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bigbychoice · September 2009

I was discussing Bond movies with a friend the other day and we completely disagreed on a subject. My favorite bond movie of all time is From Russia With Love and he says that nothing compares with the new ones. Granted the new ones were great for a new generation with special effects, but the scripts seem so generic. Like its a bond participating in someone elses movie. What are some opinions on this? New or old?

Loeffelholz · September 2009

First of all, welcome to AJB {[]

FRWL is, in my own humble opinion, the best and most classic James Bond film of them all---a proper escapist spy thriller in its own right outside the Bond cinematic canon. That said, I'm a huge fan of Craig and his two efforts thus far, and I think CR is an Instant Modern Classic---a retooled, rebooted Bond for a new and dangerous century.

Opinions do vary...but I think there ought to be common ground for all fans of this greatest of fictional/literary/cinematic heroes. The differences lie in the minutiae---which is the stomping ground of the True Fan...and you've found us! :007)

We sincerely hope you'll hang around, make some new friends, and have fun. Cheers! -{

thesecretagent · September 2009

Appreciate them both! The old ones (Sean's first four, Lazenby's and Dalton's) have a sense of style and old-world class missing from the newer ones, possibly because of the actors themselves, possibly because they were less open to interpretation - Fleming was on the film set for Sean's first two films after all. But like Leoff says, Casino Royale is an instant modern classic - the feel of the movie, the richness of some of the scenes, the closeness to the book - a shame QOS wasn't quite up to the mark. Possibly because there was more than a hint of Fleming in CR, and QOS was a corporate follow-up aimed at unravelling the Quantum thread and tying up loose ends. That said, it's still a good film.
Just like some days you fancy a steak at a restuarant, and others you fancy a greasy cheeseburger, Bond films should appeal to a Bond fan according to their mood. They are mindless indulgence afterall...

Napoleon Plural · September 2009

I do think the charm rating is different. The old films wanted to charm you first and foremost, and show you something outlandish or out of the ordinary; this even applied to more down to earth fare like FRWL, with Klebb's shoes and Grant's wristwatch. Today I think they want to rock us with action scenes and impress with Bond's newfound credible status, and charm is on the backburner. You can't ignore the passage of time; Bond is influenced by big American movies like Die Hard, which changed the landscape. But it's also influenced by not wanting to be like the old, sillier films of the 1970s.

thesecretagent · September 2009

Napoleon Plural wrote:

I do think the charm rating is different. The old films wanted to charm you first and foremost, and show you something outlandish or out of the ordinary; this even applied to more down to earth fare like FRWL, with Klebb's shoes and Grant's wristwatch. Today I think they want to rock us with action scenes and impress with Bond's newfound credible status, and charm is on the backburner. You can't ignore the passage of time; Bond is influenced by big American movies like Die Hard, which changed the landscape. But it's also influenced by not wanting to be like the old, sillier films of the 1970s.

It's like the golf scene in Goldfinger. It's long, but an integral part of the plot. And it really works. They could probably only do that today with Bond jumping from the golf clubhouse roof to the pro-shop roof at various juddering camera angles...

bigbychoice · September 2009

Daniel Craig i believe is a good follow up to the DAD movie. Brosnan was way off in that film and the film, in my opinion was off the mark. But you cant deny the fact that Brosnan brought with him the sense of charm and line delivery that you would expect of James Bond. Daniel Craig, while being a good actor, just does not strike me with that sense of, for lack of a better word, Bond-ness, when it comes to that department. Action-wise, yes. Maybe the best yet (no disregard to goldeneye), but the charm factor is used very little and has yet to really be seen.

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