- Bond movies that got better/worse in the 2nd half.

Julius No M.D.

Better:

From Russia With Love - Lacked in energy at first but then picked up.

Moonraker - The first hour was pretty perfunctory just to lead into an awesome outerspace climax.

A View to a Kill - 57 y/o Moore + horse stables + dinner parties = snooze. Epic third act though.

The Living Daylights - First half struggles in establishing Dalton's identity but the plot and set pieces develop.

License to Kill - Started as a generic Miami Vice movie and then Pam Bouvier came in and it got Bondian.

Goldeneye - They had to do all the tropes to intro Brosnan, but with those things out of the way, it got really fun.

Worse:

Thunderball - So many classic moments in the first 2 acts. Third act is an underwater snooze.

The Man with the Golden Gun - Had the premise of being a great serious Bond movie and then things just got silly.

Tomorrow Never Dies - Had a good idea for a villain and then dropped the ball.

The World Is Not Enough - We went from a thriller mystery to Denise Richards and a sawed off caviar factory. What?

Die Another Day - See TMWTGG. A half-hour in I was expecting this to be my favorite... and then....

Spectre - Had great action humor and nostalgia in the first half but the story in the 2nd half crashed badly.

am747

Better:

From Russia With Love - Lacked in energy at first but then picked up.

I think this film is brilliant throughout. Start off with an unique PTS, then off to SPECTRE plans, Istanbul, Orient Express and that finale in Venice

Moonraker - The first hour was pretty perfunctory just to lead into an awesome outerspace climax.

I liked the first hour. Venice sequences were Ok. Picked up in Brazil. The ES was good too

A View to a Kill - 57 y/o Moore + horse stables + dinner parties = snooze. Epic third act though.

Liked the first part. In the 2nd part liked the GG sequence

The Living Daylights - First half struggles in establishing Dalton's identity but the plot and set pieces develop.

Overall, a great film from PTS to ES

License to Kill - Started as a generic Miami Vice movie and then Pam Bouvier came in and it got Bondian.

Agree. 1st half is good (would not compare it to Miami Vice) PTS is very good as well. 2nd half is better. Truck chase sequence is awesome

Goldeneye - They had to do all the tropes to intro Brosnan, but with those things out of the way, it got really fun.

Currently, my least favorite Bond film. Hard to watch past the Monaco sequence


Worse:

Thunderball - So many classic moments in the first 2 acts. Third act is an underwater snooze.

Underwater sequence can get tiring at times but still this is an unique film

The Man with the Golden Gun - Had the premise of being a great serious Bond movie and then things just got silly.

IMO, this one has one of the best ending sequences of the franchise from Bond flying the SeeBee to the end. In the 2nd half, it has some memorable sequences such as Bond-GN-Andrea in the room and the car jump

Tomorrow Never Dies - Had a good idea for a villain and then dropped the ball.

Agree

The World Is Not Enough - We went from a thriller mystery to Denise Richards and a sawed off caviar factory. What?

I would not be too harsh on this one as this is one of the films you have to be in the mood to enjoy

Die Another Day - See TMWTGG. A half-hour in I was expecting this to be my favorite... and then....

Agree apart from the comparison with TMWTGG

Spectre - Had great action humor and nostalgia in the first half but the story in the 2nd half crashed badly.

2nd half is good as well. Esp sequences in Austria and Tangiers. The sequence in UK can get tiring to watch so on that I agree

chrisisall

DN- 2nd half better
FRWL- all good
GF- all good
TB- 2nd half slowed some
YOLT- middle third slowed a lot
OHMSS- all good
DAF- 2nd half lost it
LALD- all good
TMWTGG- 2nd half slowed a bit
TSWLM- all good
MR- 2nd half lost it
FYEO- 2nd half took off
OP- all good
AVTAK- all good
TLD- all good
LTK- 1st half good but 2nd half took off
GE- all good
TLD- all good
TWINE- all good
DAD- 2nd half got kooky
CR- all good
QOS- all good
SF- 2nd half better
SP- all good

Julius No M.D.

chrisisall wrote:

MR- 2nd half lost it

This is where fans tend to have different opinions. Some fans think it went too far and Bond should stay closer to his roots. Me, personally, I liked it. If the 2nd half were like the 1st half, it would be the most generic Bond movie ever and just a complete copy of TSWLM.

HatThrowingHenchman

Moonraker once was on the bottom of my list but recently it has gone up-hill. I think the locations make up for almost anything. Yes, there are space lasers like in Star Wars, but hey in the end it's fun

as for DAD, not many people will agree with me, but the first half is serious (enough for a Bond-film).
once the second half starts and things move to Iceland, that's the part I like. The party, Bond wandering around in the greenhouse and the car chase; all these scrnes are great. I mean I never understood the criticism of the kite surfing-scene, it lasts for a full 10secs.

Thunderpussy

I can agree with most of that except the kite surfing , looked like a bad computer game.

Silhouette Man

DAD gets worse as it moves into its second-half of course. I'm currently re-watching it on DVD and it's holding up surprisingly well! It's very much a Bond of two halves! )

hehadlotsofguts

The scene in Thunderball where the camoflage net is placed over the Vulcan is a mixed bag for me. It's interesting to see SPECTRE put the plan in motion the first time you see it, but it is unnecessarily long and gets boring on repeated viewings.

Matt S

DN- 2nd half better
TB- 2nd half worse
DAF- 2nd half worse
AVTAK- 2nd half worse (unpoplar opinion, I know)
LTK- 2nd half better
GE- 2nd half better
TND- 2nd half worse
DAD- 2nd half worse
CR- 2nd half better
SF- 2nd half better
SP- 2nd half worse

All others I find consistent

Julius No M.D.

Matt S wrote:

AVTAK- 2nd half worse (unpoplar opinion, I know)

I've noticed, based on your posts, that you prefer the earlier films of the series, so this makes total sense. It's kind of like what I observed with Moonraker. The first half of AVTAK focuses on traditional spying elements while the second half of the film adds the violence and over-the-top action that the later films are known for.

Lady Ice

DAD kind of gets better in the second half as in it decides that it wants to be a camp-fest/so-bad-but-we-don't-care film whereas the beginning is a bit too serious and dull (and IMO North Korea is not a glamorous location!). SP has a mixed bag 2nd half; I love Q, M and Moneypenny but Bond kind of disappears. He doesn't feel as strongly connected. SF's second half descends into sentimentality.

OP felt more dramatic in the 2nd half and FYEO steps things up in the second half (I didn't particularly object to the first half but I felt the second half was very good).

am747

hehadlotsofguts wrote:

The scene in Thunderball where the camoflage net is placed over the Vulcan is a mixed bag for me. It's interesting to see SPECTRE put the plan in motion the first time you see it, but it is unnecessarily long and gets boring on repeated viewings.

Agree with that. The appeal of such scenes depends upon your mood at the time of viewing. At times you could enjoy them (esp. with the score) and at times they could appear tiring to watch

To be fair, many of Bond films have such sequences. Overall, I have found DN, FRWL, OHMSS, LALD and OP great when it comes to multiple repeated viewings

Matt S

Julius No M.D. wrote:

Matt S wrote:

AVTAK- 2nd half worse (unpoplar opinion, I know)

I've noticed, based on your posts, that you prefer the earlier films of the series, so this makes total sense. It's kind of like what I observed with Moonraker. The first half of AVTAK focuses on traditional spying elements while the second half of the film adds the violence and over-the-top action that the later films are known for.

TLD is one of my favourite Bond films, so it's not about the action in the second half of the film. It's more that 57-year-old Roger Moore doesn't do so well at the action later in the film, whilst the parts at the stable are perfect for him. Also, Stacey becomes a lot more annoying in the second half, starting with the fire.

heartbroken_mr_drax

Licence to Kill for me. First half is cheap and has a bad vibe. Second half is much better.

Barbel

There's already a thread http://www.ajb007.co.uk/topic/40635/1st-half-better-than-2nd-half/ dealing with this subject, so I'm closing this one.