Most Polarizing Bond Films

Agent Purple

Controversy is one of the most fascinating things in Bond fandom. We like and dislike different things, we experience Bond films differently, what might be pleasure for one Bond fan may be torture for another.

It's because of this that I want to start this thread. Which Bond films tend to be the most polarizing, that is, the ones that most often are either very low or very high on fan rankings (or for those that don't rank, either strongly liked or disliked)?

Here are some that I think are quite polarizing:

-TND: Loved by some as an action fest, hated by some as a film severely lacking in story.
-MR: Some consider it a fun romp, others an excess of sillyness.
-TB: Some find it exciting, others find it dull.
-LtK: Probably not as polarizing as the ones above, but still controversial. Some love the violence and dark feel in it, while others feel uncomfortable with it.
-FYEO: Some love it for being a less campy and more simplistic Moore film, while others feel the film doesn't suit Moore very well. Interestingly, it seems to be embraced more by people who aren't fans of Moore's Bond than by those who are.

So, which Bond films are the most polarizing ones?

am747

After reading the SP forum, it appears as if it is polarizing )

Jag

am747 wrote:

After reading the SP forum, it appears as if it is polarizing )

I second that... as time passes, SPECTRE is bound to become more and more polarising. Which is not necessarily a bad thing.

heartbroken_mr_drax

Haha the question is what movies aren't polarising! I'd nominate FRWL, GF, OHMSS, TSWLM, TLD, GE, CR...

broadshoulder

Agent Purple wrote:

-FYEO: Some love it for being a less campy and more simplistic Moore film, while others feel the film doesn't suit Moore very well. Interestingly, it seems to be embraced more by people who aren't fans of Moore's Bond than by those who are.

Lets shoot this one down straight away

"Embraced by people who don't like Moore" Really? Do they exist? I grew up with the Roger Moore era and he remains, after Dalton/Craig my favourite Bond. You have to remember Moores Bond was an original. He injected humour into the role and his Bond films without question remain my favourites

How about the real stinkers of the Bond franchise?

How about Goldeneye?, the World is Not Enough? and that true car crash of a Bond film....Die another Day?

Number24

I think these may be the most polarizing Bonds:

- OHMSS (too different, Lazenby/a classic Flemmingesque movie with great story)
- Moonraker (silly/fun),
- LTK (hard-edged/voilent an serious)
- CR (or is it? Perhaps it was mainly polarizing before it's release?)

am747

broadshoulder wrote:

How about the real stinkers of the Bond franchise?

How about Goldeneye?, the World is Not Enough? and that true car crash of a Bond film....Die another Day?

I rated it high at one point but GE hasnt aged well. Apart from the PTS, car race snd tank chase, there is nothing much to create intetest. The end is inspired by Seabee scene from TMWTGG and YOLT's volcano lair but isnt that interesting

Also Bond girls - Natalya and Onatopp are not that impressive

Now I still see it ranked highly on indivudual rankings so I would consider it as polarizing as well. .... May be die hard Brosnan fans promote it as there is nothing much to wrire about from that period

Thunderpussy

Spectre seems to be dividing opinions as did QOS, DAD, LTK and MR
The rest seem to have some less divisive views.

Jarvio

TB, YOLT, OP, LTK, QOS, and SP

Agent Purple

broadshoulder wrote:

Agent Purple wrote:

it.
-FYEO: Some love it for being a less campy and more simplistic Moore film, while others feel the film doesn't suit Moore very well. Interestingly, it seems to be embraced more by people who aren't fans of Moore's Bond than by those who are.

Lets shoot this one down straight away

"Embraced by people who don't like Moore" Really? Do they exist? I grew up with the Roger Moore era and he remains, after Dalton/Craig my favourite Bond. You have to remember Moores Bond was an original. He injected humour into the role and his Bond films without question remain my favourites

How about the real stinkers of the Bond franchise?

How about Goldeneye?, the World is Not Enough? and that true car crash of a Bond film....Die another Day?

I think TND is the most polarizing of the Brosnan Bond films.

Even though not everyone loves GE, it seems to be the most widely accepted of Brosnan's films, and it doesn't seem to have anywhere near the hate that TND and DAD get.

TWINE, imo, doesn't seem to me all that polarizing either. I don't think it's anywhere near as loved as GE is, and it seems to have the reputation of a Bond film that's average at best.

DAD is probably the most unpopular Bond film, so since few people love it, it's not really a polarizing Bond film.

TND seems to be the only Brosnan Bond that polarizes fans because some are crazy about it and some despise it.

This thread is about which Bond films are most polarizing, not which are the worst. That is another subject entirely.

Higgins

Must be QoS - hands down.

There is only one person in the world who likes it and enjoys it - no surprise - he's a Scot

welshboy78

Thunderball must be up there

Prob easier to ask what is the least polarising - Goldfinger / FRWL???

Agent Purple

I think these are the least polarizing:

-GF (most like or love it)
-FRWL (similar to GF)
-TSWLM (similar to GF and FRWL)
-DAD (most hate it or like it a little)
-QoS (similar to DAD)

am747

Agent Purple wrote:

-FYEO: Some love it for being a less campy and more simplistic Moore film, while others feel the film doesn't suit Moore very well. Interestingly, it seems to be embraced more by people who aren't fans of Moore's Bond than by those who are.

I don't think FYEO is as polarizing as you are making it out. It is liked by almost everyone and rated amongst Moore's Top 3-4 films. It may be less campy than other Moore films but it is still a Moore film

Jarvio

am747 wrote:

Agent Purple wrote:

-FYEO: Some love it for being a less campy and more simplistic Moore film, while others feel the film doesn't suit Moore very well. Interestingly, it seems to be embraced more by people who aren't fans of Moore's Bond than by those who are.

I don't think FYEO is as polarizing as you are making it out. It is liked by almost everyone and rated amongst Moore's Top 3-4 films. It may be less campy than other Moore films but it is still a Moore film

IMO it is not that much more serious than AVTAK.

Agent Purple

I've seen FYEO placed fairly low in some YouTube rankings, so I dunno about it being loved by almost everyone.

Calvin Dyson, a Moore fan, had it ranked lowest of the Moore films in his 2012 ranking video. If I recall correctly, he had it at #19.

broadshoulder

am747 wrote:

broadshoulder wrote:

How about the real stinkers of the Bond franchise?

How about Goldeneye?, the World is Not Enough? and that true car crash of a Bond film....Die another Day?

I rated it high at one point but GE hasnt aged well. Apart from the PTS, car race snd tank chase, there is nothing much to create intetest. The end is inspired by Seabee scene from TMWTGG and YOLT's volcano lair but isnt that interesting

Also Bond girls - Natalya and Onatopp are not that impressive

Now I still see it ranked highly on indivudual rankings so I would consider it as polarizing as well. .... May be die hard Brosnan fans promote it as there is nothing much to wrire about from that period

Well done - let me shake you by the hand -{ +1

I generally switch off when he gets to the base at the end

am747

Agent Purple wrote:

I've seen FYEO placed fairly low in some YouTube rankings, so I dunno about it being loved by almost everyone.

Calvin Dyson, a Moore fan, had it ranked lowest of the Moore films in his 2012 ranking video. If I recall correctly, he had it at #19.

Youtube reviews are a small sample size .... In fact, FYEO is one of the Bond films with very few weaknesses so can be used as a benchmark to rank other films .... Films ranked higher than it would have to have something special while films ranked lower would have to have something missing .... In any case, it would be hard to rank it in the bottom 4th

broadshoulder

Agent Purple wrote:

Calvin Dyson, a Moore fan, had it ranked lowest of the Moore films in his 2012 ranking video. If I recall correctly, he had it at #19.

Oh for fucks sake! Why should I pay attention to Calvin Dyson where he spends his time glaring at DAD and in the final reel says "I cant give a bad mark for a Brosnan film" and gives it a good mark. He's as biased as hell..

Why shall I give Calvin bloody Dyson credence? He doesn't write for the Guardian or something. No, he's a two bit nobody with a camera and a dodgy dinner jackjet

am747

broadshoulder wrote:

am747 wrote:

broadshoulder wrote:

How about the real stinkers of the Bond franchise?

How about Goldeneye?, the World is Not Enough? and that true car crash of a Bond film....Die another Day?

I rated it high at one point but GE hasnt aged well. Apart from the PTS, car race snd tank chase, there is nothing much to create intetest. The end is inspired by Seabee scene from TMWTGG and YOLT's volcano lair but isnt that interesting

Also Bond girls - Natalya and Onatopp are not that impressive

Now I still see it ranked highly on indivudual rankings so I would consider it as polarizing as well. .... May be die hard Brosnan fans promote it as there is nothing much to wrire about from that period

Well done - let me shake you by the hand -{ +1

I generally switch off when he gets to the base at the end

You are too generous. I feel like switching it off once Natalya is introduced. That also saves me from looking at the Muffy tattoo )

am747

broadshoulder wrote:

Agent Purple wrote:

Calvin Dyson, a Moore fan, had it ranked lowest of the Moore films in his 2012 ranking video. If I recall correctly, he had it at #19.

Oh for fucks sake! Why should I pay attention to Calvin Dyson where he spends his time glaring at DAD and in the final reel says "I cant give a bad mark for a Brosnan film" and gives it a good mark. He's as biased as hell..

Why shall I give Calvin bloody Dyson credence? He doesn't write for the Guardian or something. No, he's a two bit nobody with a camera and a dodgy dinner jackjet

It is criminal to have any of the Brosnan films (and some of Craig's film) above FYEO .... It would be like putting T3 or T4 over T2 or T1 )

broadshoulder

am747 wrote:

broadshoulder wrote:

am747 wrote:

I rated it high at one point but GE hasnt aged well. Apart from the PTS, car race snd tank chase, there is nothing much to create intetest. The end is inspired by Seabee scene from TMWTGG and YOLT's volcano lair but isnt that interesting

Also Bond girls - Natalya and Onatopp are not that impressive

Now I still see it ranked highly on indivudual rankings so I would consider it as polarizing as well. .... May be die hard Brosnan fans promote it as there is nothing much to wrire about from that period

Well done - let me shake you by the hand -{ +1

I generally switch off when he gets to the base at the end

You are too generous. I feel like switching it off once Natalya is introduced. That also saves me from looking at the Muffy tattoo )

Oh god that was awful...Did I really see Jack Wades arse?

Agent Purple

The point is, just because there are people here that love FYEO doesn't mean that almost everyone does.

On another note, TMWTGG does get it's share of hate, while also having it's defenders.

Matt S

Agent Purple wrote:

I've seen FYEO placed fairly low in some YouTube rankings, so I dunno about it being loved by almost everyone.

Calvin Dyson, a Moore fan, had it ranked lowest of the Moore films in his 2012 ranking video. If I recall correctly, he had it at #19.

The people who seem to think the least of FYEO tend to be big Moore fans, probably because it isn't as lighthearted as more of Moore's other Bond films and the reasons they like Moore aren't there as much in FYEO. But Moore is my favourite Bond, and FYEO is my favourite of Moore's films. Moore in that film is who I picture when I read Gardner's book.

am747

broadshoulder wrote:

Oh god that was awful...Did I really see Jack Wades arse?

GE is a crude film with crudeness passed on as humor 8-)













and it has crude singing too )





PTS had to show someone doing his business too )

broadshoulder

am747 wrote:

broadshoulder wrote:

Oh god that was awful...Did I really see Jack Wades arse?

GE is a crude film with crudeness passed on as humor 8-)














and it has crude singing too )

Xenia Onatopp is a pure cartoon character. That scene where she bonks the guy to death....uuurrgghhh

I thought he was gonna have a stroke...

Agent Purple

Guys, this isn't a "Let's bash GE" thread, this is a thread on which Bond films are most polarizing.

No need to gang up on GE (or any other Bond film) and pour tons of hate on it.

Let reason prevail.

am747

broadshoulder wrote:

Xenia Onatopp is a pure cartoon character. That scene where she bonks the guy to death....uuurrgghhh

I thought he was gonna have a stroke...

Onatopp is probably the worst Bond girl )

broadshoulder

am747 wrote:

broadshoulder wrote:

Xenia Onatopp is a pure cartoon character. That scene where she bonks the guy to death....uuurrgghhh

I thought he was gonna have a stroke...

Onatopp is probably the worst Bond girl )

Its between her and Jinx. But I think she might edge it....

And the first five minutes ie the Aston, dinner jacket, tuxedo are pureBond cliche

am747

Agent Purple wrote:

The point is, just because there are people here that love FYEO doesn't mean that almost everyone does.

On another note, TMWTGG does get it's share of hate, while also having it's defenders.

You and me can put whatever we want in our ranking .... But for reviews that can be referenced (like you did for someone on youtube), it is criminal to keep FYEO in the bottom 4th .... As I said, FYEO is one of the Bond films that can be used as a reference as it hardly has any weaknesses. So if a film has something more special it can be ranked higher. And if a film has something missing, it can be placed lower

To illustrate, let's compare FYEO with T1 (Terminator). If there is a T2, it can be ranked higher than T1. If it is T3 or T4, it would almost definitely be ranked lower. All of Brosnan films (and some of Craig flims and so on) are like T3 or T4. So if such "referencable" reviewers have FYEO in the bottom 4th, you can almost give a zero to their ranking

am747

broadshoulder wrote:

Its between her and Jinx. But I think she might edge it....

And the first five minutes ie the Aston, dinner jacket, tuxedo are pureBond cliche

If someone puts a gun of my head and asks me to shred a Bond BR, it will probably be GE ) .... Unfortunately, I cannot gift it as it will reflect on my taste. So I salvaged it for the PTS (action scenes), car race, and tank chase, along with the theme song and credits which are usually fun in Bond films

If I gift someone Bond films, it is usually the set of OHMSS and FYEO. I tell them to watch OHMSS first, so the PTS in FYEO feels like a continuation