Bond 25 - "No Time to Die" (2021) (1 Viewer)

[Osato]

Apple TV 4K is all you need. Under $200. Worth every penny and more imo.

I’ll have to set up another plan to save for it.

 

[Jake Lipson]

Well, Bond 25 is in the news again....for another weird thing that happened at their studio...

https://edition.cnn.com/2019/06/22/uk/uk-james-bond-pinewood-camera-scli-gbr-intl/index.html

What is wrong with this guy?

 

[Sam Favate]

Wow, to think that the Bond movies used to be smooth operations that went off every other year, and now there's a production this troubled. If we ever needed Cubby Broccoli back, it's now.

 

[Tommy R]

I remember plenty of Bond movies that had difficulties and commotion recounted in those “Inside” documentaries that were put together when the series first came to DVD. The filming of the tanker chase sequence from Licence to Kill in that desert in Mexico had everyone thinking the production was cursed.

 

[Sam Favate]

I remember plenty of Bond movies that had difficulties and commotion recounted in those “Inside” documentaries that were put together when the series first came to DVD. The filming of the tanker chase sequence from Licence to Kill in that desert in Mexico had everyone thinking the production was cursed.

That is true. Licence To Kill was a troubled production. I don't doubt that the mess it caused had something to do with the producers not wanting to mount another production for several years (six, as it turned out).

 

[Tino]

I don't doubt that the mess it caused had something to do with the producers not wanting to mount another production for several years (six, as it turned out).

I thought the delay was due to a rights issue. Not previous production issues.

 

[Worth]

That is true. Licence To Kill was a troubled production. I don't doubt that the mess it caused had something to do with the producers not wanting to mount another production for several years (six, as it turned out).

It wasn't that they didn't want to make another Bond film - work was well underway for a third Dalton film that was scheduled for release in 1991. But tensions and an eventual lawsuit with the new regime at MGM scuttled those plans until 1994.

http://007today.blogspot.com/2006/08/why-six-year-gap-between-license-to.html

 

[Sam Favate]

Yes, that's all true. I just meant that after the problems with the previous production, no one was probably eager to get back into it.

I wish there had been a third Dalton movie. I thought he was very good in the role.

 

[Worth]

Dalton's the hardest one for me to judge - he never had a good script or direction. I think he would have been better in Goldeneye than Brosnan.

 

[Tommy R]

I don’t know if the rumors are true, but had Dalton been in GoldenEye Anthony Hopkins would have been considered for 006.

 

[Jack P]

Couldn't stand Dalton. Just never seemed right in the part to me and the real problem was that there was an over-correction to appeal to Fleming purists who spent a whole decade bitching about Roger Moore basically (see Raymond Benson's snarky takes in "The James Bond Bedside Companion"; not to mention the endless puffery for "Never Say Never Again" which was simply not that good a film). "Licence To Kill" for me was a film devoid of fun on all levels and all but succeeded in killing the franchise for a while.

I enjoyed the Brosnan films. "Goldeneye" was a step back in the right direction for me with the only blemish being its bad music score. Even though the last one got too outsized I still enjoyed it. I have not enjoyed a single one of the Craig films. The man is simply not Bond to me nor are these films all that special (four movies to give us a rather ridiculous and poorly plotted continuum that somehow manages to transform Bond from someone learning his trade to ready for retirement in just a couple years? Plus, while I liked Judi Dench as a foil for Brosnan playing a veteran Bond, retaining her for the Craig movies was simply a bad idea and I couldn't stand her).

 

[Worth]

Couldn't stand Dalton. Just never seemed right in the part to me and the real problem was that there was an over-correction to appeal to Fleming purists who spent a whole decade bitching about Roger Moore basically...

I mostly agree, but who knows what Dalton would have been like with a decent script and real direction. John Glen knew how to stage an action scene, but left the actors to their own devices. It also took Moore three films to really make the role his own. If he had only done Live and Let Die and Man with the Golden Gun, he'd probably be largely forgotten.

 

[Gary Seven]

I liked Dalton, particularly in the Living Daylights. I thought that was a nice expansion of the short story on which it was based. And yes, his portrayal of Bond was tilted to Fleming's Bond, which I think is a good thing. I understand he read the novels to get a good understanding of the character. While I did enjoy Moore's Bond, there is little difference between his Bond and his Simon Templar.

 

[Worth]

Dalton's performance felt at odds with the material much of the time. But at that point, the films couldn't decide if they were fairly serious thrillers or light-hearted romps and lurched uneasily between the two. The latter Moore films had the same issues, but Moore was already well established as Bond.

 

[Josh Steinberg]

I find the 1980s decade of Bond films to be very difficult to watch - the pacing on the films feel very off to me, and even though I hate to use the word "boring" in this context, I get bored easily when I watch them. I do have a soft spot for Licence To Kill because it was one of the very first Bond films that I saw, and I guess I still see it through the eyes of my much younger self, because I enjoy it in all of its cheesy 80s action movie glory.

My issue isn't really the actors playing Bond. It's the dull scripts and lethargic direction.

 

[Jack P]

"Octopussy" was the first Bond film I saw theatrically and it was a perfect blend for me that still holds up. Moore had reached his peak and shouldn't have done "View To A Kill" which is a terrible retread of "Goldfinger" with unappealing females.

 

[Worth]

I find the 1980s decade of Bond films to be very difficult to watch - the pacing on the films feel very off to me, and even though I hate to use the word "boring" in this context, I get bored easily when I watch them. I do have a soft spot for Licence To Kill because it was one of the very first Bond films that I saw, and I guess I still see it through the eyes of my much younger self, because I enjoy it in all of its cheesy 80s action movie glory.

My issue isn't really the actors playing Bond. It's the dull scripts and lethargic direction.

A View to a Kill and Licence to Kill are my least favourite Bonds. I think I prefer View just slightly more because it at least has some familiar Bondian tropes - Moore, John Barry, appealing locations. Licence just feels like a second-tier Joel Silver production of the era, something that might have starred Steven Seagal when he was starting out. It's also the ugliest Bond film visually - they spruced it up for blu-ray, but if you've ever seen it in 35mm, it looked like mud.

 

[Josh Steinberg]

A View to a Kill and Licence to Kill are my least favourite Bonds. I think I prefer View just slightly more because it at least has some familiar Bondian tropes - Moore, John Barry, appealing locations. Licence just feels like a second-tier Joel Silver production of the era, something that might have starred Steven Seagal when he was starting out. It's also the ugliest Bond film visually - they spruced it up for blu-ray, but if you've ever seen it in 35mm, it looked like mud.

I think I might like Licence better because of those flaws - it's at least different, whereas the other 80s films all blur into one cookie cutter bit of formula. Each of those four other 80s Bond films feels basically interchangeable to me. Licence, even though it is indeed an ugly looking film, doesn't play out with the exact same formula as the previous films.

 

[Tommy R]

I think that every Bond movie from The Spy Who Loved Me to Licence to Kill feel too long and have pacing problems, even though I really like a few of them. John Glen, bless his heart, seemed obsessed with copying the new pacing formula that TSWLM started. It would have been GREAT if they had given Dalton a new director. If Licence to Kill has been 30 minutes shorter it would have been AMAZING.

 

[Josh Steinberg]

Tommy, thank you for saying that. The Spy Who Loved Me is held in such high regard that I feel like the black sheep of the family for suggesting that it's not one of my favorites, but there, I said it. It goes on forever and seems so self-important. Even when it's trying to be humorous, it seems to be telling its jokes in a serious fashion and not enjoying making them - something which is even more pronounced in For Your Eyes Only, which I also have a lot of difficulty with. Of Moore's entries, I tend to like The Man With The Golden Gun and Moonraker the best, which tend to be disliked by most.

The thing is, I'll watch a Bond movie I don't like over most other things, so the problem is probably with me, but... at least something like Licence To Kill kinda moves at parts. It's cheesy, it's cheap looking, and it's a total 80s action movie cliche, but it moves.