The Bond films you love despite their plots

Brosnan_fanBrosnan_fan Sydney, AustraliaPosts: 521MI6 Agent
in The James Bond Films
I absolutely adore TWINE and OP, despite their (apparently or initiallly) confusing plots, and I have quite a soft spot for TLD too.

It's to the filmmakers' credit that they can produce these films which contain energy, good cast interaction and audience appeal, even with potentially confusing stories.

What are some of your "Bond gems" you hold in this regard?
"Well, he certainly left with his tails between his legs."

Comments

  • ThunderpussyThunderpussy Behind you !Posts: 63,792MI6 Agent
    I do have a soft spot for DAF, a silly film but one of the funniest Scripts.
    Moonraker, same silliness But still great fun. And of course YOLT some
    brilliant set pieces.
    Basically I'll find an excuese to watch ANY Bond film. :))
    "I've been informed that there ARE a couple of QAnon supporters who are fairly regular posters in AJB."
  • JarvioJarvio EnglandPosts: 4,241MI6 Agent
    AVTAK. I couldn't give a crap if it has a similar plot to GF. Many bond films have similar plots to each other, for example TSWLM/MR have a similar plot to YOLT. So why pick on AVTAK for that? The action sequences were brilliant and I was entertained throughout, plots aren't that important to me for the classic bond films.
    1 - LALD, 2 - AVTAK, 3 - LTK, 4 - OP, 5 - NTTD, 6 - FYEO, 7 - SF, 8 - DN, 9 - DAF, 10 - TSWLM, 11 - OHMSS, 12 - TMWTGG, 13 - GE, 14 - MR, 15 - TLD, 16 - YOLT, 17 - GF, 18 - DAD, 19 - TWINE, 20 - SP, 21 - TND, 22 - FRWL, 23 - TB, 24 - CR, 25 - QOS

    1 - Moore, 2 - Dalton, 3 - Craig, 4 - Connery, 5 - Brosnan, 6 - Lazenby
  • Agent82Agent82 Posts: 65MI6 Agent
    The Man with the Golden Gun!
  • LukeLuke USAPosts: 99MI6 Agent
    Goldfinger has a pretty ridiculous plot, but its one of my favorites! I also think that Skyfall's narrative is a bit incoherent when you dissect it, but the great visuals and the spectacular performances more than make up for it.
    It's all right. It's quite all right, really. She's having a rest. We'll be going on soon. There's no hurry, you see. We have all the time in the world.
  • Le SamouraiLe Samourai Honolulu, HIPosts: 573MI6 Agent
    "Plots are for graveyards." — A quote sometimes attributed to Raymond Chandler, who argued that the plot only served as a vehicle to get the protagonist to meet people and do things.

    I agree for the most part. I don't get too hung up on plot. Drama has been around as an art form for millennia, so it isn't as if there are many new tales to tell. There are films and novels I love in which plot is secondary at best.
    —Le Samourai

    A Gent in Training.... A blog about my continuing efforts to be improve myself, be a better person, and lead a good life. It incorporates such far flung topics as fitness, self defense, music, style, food and drink, and personal philosophy.
    Agent In Training
  • bailorgbailorg Posts: 124MI6 Agent
    LTK is a top-tier Bond movie solely on the strength of the cast of characters despite the rather inane and awkward plot twists and turns.
    (1) TLD (2) FRWL (3) LTK (4) CR (5) QoS (6) FYEO (7)OHMSS (8) DN (9) GF (10) TSWLM (11) TND (12) GE (13) SF (14) LALD (15) TWINE (16) AVTAK (17) DAF (18) OP (19) TMWTGG (20) DAD (21) MR (22) YOLT (23) TB
  • chrisisallchrisisall Western Mass, USAPosts: 9,062MI6 Agent
    Agent82 wrote:
    The Man with the Golden Gun!
    Agreed. And TWINE & TND.
    Dalton & Connery rule. Brozz was cool.
    #1.TLD/LTK 2.TND 3.GF 4.GE 5.DN 6.FYEO 7.FRWL 8.TMWTGG 9.TWINE 10.YOLT/QOS
  • LukeLuke USAPosts: 99MI6 Agent
    Le Samourai wrote:
    "Plots are for graveyards." — A quote sometimes attributed to Raymond Chandler, who argued that the plot only served as a vehicle to get the protagonist to meet people and do things.

    Said like a true student of Jean-Pierre Melville. :)

    None of the films that have effected me the deepest have been strong on plot... 8 1/2, Persona, La vivre sa vie, etc.
    It's all right. It's quite all right, really. She's having a rest. We'll be going on soon. There's no hurry, you see. We have all the time in the world.
  • DutchfingerDutchfinger Holland With LovePosts: 1,240MI6 Agent
    That would proberbly be You Only Live Twice for me! Over the top plot that makes no sense in many places. However, classic, grand 60'ies adventure! I love it! :D
    Better known as DutchBondFan on YouTube. My 007 movie reviews: Recapping 007
    YouTube channel Support my channel on Patreon Twitter Facebook fanpage
  • Le SamouraiLe Samourai Honolulu, HIPosts: 573MI6 Agent
    Luke wrote:
    Le Samourai wrote:
    "Plots are for graveyards." — A quote sometimes attributed to Raymond Chandler, who argued that the plot only served as a vehicle to get the protagonist to meet people and do things.

    Said like a true student of Jean-Pierre Melville. :)

    None of the films that have effected me the deepest have been strong on plot... 8 1/2, Persona, La vivre sa vie, etc.

    Just what I'd expect from someone who uses an image of Giulietta Masina in La Strada as his avatar!

    Incidentally, Nights of Cabiria is my favorite Fellini film, and one of my favorite films, period. Not particularly plot heavy either.
    —Le Samourai

    A Gent in Training.... A blog about my continuing efforts to be improve myself, be a better person, and lead a good life. It incorporates such far flung topics as fitness, self defense, music, style, food and drink, and personal philosophy.
    Agent In Training
  • LukeLuke USAPosts: 99MI6 Agent
    Glad to meet a fellow fan of fellini over here at Ajb! The ending to Cabiria always breaks my heart...its always those films that stay with me for some reason.
    It's all right. It's quite all right, really. She's having a rest. We'll be going on soon. There's no hurry, you see. We have all the time in the world.
  • BlackleiterBlackleiter Washington, DCPosts: 5,615MI6 Agent
    That's my choice as well.
    Dutchfinger wrote:
    That would proberbly be You Only Live Twice for me! Over the top plot that makes no sense in many places. However, classic, grand 60'ies adventure! I love it! :D
    "Felix Leiter, a brother from Langley."
  • Moore ThanMoore Than EnglandPosts: 3,173MI6 Agent
    Blackleiter wrote:
    That's my choice as well.
    Dutchfinger wrote:
    That would proberbly be You Only Live Twice for me! Over the top plot that makes no sense in many places. However, classic, grand 60'ies adventure! I love it! :D

    Same here.

    Overblown, OTT in places, Sean Connery dis-interested for the most part and disguised as a Japanese, and Donald Pleasance as Blofeld. Yet I still enjoy it a lot. My guilty pleasure.
    Moore Not Less 4371 posts (2002 - 2007) Moore Than (2012 - 2016)
  • DEFIANT 74205DEFIANT 74205 Perth, AustraliaPosts: 1,881MI6 Agent
    edited November 2012
    Three films fall into this category for me:

    You Only Live Twice
    Diamonds Are Forever
    The Man With the Golden Gun

    They're not the best films, but they're my "guilty pleasures" - I love watching these films because they're fun to watch :)
    "Watch the birdie, you bastard!"
  • Dalkowski110Dalkowski110 Posts: 1,314MI6 Agent
    That's funny...I have the literal exact same list as DEFIANT 74205 (although I would probably add in GoldenEye and Octopussy for the simple reason that they have plenty of plotholes, although reduced to their base elements, they do have solid plots)!

    Believe it or not, I actually find the opposite to be much harder to find. In other words, a terrific plot that wasn't well-executed and should have been far better than it actually was. You could argue Moonraker falls into this trap, but I would disagree as the plot on paper is very weak as soon as it gets into space. Die Another Day probably comes the closest, especially since a lot of people tend to like the film until the ice palace scenes. On paper, DAD actually has a pretty solid plot (basically a mash-together of DAF and GE); it was just executed very, very poorly, IMO.
    By the way, are you gonna eat that?
  • DEFIANT 74205DEFIANT 74205 Perth, AustraliaPosts: 1,881MI6 Agent
    Dalkowski110 wrote:
    Believe it or not, I actually find the opposite to be much harder to find. In other words, a terrific plot that wasn't well-executed and should have been far better than it actually was.

    The one that stands out for me as being worse than it could've been with an otherwise decent plot is The Spy Who Loved Me. I've posted my reasons in the "Most Overrated Bond Film" thread:
    DEFIANT 74205 wrote:
    The Spy Who Loved Me. It is well liked on here, but I struggle to understand why. Personally, I don't even think it was Moore's best film, let alone the series' best. In terms of Moore's films, I thought that Live and Let Die and For Your Eyes Only were both better than The Spy Who Loved Me, which, in my list of favourite Bond films, ranks 19 out of 22.

    My main issue with The Spy Who Loved Me is not so much the plot as the execution. I thought the person who played Stromberg was boring and monotonous, nor did Barbara Bach make a believable Soviet Army officer or a Soviet Agent due to her lack of fighting ability and the ease with which she was overpowered. Her "code name" - "XXX" - is there a more generic code name in the business? How long did the writers spend on that, I wonder ... seriously!
    "Watch the birdie, you bastard!"
  • Blood_StoneBlood_Stone Posts: 184MI6 Agent
    Before "realism" got to me, I used to adore:

    The Man With The Golden Gun

    Octopussy

    Die Another Day
  • AdamOmegaAdamOmega Edmonton, AB, CanadaPosts: 297MI6 Agent
    I just watched The World Is Not Enough for the first time since I was about fourteen years old. Still not sure I understood the plot, and the acting was much worse than I remember (save Brosnan and Judi Dench), but it's got some fun sequences; the opening boat chase, parahawk ski pursuit and caviar factory raid come to mind. Brosnan is a little too trigger happy for my liking, but he got to show a little more vulnerability this time around and I think it helps his performance overall. I'd also say that Michael Apted was a pretty sound choice for director. Not a perfect Bond adventure, but you can kind of see the gears turning.
    "The secret agent. The man who was only a silhouette..." -- Ian Fleming, Moonraker

    1) The Spy Who Loved Me 2) On Her Majesty's Secret Service 3) GoldenEye 4) Casino Royale 5) Goldfinger
Sign In or Register to comment.

Copyright ajb007.co.uk 1998 - 2024

James Bond TM 007 and related James Bond Trademarks © 1962-2024

Danjaq LLC and United Artists Corporation. All Rights Reserved.

This website is a fan site and is in no way related to the official production companies.

All users are responsible for the content of their posts, by using this website you agree to the terms of use.