Which is the most underrated, and which is the most overrated Bond film in your view?

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  • The Red KindThe Red Kind EnglandPosts: 3,118MI6 Agent
    edited May 2022

    Agree with that.

    AVTAK may not be the best, and admittedly appears towards the bottom of my 25, but it's comfort Bond. Bank Holiday Monday Bond. Has a nice summer feel. Love the music. Christopher Walken is great and Roger is fun in all his Bond films.

    "Any of the opposition around..?"
  • emtiememtiem SurreyPosts: 5,686MI6 Agent
    edited May 2022

    Summery is a good description, yes. For some reason the scene that always sticks in the mind for me is the garden party at the chateau: I'd just like to be there- it looks lovely! 😁

    Gymkata said:

    Tanya Roberts and Patrick Bauchau are both uniformly terrible in the film. I've seen Bauchau be decent in other films so I'm not sure what was going on here.

    The San Francisco fire chase scene with the incompetent cops. It's just terribly conceived and executed and it sinks the entire film by a complete star rating for me.

    I think Bauchau is way worse than Roberts even, to be honest- I have no idea what's going on there! The bizarre bit where he meets 'St. John Smythe' at the gate for the first time and leaves a weird pause in his dialogue big enough to drive a Rolls Royce through... ?! But the rubbish bits are some of the things I love it most for; I find it all very endearing!

    And yes, the fire engine chase is pretty poor, but the scene I really don't get is the 'fight' with the baboons in Stacey's house: how did that get put in the script- there's no concept there! 😂 The fight in the chip warehouse is at least a fight in a chip warehouse with a conveyor belt and robots and things (even if it's pretty poor)- written down it looks like there are things you could do with that when you get on set and the stunt guys can work some business out. But a fight in an empty house...

    Still, as I say, I love all those flaws! It never bores me, it just charms me.

  • emtiememtiem SurreyPosts: 5,686MI6 Agent

    Yeah I almost feel like you can see Roger starting to think "what's he doing...?" 🤣

  • chrisno1chrisno1 LondonPosts: 3,172MI6 Agent

    IMO, AVTAK is not underrated at all, it is one of the worst in the series and for me is always in a bottom three. That'll upset some [see above] but there you go. For more on my take: https://www.ajb007.co.uk/discussion/49422/moore-and-more-in-depth-critiques#latest

  • emtiememtiem SurreyPosts: 5,686MI6 Agent
    edited May 2022

    It's all subjective; I guess we should try to not feel upset by others' reactions to things, nor I'm sure would any of us aim to try and upset anyone else with our thoughts.

    My own personal feeling on it is that there hasn't been a Bond movie yet which is an actual bad movie. Some are better than others, but it's been a run of 25 good films I'd say, so it's all relative for me.

  • BarbelBarbel ScotlandPosts: 36,053Chief of Staff
  • chrisno1chrisno1 LondonPosts: 3,172MI6 Agent

    You are absolutely right on that. While I may dislike a few Bond films, compared to many many many more non-Bond films, even those are vibrant canvases of art.

  • sirsosirso Posts: 209MI6 Agent

    I agree. The only thing I liked was the fight scene in the train, which for once showed Craig's Bond as really having to fight his way out of it, rather than as usual finding his opponents easy to dispatch.

  • Lady RoseLady Rose London,UKPosts: 2,667MI6 Agent

    AVTAK had the makings' of a good film but was most definitely let down by Tanya Roberts and the fire brigade scene. In all honesty it was also let down by Sir Roger. He was far too old by that stage.

  • Matt SMatt S Oh Cult Voodoo ShopPosts: 6,596MI6 Agent

    These are also my picks.

    I think Casino Royale is awful. I don't get why it's at the top of most lists. Casino Royale is terribly paced with boring action sequences. The romance is unbelievable, with Bond's love for Vesper resembling a schoolboy's love for his teacher. Daniel Craig is completely miscast in a film written for a much younger actor. It's frustrating how Bond fails at everything except capturing Mr White.

    I think Moonraker is a masterpiece and doesn't deserve to always be at the bottom. It's one of the most exciting films of the series. Dr Goodhead is one of the best Bond girls for how she is more capable than Bond is an serves the story so well.

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  • SpectreOfDefeatSpectreOfDefeat Posts: 404MI6 Agent

    Overrated: You Only Live Twice.

    Some classic production design and music aside, this is a yawningly paced film. Connery gives his worst performance as Bond, Donald Pleasance is good but underutilised (his failure to return in OHMSS means this version of Blofeld doesn't get a satisfactory rematch against Bond), and the secondary villains Osato and Helga Brandt are fairly thinly drawn and dull. This film's iconic imagery (volcano base, Blofeld and his cat) ensures its legacy far more than its actual quality.

    Underrated: Tomorrow Never Dies.

    Criticised by some as boring and lacking substance, Tomorrow Never Dies is a slyly satirical film with energetic action sequences (the motorbike chase, the BMW chase), an interesting villain concept in Elliot Carver, and a capable and memorable Bond girl in Wai Lin. It also has one of the best climaxes in the series in terms of sheer action.

    "The spectre of defeat..."

  • HalconHalcon Zen TemplePosts: 486MI6 Agent

    overrated - Goldfinger, absolutely...iconic moments in an otherwise somewhat boring film imo.....


    underrated - License to Kill ...it had the misfortune of being released alongside Tim Burton's Batman....Dalton's Bond here is the definition of a cool killer....

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