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Hedfix's Top 20 James Bond Movies
Ever since I was a kid I've watched Bond movies. Most days, when I was about 7, I used to watch half a movie before going to school and then watch the other half when I got back. I used to tape them off ITV back when ITV used to be reasonably watchable with a Bond movie every saturday and good ol' Sea Quest DSV and The A-Team.
I really liked Bond movies back then and I still have a fondness for them now (I bought the VHS film set when I was at uni and they kept me nice and sane despite being surrounded by Christian nutjobs who'd get up every morning at about 7am and play the LA's 'there she goes' over and over until about lunchtime but I digress).
So looking through a film mag I found a list of the top 20 official Bond Movies as 'apparently' voted for by their readers. I thought the list sucked, I thought it really sucked. So my mate challenged me to make my own list of the top 20, so I did...
So I present to you the Hedfix's top 20 Bond movies list, this only includes the official ones so those looking for the original Casino Royal and Never Say Never Again will not find them. I'm also going to include a few points as to why I think they're great or why I think they're below par so if you've not seen any then consider this a *spoilers* warning. Also for interests sake I'm going to include the magazine polls rating in brackets too.
So from worst to best:
20 Die Another Day (18)
Well, where to start? first of all: INVISIBLE CAR! This is bad on so many levels, first of all it's an incredibly cheap idea. It smacks of desperation and it's the sort of thing that must be in the scriptwriter's handbook under NEVER DO THIS. Why would you start introducing invisible things into a long running series of movies? Hell next movie why not give Bond an invisibility suit? Or an invisible gun? Once you've opened that door it's very difficult to close it again. Very Bad, very shortsighted and very very stupid.
Ok next up: The CGI stunt. It looked terrible and they simply should have cut it or approached it in another way. If the invisible car didn't ruin any movie immersion then this certainly did. Shoddy.
(The only way to have an invisible car would be if Bond stole it and they didn't know how it worked and it was destroyed before they could findout how the invisibilty bit of it worked - the downfall is: it would still be a really really rubbish idea).
19 The World is not Enough (15)
Under-use of the main villain, set ski-ing pieces that have been around since OHMSS (and were done better then) and a plot-twist involving stockholm syndrome that Stevie Wonder could have spotted as soon as M mentioned the fact that someone had been kidnapped.
18 Tomorrow Never Dies (11)
Essentially yet another re-make of Thunderball. Rubbish bad guy, rubbish Rupert Murdock joke at the end and stunts that we'd already seen in other movies. How tiresome was the 'I'll give you air underwater so you don't die' bit? How many movies has that been used in? Answer: too many. Bond is supposed to push the boundaries and not start using the worst action movie cliches that it can get it's hands on.
17 Live and Let Die (8)
Admittedly Moore's first Bond movie so the shakey start is forgiveable, like the movies below it it's not that bad and it's still very very watchable but it is incredibly cheesy and really stumbles into Huggie Bear pimp territory at points. The Tarot theme is rubbish, the little heads with darts are tacky and the way the main bad guy inflates and explodes at the end is laughable and extremely unconvincing. The hook guy (Tee Hee) is good and the ending on the train is decent. It's very much a campy re-tread of Doctor No, with the lab and processions bumping people off.
16 Octopussy (17)
More campness but a little bit more gritty thanks to the bomb and the rather nasty beginning where a spy is hunted down and killed. It's interesting territory and there are some very nice stunts but ultimately it's still all a little bit too silly when it comes down to it. Not bad.
15 OHMSS (10)
The best fist fights of any Bond movie and now we're moving into the area where it's getting a bit more difficult to find things to seperate the movies and rate them. This suffers from a bit of 'Russia With Love' synodrome where there's a little too much romance and not enough action. What there is is good though but it definitely deserves to be below the others that are coming up.
14 Thunderball (9)
Controvercially low no-doubt but it's all just a little too watery really. While the underwater fights might have been technically interesting they're not all that great to watch and a good fist fight or gun battle is better than an underwater fight with harpoons anyday.
13 Moonraker (19)
Bond in space, poison plants and the re-population of the earth. It's all going a bit Gene Roddenberry! As it is it's a fine effort and Bond manages to do Sci-Fi rather well. A particularly note worthy scene is when the woman is chased down by dogs which proves to be really rather shocking and somewhat disturbing, well more-so than any Hammer Horror of the time anyway. Nicely done.
12 Licence to Kill (12)
Dalton saves what seems to have been some-sort of Jean-Claude Van-damme movie script brough back from 'de futurah'. It's all a bit too Tom Clancy/Die Hard and not really Bond. Perhpas it would've worked better if the main villain wasn't a drug baron and if the movie wasn't trying to hard to appeal to the american appetite for mediocre action movies. Considering the script and the backround the movie is set against Dalton does a damn good job of making it enjoyable. Shame it's all a little too 'by the numbers'. This seems to have become a template for a lot of Segal and Van-Damme movies (Segal probably owes most of his career to the bar fight found in this movie).
11 You Only Live Twice (2)
Definitely controvercial! This loses out to the others scored above it because it's all just a little too silly. I'm prepared to put up with a fair bit of sillyness (2CV chase? Wahey!) in the Bond movies but this takes the biscuit with the prostetic oriental eyebrows. The big volcano battle could've been a lot better too.
Ninjas are cool though, should've had even more Ninjas.
10 For Your Eyes Only (14)
Moore's grittiest movie, great stuff. Love the 2CV chase, love the bit where the guy gets crossbowed and falls off the cliff and the underwater rope tug bit is great too. Just not quite as good as the ones above it though.
9 The Spy who Loved Me (3)
Once again great stuff. Jaws is a great character and provides some very decent fights. The fight on the Stromberg 1 or whatever it's called is great and of course there's the all important pre-titles ski-parachute stunt which has gone down in movie history. So what makes this lose out to the ones above it? Stromberg! He's a bit rubbish really, he's just a grumbling re-tread of Goldfinger, nice underwater base though.
8 From Russia With Love (3)
Not a movie for the kids. For them it'll be boring, all I wanted as a kid was for Bond to meet up with the bad guy who's shown at the beginning of the movie and have a big fight. It does happen but it takes AGES. In-between that there's gypsy fights and stuff going on in sewers and all manner of things but it's all a little too Hitchcock and not very action/Bond-like. That said: I enjoy it a lot more now than when I was a kid.
7 Dr No (7)
Ah, the beginning! Not bad but let's face it - the dragon's a bit rubbish, the guy playing Dr No is a lump of wood and the movie lacks the confidence of the later ones that knew they had a hit on their hands. Aside from the shakeyness there's a lot to like, the tarantula, the car chase and crash... Hmmmm it's ok and gets bonus points for being the original.
6 Goldeneye (4)
Re-launch! And what a re-launch. I was at the premiere here and the pre-titles sequence got a standing ovation at the time. They worked out how to get the Russians back in as the bad guys and the movie is basically a string of good action sequences. But it's these action sequences that drag it down from the top 5, because ultimately that's all it really is: a very very good action movie.
5 View to a Kill (20)
Roger Moore's best Bond movie. Greatness. Inspired. Shocking. Grace Jones! The inspired casting of Walken as Zorin is brilliant, the mine sequence is pretty shocking and there's some great sequences (including the fire truck and the final battle on the Golden Gate Bridge).
Genius.
4 Goldfinger (1)
Well this is a classic and Goldfinger is held to be the ultimate Bond villain, but not by me (he is damn good though). This is great because there's a real method behind Goldfinger's madness and the plot of going after Fort Knox is well thought-out. It's all believeable too whilst maintaining all the things that make Bond Bond.
3 Diamonds are Forever (6)
The highest Connery Bond movie in my list. This is a great return for Connery and highly enjoyable throughout, there's brilliant use of comedy (the fight with the gymnasts, the moon buggy escape, the rat in the pipeline) good characterisation (Mr Kidd and Mr Wint are creepy) and good stunts (Police chase and alley stunt). Shame that curly-haired bint in the bikini has to ruin it, she's rubbish.
2 The Man with the Golden Gun (13)
'Hang on a minute?' you ask. You already said View To A kill was Moore's best Bond movie, well for his performance it is but this is better because Christoper Lee is 'The Man'. Forget your Samuel L. Jacksons and Clooneys, Lee's performance in this movie puts all their strutting to shame! Aside from the rather excellent character of Scaramanga, there's Nik-Nak and Scaramanga's island, fights with sumo wrestlers, martial arts action, boat chases and assassinations. and despite all the over-the-top-ness and big swirly walls you don't stop and say 'nah, this is really really silly' you go with it - and it's great (Shame about Goodnight though).
1 The Living Daylights (16)
Best plot. Best car. Best Bond.
What's it missing? Well a huge cliched bad guy, but nevermind the arms dealer will have to do, anyway. Here we see the Bond series trying to be clever and getting away with it magnificently. "Ah well you thought he was good but no, he's bad. Oh and the bad guy? No he's good. And oh hang on THIS guy was pulling the strings all along!" Greatness.
Anyway beyond that we have a car that shoots rockets, has lasers and a rocket boost thingy at the back and yet is actually believeable. Infact that's what sets The Living Daylights above every other Bond because it manages to be completely believeable all the way through and yet be very cool and interesting with it at the same time. It's a great balancing act and the movie gets away with it thanks to Dalton's 'back to basics' portrayal of Bond.
Aside from ageing a little bit over time (a bit of obvious blue screen near the start) there's very little to fault it and forget that because Dalton did most of his own stunts (except the one where they hang on the netting from the back of the plane - he wasn't THAT mad).
Oh and the pre-titles Gibraltar chase? 'Nuff said.
Ever since I was a kid I've watched Bond movies. Most days, when I was about 7, I used to watch half a movie before going to school and then watch the other half when I got back. I used to tape them off ITV back when ITV used to be reasonably watchable with a Bond movie every saturday and good ol' Sea Quest DSV and The A-Team.
I really liked Bond movies back then and I still have a fondness for them now (I bought the VHS film set when I was at uni and they kept me nice and sane despite being surrounded by Christian nutjobs who'd get up every morning at about 7am and play the LA's 'there she goes' over and over until about lunchtime but I digress).
So looking through a film mag I found a list of the top 20 official Bond Movies as 'apparently' voted for by their readers. I thought the list sucked, I thought it really sucked. So my mate challenged me to make my own list of the top 20, so I did...
So I present to you the Hedfix's top 20 Bond movies list, this only includes the official ones so those looking for the original Casino Royal and Never Say Never Again will not find them. I'm also going to include a few points as to why I think they're great or why I think they're below par so if you've not seen any then consider this a *spoilers* warning. Also for interests sake I'm going to include the magazine polls rating in brackets too.
So from worst to best:
20 Die Another Day (18)
Well, where to start? first of all: INVISIBLE CAR! This is bad on so many levels, first of all it's an incredibly cheap idea. It smacks of desperation and it's the sort of thing that must be in the scriptwriter's handbook under NEVER DO THIS. Why would you start introducing invisible things into a long running series of movies? Hell next movie why not give Bond an invisibility suit? Or an invisible gun? Once you've opened that door it's very difficult to close it again. Very Bad, very shortsighted and very very stupid.
Ok next up: The CGI stunt. It looked terrible and they simply should have cut it or approached it in another way. If the invisible car didn't ruin any movie immersion then this certainly did. Shoddy.
(The only way to have an invisible car would be if Bond stole it and they didn't know how it worked and it was destroyed before they could findout how the invisibilty bit of it worked - the downfall is: it would still be a really really rubbish idea).
19 The World is not Enough (15)
Under-use of the main villain, set ski-ing pieces that have been around since OHMSS (and were done better then) and a plot-twist involving stockholm syndrome that Stevie Wonder could have spotted as soon as M mentioned the fact that someone had been kidnapped.
18 Tomorrow Never Dies (11)
Essentially yet another re-make of Thunderball. Rubbish bad guy, rubbish Rupert Murdock joke at the end and stunts that we'd already seen in other movies. How tiresome was the 'I'll give you air underwater so you don't die' bit? How many movies has that been used in? Answer: too many. Bond is supposed to push the boundaries and not start using the worst action movie cliches that it can get it's hands on.
17 Live and Let Die (8)
Admittedly Moore's first Bond movie so the shakey start is forgiveable, like the movies below it it's not that bad and it's still very very watchable but it is incredibly cheesy and really stumbles into Huggie Bear pimp territory at points. The Tarot theme is rubbish, the little heads with darts are tacky and the way the main bad guy inflates and explodes at the end is laughable and extremely unconvincing. The hook guy (Tee Hee) is good and the ending on the train is decent. It's very much a campy re-tread of Doctor No, with the lab and processions bumping people off.
16 Octopussy (17)
More campness but a little bit more gritty thanks to the bomb and the rather nasty beginning where a spy is hunted down and killed. It's interesting territory and there are some very nice stunts but ultimately it's still all a little bit too silly when it comes down to it. Not bad.
15 OHMSS (10)
The best fist fights of any Bond movie and now we're moving into the area where it's getting a bit more difficult to find things to seperate the movies and rate them. This suffers from a bit of 'Russia With Love' synodrome where there's a little too much romance and not enough action. What there is is good though but it definitely deserves to be below the others that are coming up.
14 Thunderball (9)
Controvercially low no-doubt but it's all just a little too watery really. While the underwater fights might have been technically interesting they're not all that great to watch and a good fist fight or gun battle is better than an underwater fight with harpoons anyday.
13 Moonraker (19)
Bond in space, poison plants and the re-population of the earth. It's all going a bit Gene Roddenberry! As it is it's a fine effort and Bond manages to do Sci-Fi rather well. A particularly note worthy scene is when the woman is chased down by dogs which proves to be really rather shocking and somewhat disturbing, well more-so than any Hammer Horror of the time anyway. Nicely done.
12 Licence to Kill (12)
Dalton saves what seems to have been some-sort of Jean-Claude Van-damme movie script brough back from 'de futurah'. It's all a bit too Tom Clancy/Die Hard and not really Bond. Perhpas it would've worked better if the main villain wasn't a drug baron and if the movie wasn't trying to hard to appeal to the american appetite for mediocre action movies. Considering the script and the backround the movie is set against Dalton does a damn good job of making it enjoyable. Shame it's all a little too 'by the numbers'. This seems to have become a template for a lot of Segal and Van-Damme movies (Segal probably owes most of his career to the bar fight found in this movie).
11 You Only Live Twice (2)
Definitely controvercial! This loses out to the others scored above it because it's all just a little too silly. I'm prepared to put up with a fair bit of sillyness (2CV chase? Wahey!) in the Bond movies but this takes the biscuit with the prostetic oriental eyebrows. The big volcano battle could've been a lot better too.
Ninjas are cool though, should've had even more Ninjas.
10 For Your Eyes Only (14)
Moore's grittiest movie, great stuff. Love the 2CV chase, love the bit where the guy gets crossbowed and falls off the cliff and the underwater rope tug bit is great too. Just not quite as good as the ones above it though.
9 The Spy who Loved Me (3)
Once again great stuff. Jaws is a great character and provides some very decent fights. The fight on the Stromberg 1 or whatever it's called is great and of course there's the all important pre-titles ski-parachute stunt which has gone down in movie history. So what makes this lose out to the ones above it? Stromberg! He's a bit rubbish really, he's just a grumbling re-tread of Goldfinger, nice underwater base though.
8 From Russia With Love (3)
Not a movie for the kids. For them it'll be boring, all I wanted as a kid was for Bond to meet up with the bad guy who's shown at the beginning of the movie and have a big fight. It does happen but it takes AGES. In-between that there's gypsy fights and stuff going on in sewers and all manner of things but it's all a little too Hitchcock and not very action/Bond-like. That said: I enjoy it a lot more now than when I was a kid.
7 Dr No (7)
Ah, the beginning! Not bad but let's face it - the dragon's a bit rubbish, the guy playing Dr No is a lump of wood and the movie lacks the confidence of the later ones that knew they had a hit on their hands. Aside from the shakeyness there's a lot to like, the tarantula, the car chase and crash... Hmmmm it's ok and gets bonus points for being the original.
6 Goldeneye (4)
Re-launch! And what a re-launch. I was at the premiere here and the pre-titles sequence got a standing ovation at the time. They worked out how to get the Russians back in as the bad guys and the movie is basically a string of good action sequences. But it's these action sequences that drag it down from the top 5, because ultimately that's all it really is: a very very good action movie.
5 View to a Kill (20)
Roger Moore's best Bond movie. Greatness. Inspired. Shocking. Grace Jones! The inspired casting of Walken as Zorin is brilliant, the mine sequence is pretty shocking and there's some great sequences (including the fire truck and the final battle on the Golden Gate Bridge).
Genius.
4 Goldfinger (1)
Well this is a classic and Goldfinger is held to be the ultimate Bond villain, but not by me (he is damn good though). This is great because there's a real method behind Goldfinger's madness and the plot of going after Fort Knox is well thought-out. It's all believeable too whilst maintaining all the things that make Bond Bond.
3 Diamonds are Forever (6)
The highest Connery Bond movie in my list. This is a great return for Connery and highly enjoyable throughout, there's brilliant use of comedy (the fight with the gymnasts, the moon buggy escape, the rat in the pipeline) good characterisation (Mr Kidd and Mr Wint are creepy) and good stunts (Police chase and alley stunt). Shame that curly-haired bint in the bikini has to ruin it, she's rubbish.
2 The Man with the Golden Gun (13)
'Hang on a minute?' you ask. You already said View To A kill was Moore's best Bond movie, well for his performance it is but this is better because Christoper Lee is 'The Man'. Forget your Samuel L. Jacksons and Clooneys, Lee's performance in this movie puts all their strutting to shame! Aside from the rather excellent character of Scaramanga, there's Nik-Nak and Scaramanga's island, fights with sumo wrestlers, martial arts action, boat chases and assassinations. and despite all the over-the-top-ness and big swirly walls you don't stop and say 'nah, this is really really silly' you go with it - and it's great (Shame about Goodnight though).
1 The Living Daylights (16)
Best plot. Best car. Best Bond.
What's it missing? Well a huge cliched bad guy, but nevermind the arms dealer will have to do, anyway. Here we see the Bond series trying to be clever and getting away with it magnificently. "Ah well you thought he was good but no, he's bad. Oh and the bad guy? No he's good. And oh hang on THIS guy was pulling the strings all along!" Greatness.
Anyway beyond that we have a car that shoots rockets, has lasers and a rocket boost thingy at the back and yet is actually believeable. Infact that's what sets The Living Daylights above every other Bond because it manages to be completely believeable all the way through and yet be very cool and interesting with it at the same time. It's a great balancing act and the movie gets away with it thanks to Dalton's 'back to basics' portrayal of Bond.
Aside from ageing a little bit over time (a bit of obvious blue screen near the start) there's very little to fault it and forget that because Dalton did most of his own stunts (except the one where they hang on the netting from the back of the plane - he wasn't THAT mad).
Oh and the pre-titles Gibraltar chase? 'Nuff said.
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Hedfix win a GAD? That cant be right, must be an error :P
Good list, havent seen the 1st won for ages, cant remember any of it it. I wonder why they don't choose to show it as often as some others. Nice to see lots of my favourites on there :D and I really liked Lee in Man With The Golden Gun.
One day I'll have to buy the DVD boxset.
Good list, havent seen the 1st won for ages, cant remember any of it it. I wonder why they don't choose to show it as often as some others. Nice to see lots of my favourites on there :D and I really liked Lee in Man With The Golden Gun.
One day I'll have to buy the DVD boxset.
Well my two favourites made 3 and 4 so I'm happy :)
Casino Royale (New one) - Pretty good
Brosnan was reported as fighting to improve the scripts, still you get the feeling with every one aside from Gldeneye that he should have fought harder and been more stubborn.
Shame United Artists went under really, the average quality for a UA Bond is much higher than the newer MGM releases.
Shame United Artists went under really, the average quality for a UA Bond is much higher than the newer MGM releases.
I've got tickets for Casino Royale on Saturday. I'm not expecting it to knock my socks off, so I'm going with an open mind.
Die Another Day is the only Bond film I haven't been able to watch all the way through. It was utterly terrible and the CGI bit had me in stitches it was so bad.
I don't like License to Kill much and I just couldn't get into OHMSS. The Brosnan films were a steady decline from the epic Goldeneye, although I think Brosnan fits the persona of Bond extremely well. I guess he was around at the wrong time.
I would say my personal favourites would be Goldeneye and the Living Daylights. They are just really good films that got me hooked and that's all you want from a film franchise like Bond.
Die Another Day is the only Bond film I haven't been able to watch all the way through. It was utterly terrible and the CGI bit had me in stitches it was so bad.
I don't like License to Kill much and I just couldn't get into OHMSS. The Brosnan films were a steady decline from the epic Goldeneye, although I think Brosnan fits the persona of Bond extremely well. I guess he was around at the wrong time.
I would say my personal favourites would be Goldeneye and the Living Daylights. They are just really good films that got me hooked and that's all you want from a film franchise like Bond.
I like Bond to be serious and on the edge, so The Living Daylights with Dalton is one of my favourites too. And the early Connery ones.
The new one looks good. Less smarm/wisecracks - more grit/realism.
The new one looks good. Less smarm/wisecracks - more grit/realism.
My favourites are the ones with Gold in the tile and one of the Dalton ones. Cant remember which though.
Depends what you're looking for in a Bond film.
Closer to the original stories, then go for Dalton (or perhaps the new Casino Royale, by the looks of it). Fun, go for Live and Let Die. Action, pretty much all of them.
I think the best bond film just depends on what mood I'm in at the time.
Closer to the original stories, then go for Dalton (or perhaps the new Casino Royale, by the looks of it). Fun, go for Live and Let Die. Action, pretty much all of them.
I think the best bond film just depends on what mood I'm in at the time.
Aye fixed. I always get those two mixed up name-wise.
Yeah the 2CV chase mentioned in the summary of YOLT is referring to the one in FYEO. :)
Yeah the 2CV chase mentioned in the summary of YOLT is referring to the one in FYEO. :)
Hedfix, you have two entries of 'World is not Enough' ... 20 should be Die another Day ...
AND ... :O ... The little guy in Man with the golden gun was NIK-NAK! not oddjob!
I also have a strong suspicion there was no 2CV chase in You only live twice, though there was one in for your eyes only ...
tut tut ;)
AND ... :O ... The little guy in Man with the golden gun was NIK-NAK! not oddjob!
I also have a strong suspicion there was no 2CV chase in You only live twice, though there was one in for your eyes only ...
tut tut ;)
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