On Saturday August 11th, I watched:
THUNDERBALL (1965)
Directed by Terence Young
The first Bond movie to be shot in scope
After watching this one again, I liked it considerably more than I did when I saw it years ago. It has a cool story along with cool villains and cool locations. It also features a ton of stuff that several filmmakers have taken from this film (such as Austin Powers and The Dark Knight). The final big battle, which is completely shot under water, is amazing. You wouldn't see that now in movies, just a bunch of pussies fighting against a green screen. The stuntmen in this one go all out in the sequence. The Bond girls are bueno too. A must see hard Bond flick.
On Sunday, August 12th I watched
LICENCE TO KILL (1989)
Directed by John Glen
Scope
I like Roger Moore but most of his Bond films seemed campy compared to Dalton, Craig, and Connery, in my opinion, they are the three hardest Bonds. Only two of Moore's were Bond Hard; For Your Eyes Only and Octopussy. Those two films showed that Moore's Bond did have a dark edge while the others just tended to make Bond silly. I still like them but Bond is a fucked up dark hard guy which I didn't realize until I was older. With that being said, Licence to Kill follows 007 as he goes rogue from the British Secret Service to exact revenge on Franz Sanchez, played outrageously by Robert Davi, in another hard role. While it is not the best Bond film ever, it does have hard Bond scenes that show Dalton was slowly getting the character down. Too bad this was his second and final film as Bond. Look out for some hard Benecio action too.
THE SPY WHO LOVED ME (1977)
Directed by Lewis Gilbert
Scope
This was the first Bond film I ever saw and I thought it was so cool back then but watching it now the film definitely shows that it has not aged well. There are some cool stunts but overall the movie's story line is weak, not to mention the script in general. It is not the worst Bond film but it is not the best either. This is the first of the series to feature the henchman Jaws played by Happy Gilmore's boss.
DIE ANOTHER DAY (2002)
Directed by Lee Tamahori
Scope
I honestly feel like Pierce Brosnan got the short end of the stick even though he was in more Bond films than Dalton and Lazenby. He was a cool Bond but the films had some of the dumbest story lines and some of the worst dialogue ever written. Brosnan is hard but without the hardness that comes with Bond, it also makes him a tad weak. It seems like the producers gave up beginning with Tomorrow Never Dies and went downhill from there before they re-invented the series and brought in the hardest Bond ever. With that being said, this is probably the worst Bond film to date. Halle Berry is horrible, the bad guys are weak and smug, and the other Bond girl is boring and stuck up. The title song by Madonna has to be one of the worst recorded songs in history. It is awful. All of the stunts are boring, the green screen is quite possibly the worst I have ever seen in a movie. The gadgets are dumb too.
 |
| Too smug |
A VIEW TO A KILL (1985)
Directed by John Glen
Scope
Again, here we have one of the weaker Bond films and a lame storyline but the villain makes up for it just because it is Walken and he's hard as fuck. His insanity takes a shit script and makes the movie more enjoyable. This is Moore's last one as 007 and at least it wasn't the worst of his films. There is a great action sequence that takes place on the Eiffel Tower and on the city streets below but otherwise the film has bland one-liners and characters and tends to take to long to set up. It seems the more elaborate the Bond movie, the weaker they can get (see Die Another Day, The Spy Who Loved Me, and this one). Walken though holds his weight and Grace Jones as May Day is hard plus watch for a cameo from her hard boyfriend at the time, Dolph Hard Lundgren.
Moliere out!
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