Common Sense Movie Reviews: James Bond

Showing posts with label James Bond. Show all posts

Skyfall (2012)

Bond is back and better than... er... well... better than On Her Majesty's Secret Service, or Octopussy, but definitely not better than ever, in fact while I can't say Skyfall is the worst Bond film ever, it's easily one of the most disappointing considering how the Daniel Craig reboot has been going fairly well so far. I can't decide whether I actually watched a Bond film or a long drawn out attempt at imitating one, personally I (unlike Bond) would have hit the eject button, on this whole film.

Skyfall sees MI6 in a state of disarray, as Bond is seemingly out of commission and M is the center target of a revenge plot set to bring down her and the British Secret Service by a former agent whom she turned over to the Chinese many years ago (Javier Bardem). The fate of country rests in the hands of Bond, struggling to regain his edge, and a leader whose on the brink of forced retirement.

As a big Bond fan (Bond Special Edition Reviews) I was looking forward to the franchise's return after four years of limbo, when the future of the series wasn't clear, due to studio issues. The previews looked awesome, the cast promising, but in the end Skyfall seemed to be more interested in ticking boxes and rehashing aspects of the old films than actually combining those elements into a cohesive entertaining film. Looking at all the praise for Skyfall leaves me utterly confused, how in the world can this be considered one of the best Bond films ever? Have these people seen a film in the franchise prior to Daniel Craig's entry? For a film that seems to be all about "moving forward" Skyfall spends an awful lot of time bringing up greater aspects from Bond films of the last 50 years instead of making any of it's own.

To the film's credit it starts off with a bang, as with most Bond films the pre-credit action sequence is usually meant to get the audience pumped up for the film and it succeeds in that regard, followed by theme song by Adele, which is easily the best of the last three themes. From there Skyfall begins to take a slow decent into boredom, occasionally showing a glimmer of hope but ultimately returning to plod along at a snails pace with a story that is both uninteresting and definitely not warranting such a long run-time. At times they have to remind you you're actually watching a Bond film by bringing up some classic past moment in the franchise, queue the introduction of Q and his one liner that they no longer produce exploding pens, or dusting off the old Aston Martin and giving those built in machine guns a spin. While these were cute little winks at the Sean Connery years, that's something one usually does in the first film of a reboot series, not three films in.

Next we see main characters taking a backseat to M... while Judi Dench is a fine actress M has never been a very interesting character, so to essentially center the entire film around her, and limit other major character's screen-time was a move I think really added to the dragging down of the film. Characters like Sévérine (Bérénice Marlohe), and even the main villain Silva (Javier Bardem) ended up being sorely underused, compared to their counterparts in other Bond entries.

Skyfall also spends way too much time trying to cast Bond as too old for the job, what's the point of rebooting a franchise and then two films later you start harking on about how old the main character is? In the scheme of the franchise it doesn't matter, ultimately Craig will be replaced by some other, younger actor and the series will go on, age was never made an issue with the prior Bond's who were noticeably older in their later outings, so it seems ridiculous to make an issue of it now with a character whose been around 50 years and will undoubtedly be around 50 more.

Overall, Skyfall fell pretty flat for me. Reducing Bond to "aging" spy, attempting to build an entire story-line around M, reducing the main Bond girl's role to a couple of scenes, and rehashing a lot of past films in a way that it seemed Skyfall had nothing to offer on it's own. Skyfall has it's moments but for the most part it felt like filler to me, an excuse to bridge a gap between the reboot of the series and the original films which didn't need to be done. While the prior outing, Quantum of Solace, may not have been the best Bond effort, at least it was short, sweet, never dull and fit the overall Bond mold well. Lot's of people seem to be comparing Skyfall to the lofty heights of Casino Royale, fact is Skyfall pales in comparison, lacking the originality, well constructed story, and pace, in other words it's simply another long winded action film attempting to emulate Bond. In the end, it's Daniel Craig's You Only Live Twice, so I guess every Bond gets handed a few stinkers.

6/10

Below is my guest post / write-up which will be appearing over at GROOVERS AND MOBSTERS PRESENT: BOND, JAMES BOND event today, check that out for the others reviews on their best of Connery, Lazenby, Dalton and Craig film.

You can also check out my original Moonraker review HERE and my Moonraker Secret File review HERE for more on the film...

There are two types of Bond fans, those who enjoy the hard knocks “devil may care” Bond (Connery, Dalton & Craig) and those who enjoy Mr. Fancy Pants, the more lover than fighter (Lazenby, Moore & Brosnan). I’ve always been more partial to the rough and tumble version of the British super spy, but there are a few Bond films from the other side of the coin I don’t mind admitting I enjoy. Moonraker is one of those films, a sorely underrated outing that in my opinion is the best Bond film of the Roger Moore era.

A recently commissioned Moonraker space shuttle has mysteriously vanished and Bond is sent on a mission to investigate. He begins at the manufacturer of the shuttles Hugo Drax. After an attempt is made on his life rather quickly Bond figures Drax is definitely up to something and his continuing investigation leads him to exotic locales, faces him against an old nemesis named Jaws and sees Bond go where no Bond has gone before… space!

Out of all the Roger Moore adventures I chose Moonraker for two reasons. One it’s my favorite Roger Moore Bond films, both in terms of entertainment and quality; and two Moonraker is a film that surprisingly takes an incredibly heavy beating from people, for which I do not understand. For it’s time Moonraker was highly popular and until Goldeneye was the highest grossing Bond film of all-time, but nowadays a lot of people call Moonraker extremely campy and to that I say have you seen any of the other Moore Bonds? The Roger Moore films are some of the campiest in the franchise, Moonraker is no more camp than any of the others, and definitely less campy than some of Moore’s final outings.

For me Moonraker is Roger Moore’s Goldfinger, it’s the film where Moore finally seems to hit his stride in his portrayal of Bond. In addition the film boasts one of the best introductions in the franchise with Bond battling in mid air while plummeting to the ground without a parachute, a very catchy theme song sung by Shirley Bassey (who also sung Goldfinger) and a very excellent supporting cast of some of the franchises better Bond girls and villains. Richard Kiel even makes a return as Jaws, one of the franchises most well known henchmen and this time around I felt he got a better opportunity to truly shine.

So why is Moonraker an important part of the Bond franchise and the Roger Moore era? When it’s all said and done Moonraker offers the widest variety out of all the Bond films and does a nice job of balancing it all out. You’ll get an incredibly sombre scene such as Corinne Dufour being chased through to woods by two blood thirsty dogs who eventually maul her to death, offset against some of the films more humorous scenes such as the look on Bond’s face as he’s stuck in a zero gravity machine that’s been set to spin him around until he dies. It’s a film that broke records in it’s time, as one of the most popular Bond films and also became Moore’s highest grossing Bond achievement. In the end it’s an all around roller coaster of a good time, never once getting too cheesy as some of Moore’s later films.

The villain is probably the most important character in a Bond film. A good villain can save an otherwise horrible film like The Man With the Golden Gun, a mediocre villain can drag down a film that otherwise might have been something much greater, like Dr. No, and a bad villain has the ability to make a Bond film reek, like Live and Let Die and Octopussy. Here our my Top 5 main Bond villains.

If there's anyone who deserves being a Bond villain it's Christopher Lee, British film icon and one of the two long standing faces of the Hammer Films legacy in the 1950's - 1970's. Majorly recognized for his long standing role as Count Dracula who could be a more formidable foe for Bond? As I stated in the Top 5 Bond Henchmen post the villains of The Man With The Golden Gun saved another mediocre Roger Moore adventure. While Scaramanga may not be one of Bond's most recognized villains his one shot golden gun has gone down in Bond history. And had the film been halfway decent Scaramanga might rank a little higher on the list, but it should be enough that Lee makes a bad Bond film better and for that makes it worth checking out.

Blofeld, the only real reoccurring villain in the Bond franchise is played by a different actor every-time he's shown on screen. Ultimately this continual recasting makes Blofeld one of the more mediocre villains in the franchise because the character becomes a joke, but one actor portrayed the character brilliantly even though it was only for about five minutes. Donald Pleasance provides the best characterization of the leader of SPECTRE in Sean Connery's half-hearted attempt in You Only Live Twice (easily Connery's worst Bond film). Pleasance had the look and the performance down it's unfortunate he was never offered to continue the role.

Contrary to popular opinon the Bond franchise has had a main female villain with Sophie Marceau's portrayal of Elektra King. Marceau was big in the 90's, but you don't hear much about her anymore. Considered somewhat of the poor man's Monica Bellucci, Marceau does a fine job portraying The World Is Not Enough's seemingly damsel in distress oil tycoon Elektra King who turns out to be more than a pretty face. It's a nice change to see a female villain with a larger role and she does an amazing job of staying sexy and dangerous at the same time. It's what I imagine Luciana Paluzzi's role would have been like in Thunderball if she had been a main villain instead of a henchman.

My all-time favorite Bond film features an outstanding cast and some wonderful villains. Emilio Largo is Thunderball's answer to the previous Bond installment's villain, Auric Goldfinger, and it's a nice match. Largo is a little less witty than Goldfinger and more straight to the point, he's also a bit more menacing something most main Bond villains failed to have going for them.

Easily the most well known Bond films, and in many peoples eyes the best, Goldfinger marks the arrival of the Bond franchise's first excellent main villain, Auric Goldfinger. Prior to this the first two Bond films were mostly littered with a slew of minor villains (henchman) with the main villains having very little to do in the majority of the story, Goldfinger changes all that. Goldfinger is the staple villain that the sets the tide for all future well crafted villains in the franchise's future, smart, amusing, menacing and most of all memorable.

It's hard to find good help these days especially for those planning world domination. Let's face it the henchmen gig isn't attractive to the world's best and brightest so the candidates are pretty slim pickings. Here's my Top 5 picks for the worst James Bond henchmen.

For a General and ex-leader of a country Medrano isn't the sharpest tool in the shed as he gets played by a short dude who uses his own land's natural resource against him. Plus the guy is simply creepy, not in a villainous way but more of in a sex offender way. (Seen in Quantum of Solace)

I have nothing against Famke Janssen (she's a lovely woman and a talented actress) but what a way to completely waste someone who could have been an excellent Bond girl. Aside from the horrible extra long name her only talent is strangling people with her thighs, which is too freaky for me, plus she seemed to get morbidly aroused by it. Tack on a pretty awful accent and Onatopp is somewhere "onabottom" of the henchmen list. (Seen in Goldeneye)

Klebb wins the award for ugliest woman in a Bond film, but ugly is usually a plus in the henchmen department, unfortunately other than her frightening looks all she's armed with are poison tipped boots, which don't do a whole lot of good when people can easily run away from you. (Seen in From Russia With Love)

When looking for a henchman it's best to find someone whose not going to flip on you when his cover is blown. Georgi is a pretty big wuss, he plays a wuss while he pretends to want to defect from Russia, then proves he's really a wuss when MI6 discovers the truth about his scheme. (Seen in The Living Daylights)

General Orlov makes the top worst henchmen list simply because he's barely in the film, yet he's supposed to be in charge of the lead villain's main plot to start World War III. Now how does a part-time henchman pull that off? (Seen in Octopussy)

For every action there is a reaction, for every Bond film there's a henchman, a sub villain whose not smart enough to plan and execute world domination but whose more physically suited for beating the crap out of people and getting the dirty work done. On many occassions the henchmen are actually better than the film's main villain, and in many cases the henchmen are the one you automatically think of when a certain Bond film comes of mind. Here are my Top 5 Bond henchmen.

Most of you probably don't even remember this guy, unless The World is Not Enough ranks high on your favorite Bond films. MI6 shot him in the head, the bullet is still lodged within his skull and will eventually kill him. But for the time being Renard has heightened senses and a high tolerance for pain lending him to be capable of almost anything.

Oddjob is probably one of the five villains in the Bond series that automatically comes to most peoples mind, with great strength and a metal brimmed hat the character was made infamous in one of Bond's most popular films, Goldfinger.

Jaws was the Roger Moore era version of Oddjob but instead of being short, he was tall, and instead of a metal hat he had metal teeth. What makes Jaws unique is as far as I know he was the only actor to play a recurring large villain role (Blofeld was a different actor each time). Jaws was the main henchman in both The Spy Who Loved Me and Moonraker, with Moonraker being the better performance in my opinon.

The Man With the Golden Gun is a Bond film that was saved solely on the basis of it's villains, without Christopher Lee and Hervé Villechaize it would have been a bust. Hervé's character of Nick Nack is simply entertaining, he's the Bond version of Dr. Loveless (from the old TV western The Wild Wild West), extremely funny, very engaging and deadly.

Played by cult Italian actress Luciana Paluzzi, Fiona is a shining example of the perfect Bond henchman, or henchwoman is this case. Gorgeous and deadly she's the Black Widow of the Bond series, and makes the underrated Thunderball that much greater a film.

While the best lesser Bond Girls were a little hard to rank, putting together a list of the top worst wasn't as difficult. There's a reason these "Bond Girls" received the limited screen time they did, not only horrible acting (even for a Bond Girl) but also these really aren't the most attractive ladies to grace a Bond film.

Goodnight is alright to look at, but when she opens her mouth and gets those strange looks on her face you can't help but think she's a little Special Ed.

Tomorrow Never Dies boasts some fairly entertaining action sequences but it fails horribly in character department. Paris is only one of the many horrible characters in this lack luster adventure. On a hotness ranking alone Teri Hatcher would be in the Top 10 out of all the women in the franchise, but as a short lived Bond Girl she doesn't work, she's better off sticking to Lois Lane.

The character of Silvia Trench actually makes an appearance in both Dr. No and From Russia With Love, but both appearances are completely pointless and frankly I don't find her attractive in the least...so what's the purpose? Many refer to her as the first Bond Girl... I find that insulting to Ursula Andress.

Besides being the most horrendous Bond Film to date Octopussy boasts some of the worst Bond Girls ever! Magda is bland, boring and not very attractive either.

Bibi Dahl is simply annoying. I didn't bother rating her in the Secret File Reviews since I don't consider her a Bond Girl. Her character is too young and she fits none of the Bond Girl stereotypes, except possibly ditsy. Bond Girl in training maybe, but for some reason many people lump her in the Bond Girl category... Bond Child maybe. Read More

James Bond Finale - Top 5 Lesser Bond Girls

The "lesser" Bond Girls, as I have called them are characters that are considered Bond Girls but really played a limited role in the films or were more of the co-star to the leading Bond Girl. These were quite difficult to rank seeing that out of all my Secret File Reviews I only rated a handful of them, so this list is made up of the few that I thought stood out most.

A mediocre Bond Girl in a mediocre Bond film. Lupe was Franz Sanchez's girlfriend in Licence To Kill; she's quite beautiful but plays the typical helpless damsel in distress.

Solange's role in Casino Royale is very short and quite pointless, but she manages to fit the purpose of extreme eye candy. A great choice for a lesser Bond Girl, too bad she didn't receive more screen time.

Moonraker happens to be my favorite Roger Moore Bond film, so don't be surprised if many of the characters from the film appear on my lists. Corinne also has limited screen time in the film but her character plays a pivotal role in progressing the plot.

Miranda Frost is the best thing in Die Another Day, really she could be lumped in the villain category, but she's technically considered a Bond Girl by most. She plays quite a significant role in the film; the character is quite well written and acted and makes this average Bond flick worth watching.

Coming up with 5 top lesser Bond Girls was difficult, so I had to throw in one I never rated in the Secret File Reviews, ironically that one ended up being #1! It's quite well deserved though, while only seeing less than five minutes of screen time the character of Jill Masterson in Goldfinger is probably one of the most well known Bond Girls in the franchise, all because of the classic scene with her laying on the bed covered in gold paint. Read More

James Bond Finale - Worst 5 Bond Songs

By itself this is a descent musical theme, but I can't help thinking it’s all an attempt at redoing the entire franchise, starting with the classic Bond theme song. This is the first Bond film since Dr. No and From Russia With Love not to have a title theme with vocals. Also the title sequence is completely stupid as it's a montage of previous films.

Is it any surprise that one the worst Bond films has one of the worst theme songs? A Bond theme song should be gritty and exotic, this theme song is more of something you might hear on a 30-minute family sitcom.

Sung by Rita Coolidge

When you think of artists who might sing a good Bond theme song does Paul McCartney pop into your head? Well not mine. Live and Let Die is just another one of those strange theme songs that may fit well with the film, but when the film is total crap it doesn't quite matter.

Sung by Paul McCartney & Wings

I think if you gave two four year old some pots and pans and let them go at it they could put a better song together. The vocals are beyond awful, the lyrics make no sense, the music is barely salvageable. "Another way to die" is playing this song on a loop!

Sung by Alicia Keys & Jack White

Some of the "bad" Bond songs are only bad in terms of being a Bond theme song, by themselves they can be quite enjoyable to listen to, that's not the case with this song. The Man With The Golden Gun is horrible in every sense of the word, as a Bond theme song and as just a song in general. It's the only Bond theme song I can't stand listening to under any conditions!

Sung by Lulu