I have to watch all the Bond films. 22 films resulting in the $4.8 billion franchise that is the 007 series. To my credit, I've already seen "Casino Royale", and I've played the video game Goldeneye, but I don't think that counts. I shall be reviewing these 21 remaining films in whatever order I receive them from Lovefilm, but they will appear chronologically on this here blog, in case you're interested.
Off we go!
Synoahpsis, "Dr. No"
The highly entertaining first installment of the Bond series kicks off with a murder most foul in Kingston, Jamaica. It quickly becomes apparent that some sort of fiendish plot is afoot.
Basically, this Chinese/German guy called Dr. No (who dresses very much like Dr. Evil, but I'm guessing it's the other way around), has been shooting out some radiation and interfering with NASA's rockets launching from Cape Canaveral. This all has something to do with world domination, I'm sure, but I wasn't clear on how the good doctor planned on doing that one.
So good old Jimmy sneaks onto Dr. No's secret and very off-limits island to find out what the dealio is, there upon meeting a shell-seeking Bond girl who doesn't like strangers. Bond eventually woos the girl, establishing the pattern to follow in subsequent films, I'm sure, and causes the radioactive rocket-interfering secret base to blow up along the way.
It was fairly fun to watch, but not that much actually seemed to happen in the film, and it could have done with a slightly more elaborate plot. As the first one of Ian Fleming's books to be put onto the silver screen, it was a good start.
The best bit:
The car chase on the Jamaican back roads between James, in his cool little roadster, and three guys pretending to be blind driving a herse and shooting at him. Bond does some fancy driving, causing his pursuers to veer of the side of a cliff, tumbling down and exploding, as ya do. A bystander asks what happened, to which the smug Bond replies "They were on the way to a funeral."
Marks out of 10: 5.0
Synoahpsis, "From Russia with Love"
This one was loads more fun. It had real cold war Russians in it and everything... even one of those cat-stroking faceless evil supervillans!!
a grand chess master working for SPECTRE devises a plot so thick, it just might get audiences everywhere to watch it. They set up a trap for the British Secret Service... particularly for their expereinced 00 operative, James Bond. What's the bait? The trap itself – knowing full well that British Intelligence see traps as challenges.
Anyway, Bond must extract a Russian dissident and a cutting edge decoder machine from the Russian consulate in Istanbul, but is there more to this woman than meets the eye? Well... yeah... it wouldn't really be a Bond film, otherwise.
The best bit:
The tense exchange aboard a sleeper carriage bound for Trieste between Bond and the highly trained SPECTRE operative sent to kill him.
Marks out of 10: A huge improvement over the last film in terms of story line, effects, action sequences and more warrants a solid 6.5
Synoahpsis: "You Only Live Twice"
This one was quite fun. I won't be spoiling anything by reveling that Bond dies in this film. Well, not really, but right at the start, we see him get assassinated and receive a hero's burial at sea, but he's not dead at all! Oh no... in fact, he's more alive than ever, and he's off to uncover the evil plot behind a U.S. spacecraft being mysteriously abducted whilst orbiting our fair blue planet.
This film also contains ravenous piranha, so look out for that one when you open the DVD case.
The best bit:
The flight of "Little Nelly", Bond's helicopter which folds apart and stows neatly into 4 large suitcases. Bond takes to the skies in this tiny helicopter loaded with guns and air -to-air missiles, only to find himself, not surprisingly, in the midst of a fierce dogfight with 4 baddies over the Japanese isles.
Marks out of 10:
For special effects and the inventiveness of the gadgets, as well as a quite amusing and hopefully farfetched plot line, I'd give this one a 6.2.
Synoahpis: "Moonraker"
This one was a little crazy. A space shuttle is on loan from the USA to Britain only to be hijacked in transit... from the top of a flippin plane. What follows is Bond's whirlwind, globe-hopping adventure all over the world to track down the missing shuttle, Moonraker.
Cut a long story short, he finds the spacecraft and uncovers a truly and fantastically diabolical plot to kill all humans on earth with a crazy nerve gas... but you know... Bond stops it from happening, so cool beans.
The best bit
No question... the massive fight in space between the U.S. space soldiers (which I'm sure are training at some undisclosed location even now) and the private malitia of the Drax corporation. There were way too many lasers, and it basically looked like the big fight out of Star Wars Episode IV.
Marks out of 10:
This one was very farfetched and way, way too cheesy. 4.0.
Synoahpsis, "Quantam of Solace":
So I went from watching the very 1st Bond film to the very last straight away, and I must say, there is a difference. The film opens with the same old hugely long credit sequence set to a backdrop of silhouetted women dancing about with bullets firing about in slow motion, so good stuff.
This was one of them globe-trotting, fast paced, action blockbusters, and a thumping ok one at that! Right from the get-go, we see Bond in a car chase in Italy, though we, the concerned audience, have no idea what's going on... and we don't care: there's a car chase! Guns! Aston Martins! Explosions! Who needs a story??
Basically, Bond uncovers the plot of a frighteningly embedded secret organization to control the world's resources by overthrowing governments, establishing dictatorships, wheeling and dealing in oil and land with big Western governmental bodies and all sorts of things. Bond and the Bond girl work to uncover the scheme, chase down the baddies and save the day for the people of Bolivia, fighting baddies, upsetting MI6 bosses, evading explosions and possibly even forge a deep and lasting friendship along the way.
The film was entertaining but a little disappointing, especially in light of Craig and the writers falling well short of the bar they set themselves in "Casino Royale".
The best bit:
It's a toss up between Bond's aviation talents whilst fleeing for his life from a trigger-happy fighter plane above the deserts of Bolivia and the big boat chase sequence through the busy harbor of Port-Au-Prince, Haiti.
Marks out of 10: 7.0
No comments:
Post a Comment