Welcome to Part 7 of In Conclusion: The James Bond Series. The last time we were here the Dr. said “No” and we were told to “Look Up, Look Down, and Look Out” for Sean Connery’s “Thunderball”. Today’s films are a mix of 2 different Bond generations. That being said here is #10 and #9.
10.
The poster in a way is similar to the one we saw with “Tomorrow Never Dies”. You have Bond up front although not centered and standing next to him are the main Bond girls, Christmas Jones (I’m not kidding you, that’s her name) and Elektra King. In the background we have what appears to be Renard looking at us sort of like how Voldemort appears in “Harry Potter and the Sor…I mean Philosopher’s Stone”. In a collage below them lies a series of actions scenes and shots of transportation vehicles. It’s an alright poster mainly because it does show the main people you need to know but otherwise its pretty dull, in my opinion but then again I’ll take it over poorly drawn characters and Amazon women fighting on a distant planet.
This is a bit controversial to put in my Top 10. Some hate it for various reasons. I like it because I found it to be a great action/suspense film. Brosnan is Bond of course and I feel he gives a good performance. He’s close to Connery and Dalton in this up until the end where he drops puns galore and falls back into the “Moore” territory. In the end while his performance is good he desperately seems to try and be an unusual mix of Connery, Moore, and Dalton which annoys me because he doesn’t just try and stick to being gritty and intense or just campy and fun.
I honestly feel that this story would’ve suited Dalton better on terms of it trying to portray a “conflicted” Bond similar to the one seen in “Licence to Kill” and what Connery tried to do in “Diamonds Are Forever” until the opening credit sequence hit and it became a Moore film with Connery. This follows the “triangle of evil” format in villains that was established in From Russia with Love and appeared in the John Glen films. To avoid giving away anything I won’t mention the primary antagonist or their henchmen but I will mention Renard, the secondary antagonist. Renard is a villain that they tried to give a superhuman quality to, which I didn’t really like. I felt his “ex-KGB terrorist” character was great but everything else about him is just bleh and for that I’m glad he isn’t the main villain.
Bond:So you can’t feel any pain because a bullet to the head?
Renard:Yep
Bond:That’s just stupid.
Renard:Wait to you see the next villain.
Denise Richards as the main Bond girl nearly kills this film. She’s just really awful and I often wonder why they cast her. She pretty much continues the streak of bad Bond girls that would run til about Casino Royale. The action sequences are very well done and the best in the entire Brosnan series. I was happy to see Bond back in Istanbul but it doesn’t have the same feeling that it did in From Russia with Love.
The theme song “The World is Not Enough” by Garbage is not that bad, but it certainly isn’t one of the better entries in the series. I give the movie credit for story and give it criticism for dumb things like Denise Richards’ Christmas Jones character, Super Renard, and of course the ending scene with Bond and Christmas. Stuff like that hinders it but I still think it has one of the stronger stories in the series. Like I said I can’t give too much away because its pretty much a “watch from beginning to end” kind of story like “Psycho” except nowhere near as good.
9.
If you just simply remove the name of it, you would only guess its a Bond film because thats clearly Roger Moore centered on top with Agent XXX (she’s a much better actor than Vin Diesel and Ice Cube btw). That appears to be the tanker that Stromberg uses and I’m assuming the rest are either submarines for the tanker or British Naval Ships. I have no idea. It’s just typical 70’s disaster movie poster #007.
This film has grown on me in the last few years. It was really low when I first made this list back in 2009 and has since gone up vastly. Roger plays Bond in his third outing and we finally see what I call, “The Roger Moore Bond” with quips, charm, and poor delivery of some lines. He’s really good in this movie and it feels like he’s playing “James Bond, Secret Agent of MI6” and not “Roger Moore” as he does in his later films. Curd Jurgens plays Stromberg, the antagonist of the story. He isn’t bad but he isn’t really memorable either.
He works for the story but theirs parts where you can really tell that they wanted another character in the role. It is believed that Blofeld was supposed to return here but thanks to Kevin McClory that wasn’t happening. It’s a shame too because I actually think Blofeld would’ve been great in this story. It’s a plot that he and SPECTRE would do and it would’ve been nice to actually give Blofeld a “real” ending (more on that in another entry).
However at the same time it also means that it would’ve connected it with the Connery films which I feel the Moore films shouldn’t be. That’s because both Bonds look, feel, and act different. Barbara Bach plays Anya aka XXX, the Bond girl of the story. Once again its nice to see a strong Bond girl after suffering from the previous 3 films and their series of ditz’s and damsels in distress. Also, due to the pre title sequence her character shares a greater purpose in this story.
Richard Kiel plays Jaws, the main henchmen of the story. Jaws here is menacing, dangerous and could tear Bond apart if given the shot. His character is fairly realistic until the end, where you just have to call, “b.s.” The action sequences aren’t so bad in this movie. The best come whenever Jaws is in the movie and of course the pre title sequence.
Location wise I liked Austria bu I got bored of seeing Egypt for some of the film. I just don’t like deserts in film most of the time (unless its “Lawrence of Arabia). Sometimes it works, other times it doesn’t. I know its contradictory since I didn’t mind it in Diamonds are Forever but that’s because it ends quick. I got bored of the sea as well because you can only do so much in water. The sets save those scenes though somewhat.
The theme song, “Nobody Does It Better” by Carly Simon is a classic and I always enjoy listening to it. Overall this movie is weird for me. I like Bond, XXX, and Jaws, and of course the story was great but I just get bored in this movie at places. I’m not sure what it is, perhaps if I go over it again I’ll like it better. Until then it sits at #9 on my list, but it could be higher if I go over the series again.
That’s all for this week’s edition of In Conclusion: The James Bond Series. Stay tuned and as always feel free to ask any questions.