| A brilliant pre-credits scene, the exotic location of
India, a fantastically suave villain played by Louis Jourdan, and a
believable love interest. And for those Roger Moore detractors out there, a
terrifying prospect - he actually dresses up in a clown's outfit! Final proof
that he's turned Bond into a caricature? Well, no - in fact, this scene is
the most tense of the entire film. If Octopussy had been the last in
the series, I could have forgiven For Your Eyes Only. But it just
keeps getting worse... | |
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| Not even Roger Moore can save A View to a Kill. The potentially
good plot is ruined by bad writing, bad acting, and a total lack of interest
in what makes a Bond film special. The Living Daylights is a mixed bag.
Timothy Dalton is a great actor, and plays Fleming's intense Bond - but he
doesn't play the movie Bond. He has a singular inability to deliver
one-liners. There are great moments - notably the scene where Bond escapes
from Czechoslovakia by tobogganing in a cello case! But it all dissolves into
a confusing bundle in Afghanistan (which may be strangely topical, but doesn't
help the film). And then Licence to Kill, as everyone knows, is just
appalling.
And so, after a long rest, GoldenEye seems like something of a
renaissance. Pierce Brosnan is a popular Bond at the moment. Oddly, I think
he's far more in the mould of Roger Moore than Sean Connery - suave, elegant
and witty. Here's a man who can deliver the jokes - unfortunately, the current
crop of writers are not a patch on Mankiewicz and Wood, providing crude double
entendres like third-rate Talbot Rothwells. At least the film itself goes for
the spectacular once more - forget the misguided attempts to analyse Bond's
psyche, and just enjoy the fun. The end is a bit of a disappointment though -
no big battle, just a couple of men duking it out.
It's a pity that Tomorrow Never Dies is a hastily knocked together
ultraviolent Hollywood thriller, all machine guns blazing like some ghastly
Lethal Weapon rip-off. And The World Is Not Enough is not very
interesting. You know Bond's going wrong when he can fall onto the surface of
the Millennium Dome and fracture his shoulder. Surely it ought to have
collapsed under him and cushioned his fall! Brosnan reportedly wants to
stretch his acting muscles as Bond - the thing is, he's not a very good actor
and it isn't a serious acting part. He should play on his strengths, namely
the light comedy. Brosnan probably thinks the confrontation with Elektra is
his big moment. His best scene is clearly when he's impersonating the Russian
nuclear scientist, complete with cod Russian accent and air of studied
nonchalance. It's a masterpiece of comic understatement, ranking almost up
there with Roger Moore and the fish. |
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