

 

Oh....My....God....

Worst...Ranking...Ever...

 

Honestly, I hope you like The Man With The Golden Gun. I would say that it’s a fairly decent, enjoyable film. On the other hand, Moonraker is pretty dodgy. YMMV.

 

Whenever you see someone else’s Bond rankings there’s always a few placings that seem crazy. That’s the beauty of a long running series that has shifted style and tone a few times.

 

You Only Live Twice?
Apart from the theme music it's my least preferred Sean Connery Bond movie.

 

Well at least they didn't rate From Russia With Love dead last.