Rewatching Bond films

[Morrus]

I’ve been working my way through from the start. I’ve just finished Golden Gun. Next up is The Spy Who Loved Me.

007 ratings so far (007 is max Bond; these are only relative to each other, not films in general).

004 is average so anything under that is a bad Bond film, everything over is a good Bond film.

Based solely on how much fun they were; yes I know some of them have problematic issues, especially YOLT and LALD (ironically the two most fun films on the list).

• Dr No 004 (classic moments - 'Bond, James Bond', shooting the guy who came to assassinate him, let down by dated rear-projection chases and a weak villain)
• From Russia With Love 005 (a great thriller, gritty, goes on a bit long)
• Goldfinger 005 (a classic, let down only by Bond spending half the film captured doing nothing)
• Thunderball 001 (a snooze-fest)
• You Only Live Twice 006 (trope-tastic! Ninjas, volcano lair, gadgets, Blofeld, so much fun)
• On Her Majesty’s Secret Service 003 (I just always found this one a bit tedious)
• Diamonds Are Forever 001 (was Connery asleep?)
• Live and Let Die 006 (Moore's best, and a lot of fun)
• Man With The Golden Gun 002 (narrowly escaping 001 just because of that one car stunt across the twisty bridge)

Updates as I go:

• The Spy Who Loved Me 003 (best opening stunt ever!)
• Moonraker 004 (the exact same film again but in space not the sea; surprisingly not as bad as I remember!)
• For Your Eyes Only 005 (comedy dialled right back, this is a much more serious film)
• Octopussy 004 (nothing too bad about it, solidly average)
• Never Say Never Again 005 (surprisingly good and Connery is refreshing after years of Moore slapstick)

 

[TiQuinn]

Wow, so why Thunderball so low for you?

 

[Morrus]

Going directly from Connery to Moore is a heck of a culture shock, by the way!

 

[Morrus]

Wow, so why Thunderball so low for you?

I found it boring. The worst crime for a Bond flick. And underwater scenes are so slow.

 

[TerraDave]

Thunderball a 001, jumping to a 006 for You only live twice? You will have to have negative 00s with this kind of scaling.

Spy Who Loved Me might still get to 007. So very very Bond.

Edit and ninjaed…but now I know why you liked you only twice so much.

 

[Morrus]

Thunderball a 001, jumping to a 006 for You only live twice? You will have to have negative 00s with this kind of scaling.

Nah. I really didn't enjoy Thunderball. And YOLT was peak Bond with volcano lairs, ninjas, all sorts of stuff--I wasn't bored for a second. That film is clearly what most inspired Austin Powers.

 

[Ruin Explorer]

That film is clearly what most inspired Austin Powers.

That is probably true yes.

Agree that Thunderball is weak as hell, though I'd rate The Man With The Golden Gun a bit better, and Diamonds Are Forever is surely more than 1 for the theme song and Mr Wint and Mr Kidd alone!

 

[TiQuinn]

That is probably true yes.

Agree that Thunderball is weak as hell, though I'd rate The Man With The Golden Gun a lot better, and Diamonds Are Forever is surely more than 1 for the theme song and Mr Wint and Mr Kidd alone!

Diamonds are Forever didn’t even feel like a Bond film to me until the very end where they suddenly throw a laser gun satellite into the mix.

 

[Morrus]

Diamonds are Forever didn’t even feel like a Bond film to me until the very end where they suddenly throw a laser gun satellite into the mix.

Plus Worst. Blofeld. Ever.

And Sean Connery bored out of his mind. Interesting fact—they persuaded him to come back for this one film after Lazenby and he gave his entire fee to charity.

 

[Morrus]

I’d forgotten how wooden Moore is. Both in acting and in motion. He moves in action scenes like a wooden mannequin!