James Bond films, from best to worst!

[Da Boat]

Connery is to Bond what Adam West is to Batman - serviceable in the role he's playing, but the role isn't really the character it purports to be.

Connery created Bond for the screen and it's the image Bond will always have until the character is retired from the screen. Charming and ruthless, wit but with an edge. In many ways Connery's Bond became the blueprint for most action heroes for decades. The character from the novel was less jokey but he's got the character down at everything else from the size to the physicality, machismo, relation with women.

Roger Moore is Adam West. And that's not a negative.

If I had to pick, the word serviceable would go to Brosnan. He played him too serious at times even though his movie were light-hearted and gimmicky. I wish the Brosnan from Remington Steel would have been Bond.

[Carabas]

Connery is to Bond what Adam West is to Batman - serviceable in the role he's playing, but the role isn't really the character it purports to be.

Okay, if Connery was Adam West, what was Roger Moore supposed to be?

[ChrisIII]

A lot of the 60's Bonds were sort of connected via Spectre (With Goldfinger being the main exception). From Russia with Love was in part revenge for Dr.No; (although in the novels it was SMERSH's revenge for various other defeats such as Le Chiffre). You Only Live Twice, On Her Majesty's Secret Service and Diamonds Are Forever are sort of a loose trilogy of sorts with Blofeld. Operation Bedlam in OHMSS is the search for Blofeld after the events of YOLT, and Diamonds's opening seems to be in part Bond's revenge for the death of Tracy (although she's not really mentioned), and it's kind of implied that the mission was a personal one for Bond, as M seems to state it was kind off the record during the briefing.

[Vic Vega]

It cannot be overstressed that after Live and Let Die, the Moore Bond is intentional camp that later one goes in for outright self parody as well.

I'm thinking of For Your Eyes Only and Bond's horrified reaction as the much younger Ice Skater Bibi Dhal tries to seduce him.

[AJBopp]

Okay, if Connery was Adam West, what was Roger Moore supposed to be?

Not serviceable

[GizmotheStark89]

If I had to be honest, I've always found Connery Overrated.

[Carabas]

If I had to be honest, I've always found Connery Overrated.

I'd rather go with "most of his movies have not aged well".

[GizmotheStark89]

I'd rather go with "most of his movies have not aged well".

No. I mean Connery, as in his performance.

[Carabas]

No. I mean Connery, as in his performance.

You're on your own with that one...

[Agent Z]

I'll put Casino Royale, License To Kill, The World Is Not Enough and GoldenEye as the best.

Octopussy and Die Another Day are the top worst.

Incoming rant.

But you wanna know what it is about D.A.D that I hate the most? No it's not the godawfulness of Jinx. No it's not the villain having a giant laser after Austin Powers made such a plot impossible to take seriously again. No it's not the villain undergoing surgery to change his appearance from an Asian man to a white man (though that comes close). No, it's the scene where M chews Madsen out for "failing to disclose" that Miranda Frost and Moon were classmates at Harvard.

What. The. Hell?

Okay, Moon is the son of a North Korean general attending a U.S. school. it’s entirely possible he was spied on the entire time he was at school. It’s possible there were congressional hearings held over whether he should be even given a student visa.

And Frost? Frost is the gold medal winner (legitimately silver; won gold when the winner overdosed on steroids,) in the 2000 Olympics. Given that, plus her looks, her ice queen persona, the nature of British tabloids and the controversy over her victory (Seriously, a competitor dies mid-Olympics from drug use?) it’s entirely possible Frost was the most famous woman IN Britain for a short period of time.

And M didn't know she went to school with Moon???!!!!

Does MI6, this supposedly elite intelligence organizations not do simple background checks? Heck, my friend's mom had to go through one of those to work the third shift at freaking WalMart. How did M not pick up on that for her employee. At least in Goldeneye they make it clear that MI6 knew that Alec Trevelyn was a Lienz Cossack. They just overlooked/ignored it for other reasons.

Man, MI6 was dumb in this film.

Okay rant over.

[Punisher007]

I love Connery in Dr. No, FRWL, and GF. But he was clearly in "don't give a crap mode" by the time of Thunderball, YOLT, and DAF. But honestly I'd put Craig and maybe Dalton over him myself. As for my rankings (in no real specific numeric order).

My Top Five:

-From Russia With Love.
-Casino Royale.
-On Her Majesty's Secret Service.
-Skyfall.
-Goldeneye.

My Bottom Five:

-Die Another Day.
-Moonraker.
-Diamonds Are Forever.
-A View To A Kill.
-The Man With The Golden Gun.

[GizmotheStark89]

You're on your own with that one...

Fine by me. I don't expect to convert anyone.

[Punisher007]

[QUOTE=Agent Z;2553985]I'll put Casino Royale, License To Kill, The World Is Not Enough and GoldenEye as the best.

Octopussy and Die Another Day are the top worst.

Incoming rant.

But you wanna know what it is about D.A.D that I hate the most? No it's not the godawfulness of Jinx. No it's not the villain having a giant laser after Austin Powers made such a plot impossible to take seriously again. No it's not the villain undergoing surgery to change his appearance from an Asian man to a white man (though that comes close). No, it's the scene where M chews Madsen out for "failing to disclose" that Miranda Frost and Moon were classmates at Harvard.

What. The. Hell?

Okay, Moon is the son of a North Korean general attending a U.S. school. it’s entirely possible he was spied on the entire time he was at school. It’s possible there were congressional hearings held over whether he should be even given a student visa.

And Frost? Frost is the gold medal winner (legitimately silver; won gold when the winner overdosed on steroids,) in the 2000 Olympics. Given that, plus her looks, her ice queen persona, the nature of British tabloids and the controversy over her victory (Seriously, a competitor dies mid-Olympics from drug use?) it’s entirely possible Frost was the most famous woman IN Britain for a short period of time.

And M didn't know she went to school with Moon???!!!!

Does MI6, this supposedly elite intelligence organizations not do simple background checks? Heck, my friend's mom had to go through one of those to work the third shift at freaking WalMart. How did M not pick up on that for her employee. At least in Goldeneye they make it clear that MI6 knew that Alec Trevelyn was a Lienz Cossack. They just overlooked/ignored it for other reasons.

Man, MI6 was dumb in this film.

Okay rant over.[QUOTE]

Absolutely 100% agree. In fact, I've made this very same argument before in other places. M and MI6 look like idiots in that film.

[Kieran_Frost]

I don't understand the appeal of Skyfall. The villain is a rip-off of the Joker, the Bond girls are lame, the stunts are underwhelming the story is boring, all they do is go to Bond's school and wait till the villain arrives and it ends in the woods. Genius stuff there.

How is the villain a Joker rip-off??? Disfigured villains are Bond classics (it's uber Bond to have that); and Silva doesn't want to watch the world burn (like Joker), he has a VERY specific end goal in mind. Third, and most importantly the only true Bond girl in Skyfall is Judi; why waste time on the plot of canon fodder?

They tried to bring in the old tropes like Q and Money-penny but in a lame manner.

Bond... is... tropes, though. That's the different between a Bond film and a Jason Bourne film...

Also I don't think it looks good visually. I had problems with that when watching in the theater.

It was nominated for the Oscar for Best Cinematography (and the BAFTA AND most importantly the American Society of Cinematographers)... not to be 'that guy' BUT... that's a lot of people who really know what they are talking about when it comes to a film successfully delivering good visuals.

The storyline from Casino Royale is actually picked up in Spectre-and Silva is kind of retconned into being part of the organization in an attempt to connect all the Craig films.

Yeah, I didn't like that part either, Silva is much better as a former MI:5 agent with a grudge.

Connery is to Bond what Adam West is to Batman - serviceable in the role he's playing, but the role isn't really the character it purports to be.

[Cyke]

And M didn't know she went to school with Moon???!!!!

Does MI6, this supposedly elite intelligence organizations not do simple background checks? Heck, my friend's mom had to go through one of those to work the third shift at freaking WalMart. How did M not pick up on that for her employee. At least in Goldeneye they make it clear that MI6 knew that Alec Trevelyn was a Lienz Cossack. They just overlooked/ignored it for other reasons.

Man, MI6 was dumb in this film.

Okay rant over.

I think that's a perfectly valid opinion. When I did my retrospective binge on Hulu, I was coming to the same conclusions myself, at least for the Brosnan-era MI6. They did fine in Goldeneye but steadily degraded into jokes in DAD. But in hindsight, the Craig Bond movies made Judi Dench's M much different and more mature in comparison, with MI:6 likewise becoming more efficient (i.e. Moneypenny being a rather good field agent, Tanner getting MI:6 up and running again in Churchill's old bunker, etc). Seeing M and MI:6 in Brosnan's movies made me appreciate them more in Craig's movies, because they were treated with a bit more capability.