Rewatching Bond films

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

Agreed. Yet somehow View to A Kill and the Reflex were the only Duran Duran singles to hit #1 in the US ??? And this is the only Bond song to hit #1 in the US . But chart position rarley equates to quality.

That's super-weird. I wouldn't ever have picked either of those two to be their number one hits ahead of stuff like Hungry Like the Wolf or Rio, which I think are pretty much universally beloved.

 

[Morrus]

Agreed. Yet somehow View to A Kill and the Reflex were the only Duran Duran singles to hit #1 in the US ??? And this is the only Bond song to hit #1 in the US . But chart position rarley equates to quality.

Or, indeed, 'in the US'.

Lots of really excellent music comes out of the UK which doesn't cross the pond.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

Or, indeed, 'in the US'.

Lots of really excellent music comes out of the UK which doesn't cross the pond.

Don't turn this into a Better Man thread! This is about Bond!

 

[Morrus]

Don't turn this into a Better Man thread! This is about Bond!

My wife may be a Take That fan, but I assure you that I am not!

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

Being real though there an awful lot of banger themes songs for Bond,

Trüe Wørdz.

But…

There’s LOTS of good music in the franchise- enough that I’ve bought most of the soundtracks and the 30th anniversary collection. Hell- some of the tracks that weren’t used were at least as good as those that were.

 

[jian]

Soooo... The Spy Who Loved Me.

Apparently it's considered one of the best. I can't see why. It's a straight-up comedy. There's no tension or suspense as Moore woodenly deadpans his way through it. The only saving grace is the car chase with the submersible Lotus Esprit. Barbara Bach as Bond's Russian counterpart is as flat as Moore. The main villain is Blofeld-lite but lacks the menace.

The pre-credic ski/parachute stunt though is the Moore era's finest single moment. Everybody remembers that scene as he skis off the cliff and the Union Jack parachute opens up.

And Jaws? OK, I'll give them that he's a fun villain. But he's not scary. He's a buffoonish henchman. When they're in the van and Jaws is hanging on to it while Bach is trying to start the engine and Jaws is pulling the van apart, Moore just sits there unconcerned, quipping away. It's just not tense and Jaws feels like a joke not a threat. And at the end when he gets his teeth caught by the magnet (that director used a similar magnet in You Only Live Twice... guess he really likes giant magnets?) then gets dropped into the water and wrestles a shark to death... because he's Jaws! Yay! I get it!

As for the plot. What plot? Why did the villain want to start a nuclear war so everybody had to live underwater? Why? More than most this is just a tenuous one-line of connective tissue leading from each location to the next.

Moore started off so well with Live & let Die. He's been pretty dire since. Another film riding a wave. We've had blaxploitation, then kung-fu movies, now Jaws. Star Wars, in the form of Moonraker is next, and my memories of that aren't favourable either. Guess we'll find out!

Bond Rating -- 003 (car chase and comedy henchman, plus the Moore era's finest opening stunt rescue it from a 002).

I think TSWLM deserves 004-5 personally - the Union Jack ski sequence is amazing, as cinematic Bond as anything put to film, while Nobody Does It Better makes it absolutely chef’s kiss. If they were giving Oscars for vibes that sequence is the all-time winner.

Jaws is also absolutely classic - he’s supposed to be menacing but incompetent, we don’t actually want to see him bite Bond in half.

The plot is solidly meh, I admit.

 

[jian]

Not yet covered but for my money the other perfect cinematic Bond scene is Tomorrow Never Dies, as Bond goes from observing an illegal arms deal to stealing a bomber loaded with nukes.

Geoffrey Palmer: What is that idiot doing?

Judi Dench (furious stare): HIS JOB.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

Not yet covered but for my money the other perfect cinematic Bond scene is Tomorrow Never Dies, as Bond goes from observing an illegal arms deal to stealing a bomber loaded with nukes.

Geoffrey Palmer: What is that idiot doing?

Judi Dench (furious stare): HIS JOB.

Literally the only thing that could make Slow Horses better is if Judi Dench was somehow also in it.

 

[Zardnaar]

Did a rewatch few years ago.

Alot of the More Bonds not so great. I liked Thunderball a lot and Her Majesty's Secret service.

Moores bond films liw side of average generally. 3 were decent.

There's 2 bond films that are a bit of a struggle now. 1s really boring (2nd Daniel Craig one iirc and the last Pierce Brosnan one.

 

[Morrus]

Jaws is also absolutely classic - he’s supposed to be menacing but incompetent, we don’t actually want to see him bite Bond in half.

He’s not menacing, though. He’s Wile E Coyote.

And even more so in the next film, with him flapping his arms and trying to fly. But I’ll get to the next movie!