As I was growing up James Bond movies would be played on TV fairly often; not least because ITV owned the rights to the entire series and running the occasional Bond marathon was a great way to get people watching that channel. Before I get to the review and say just how much I loved the new James Bond movie, I'm going to express my feelings on the series so far first. (Though if you are in a hurry, I absolutely blooming loved "Skyfall" - so there's that.)
First of all I have to admit that there are three Bond actors out of seven which I have never seen perform in the role. I've seen the four major Bond actors: Sean Connery (the original), Roger Moore (the one I remember most from growing up), Pierce Brosnan (my first Bond in the cinema) and Daniel Craig (the current one).
However, I have never seen George Lazenby (who my friends all dissed when I was following a Bond marathon on tv while still in school), Timothy Dalton (whose run as Bond has always been rated pretty low) or Peter Sellers (whose unofficial spoof of James Bond, titled "Casino Royale", is generally recognised as dire).
When I say "official" James Bond movies, I mean the 23 that were produced by Eon. There are two full movies and a tv episode that weren't produced by Eon. The 1960s "Casino Royale" spoof, the 1980s movie that brought back Sean Connery titled "Never Say Never Again" and the tv episode from the 50s (apparently part of a dramatic anthology series called "Climax Mystery Theatre") is also titled "Casino" marks the first ever on screen appearance of James Bond, except on that occasion the character was played an American. I have not seen any of the unofficial works, not because I need my Bond to be official, but because these are shown less often (with the tv episode for a long time pretty much unknown by most people) and are generally not rated very highly.
The films I have seen and enjoyed oddly often seem to come from directors who have made more than one Bond movie. So without further ado here are my top four James Bond directors....
4. Guy Hamilton:
Don't think of the number as indicating my opinion of the director. In fact, instead you can think of it as indicating the number of movies that director has made (since it rather neatly fits that pattern). So first up is Guy Hamilton who made no less than 4 James Bond movies, starting with perhaps the most iconic:
Goldfinger (1964)
The iconic theme tune sung by Shirley Bassey, the Aston Martin, the iconic line from the eponymous villain, the gold painted woman. These are just a few of the iconic elements of the movie Goldfinger. It's become recognised as the definitive Bond movie by many fans. Unlike the prevailing opinion, I actually prefer Roger Moore to Sean Connery as Bond. However, of Connery's movies this is definitely my favourite.
Live And Let Die (1973)
Perhaps particularly well-known for the Bond song which appears to be one of the few (if not the only) decent songs from Paul McCartney's solo career. I don't know how much control the director had over this, but somehow his Bond films seem to feature some of the best Bond songs of all time. There's a possible accusation of racism to be made here. While this film features more black actors than had ever seen before in a Bond movie, they pretty much always seem to be bad guys here. They are pretty well developed and character-filled bad guys, but bad guys nonetheless. Still, this is a well-paced and fun film and a great debut movie for Roger Moore in the role.
The Man With The Golden Gun (1974)
Christopher Lee plays the villain Scaramanga in what has become an iconic role. This is the film with the unforgettable car stunt where a car flips across a river. Though this film has its ups and downs this is an absolutely unmissable Bond movie.
Unfortunate other Bond film: Diamonds Are Forever (1971)
After Sean Connery was replaced in "On Her Majesty's Secret Service" with George Lazenby the studio decided to bring Connery back. Unfortunately Sean Connery's heart wasn't really in it, the villains are a bit naff and the film generally felt a bit tired. Still, another person they brought back was Shirley Bassey who provides us with yet another of the more memorable Bond themes (once again the song shares the title of the movie).
3. Lewis Gilbert
My favourite 2 of his 3 Bond movies both contain some very iconic content. This time it is the villains in particular who are perhaps the most memorable elements. Gilbert also directed one of my favourite British films: "Shirley Valentine".
You Only Live Twice (1967)
The villain Blofeld goes through a number of incarnations in Bond and in some cases is deliberately unnamed for legal reasons. However, the iconic Blofeld is the one in this film played by Donald Pleasance. Oddly enough, this script was written by none other than the great children's writer: Roald Dahl! Blofeld also iconically has his base in a highly impractical location (i.e. the base is found...
inside a live volcano
...)
The Spy Who Loved Me (1977)
This is the film which introduced the villain "Jaws", a lumbering goliath with powerful metal teeth. In this film Bond is expected to work alongside a Russian agent and it's all very exciting. The opening scene where Bond fights bad guys while skiing is widely recognised as a high point for the franchise. Also, the theme titled "Nobody Does It Better" (so not eponymous this time) is definitely one of the better ones.
Unfortunate other Bond film: Moonraker (1979)
It's now often seen as a bad sign in the horror genre when the studios start setting the sequel in space, however this was an idea that could have worked well for Bond where the films are always pretty wacky anyway. When an army of astronauts start coming to the rescue towards the end it's not clear where they fit into the plot, but it does admittedly look kind of cool. Still, in the end the plot is rather slow moving, the villain isn't really terribly compelling, Jaws randomly has a drastic change in character part way through which I felt was never quite earnt, and in spite of the change in location the storyline feels a bit too reminiscent of earlier Bond movies.
2. Martin Campbell
Martin Campbell has done a lot of films asides from Bond movies, but I've not really enjoyed any of his non-Bond work. His tv series "Edge of Darkness" was really unappealing (and he also directed the more recent film version starring Mel Gibson) and I wasn't keen on "Mask of Zorro" (starring the awesome Antonio Banderas alongside Anthony Hopkins who was phoning it in). I've also not heard much praise for his recent "Green Lantern" movie.
Goldeneye (1995)
However, in spite of Campbell's poor track record with non-Bond films, it could be argued that without him the Bond franchise would have died off years ago. During Timothy Dalton's run, the darker tone of his movies did not seem to be appealing to audiences. After Dalton's last movie was followed by a six year gap due to legal disputes, Martin Campbell stepped up to the plate to reintroduce Bond to the world and he ended up making what was to be Pierce Brosnan's best movie in the role. The film is all the more memorable due to the classic first-person-shooter videogame for the N64 which used the Bond movie as a template. Famke Jannsen's role as one of the villains was the start of a pretty successful film career. Sean Bean and Alan Cumming both have very memorable roles too and this was also the first appearance of Judi Dench as James Bond's handler "M" (along with a new Miss Moneypenny played by Samantha Bond). Judi Dench has continued to play the role of M for 17 years now.
Casino Royale (2006)
After Campbell so successfully started up Pierce Brosnan's run as Bond it's perhaps not surprising that he was called back to usher in Daniel Craig's era. While the film has a different feel, Campbell still seems to be able to call on a sense of fun that is perfect for the franchise. In spite of most of the film involving a card game, this remains an exciting Bond film and I would say that both Campbell's movies more than hold their own against the older classics.
1. Roger Spottiswoode
I was going to put Sam Mendes on the number one spot (i.e. with only one Bond movie directed), but I realised that I couldn't possibly leave out "Tomorrow Never Dies", my second favourite movie of the Brosnan era. This director also did what I feel is a rather underrated Schwarzenegger movie: "The 6th Day" which was particularly entertaining since the bad guys kept on dying and then cloning themselves to return all over again.
Tomorrow Never Dies (1997)
The follow-up to Goldeneye gave us a surprisingly good performance from Teri Hacher, however overall she was kind of upstaged by the appearance of kick-ass Michelle Yeoh. Jonathan Pryce plays a cool bad guy as the media mogul Elliot Carver. This is certainly not one of the very best Bond movies, but I cannot deny that I enjoyed it very much. The remote control car was a particular delight.
So without further ado here is my review of this year's Bond movie: Skyfall (2012)
Admittedly after "Quantum of Solace" expectations were not high. Sure Sam Mendes was on the case, but his last film "Away We Go" had left me a little nervous on that front (and to be frank, nothing from him had really blown me away since "Road To Perdition"). The first scene jumps into the action and it's pretty cool stuff, though not so different from what we've seen before. It's exciting and well put together and it definitely gets us back into the Bond spirit in spite of any misgivings when entering the cinema. The final climax of that opener kind of knocked me for six though. And while I was reeling from that, the film hits me with possibly the most gorgeous opening titles song and imagery sequence in the entire history of the Bond franchise.
Adele's new Bond song for "Skyfall" is fairly reminiscent of previous Bond themes (as is often the case), but it's damn good all the same. However, what is quite amazing is the imagery that accompanies the song in this sequence. There's floating patterns of blood, the camera flies through rows of gravestones, and sure there's a few dancing women as has become pretty much obligatory. Nothing I say here can really do this sequence justice, but trust me it sets you up well for the film. It's pretty awe-inspiring imagery and I'm glad the rest of the film lived up to this wonderful fanfare.
Most people presumably know that Javier Bardem is going to show up in this movie. He appears as more of a psychological villain than a freakshow. Plenty of villains have discussed their plans in a calm collected way with Bond before, but I don't think any have seemed quite this disarming and intimidating in equal measure before. Even moreso than when Sean Bean played 006 in "Goldeneye", this character really makes us feel a connection between him and Bond and there's a clear war of both mind and body going on here. This is exacerbated by the way that Bond is weakened early on in the film and so we have a Bond who is genuinely having to struggle to keep up in this fight.
This film has a great sense of fun. James Bond films have long been known for their gags, but there were a lot of really good funny lines in this movie. The comedy seemed to work on a much higher level than the typical puns we've been used to in older movies. There's no point in me spoiling anything here, but suffice it to say that there were regular points during the film where I was laughing out loud. There are also some quite awesome and occasionally pretty funny callbacks to earlier movies. Once again, no spoilers, but some of these callbacks come up when we meet with the brand new Q. Q was always going to be a tough character to introduce. Desmond Llewellyn was the longest running consistent actor in the Bond franchise, playing the part from 1963 to 1999. However, I think the new Q is a nice balance between some of the elements we enjoyed so much before, but with a lot of neat little quirks and traits of his own (I say keeping this all fairly vague).
In any action movie, the action scenes will only work well when there is something definite at stake. In "Skyfall" EVERY action sequence has something at stake. There is not a dull moment in the whole piece. There is no goofy time-wasting. This is a very sleek and fully formed film that ties up all the loose ends. It's also a very stylish movie with all the quality you'd expect from a director like Sam Mendes working on top form. In actual fact, I would argue that this is the best movie I've seen to be released this year so far (fairly comfortably beating out the top spot from "Cabin In The Woods") and what's more, I think this movie should be winning Oscars. Lots and lots of Oscars. Certainly Best Picture. And I'm not just saying that to fuel debate. This is seriously just THAT good a film. This isn't only the best Bond movie ever made (which isn't such a big boast when you look at how silly and insubstantial a lot of the old films were), but it's a fantastic film in its own right. It's a real love letter to everything that audiences ever loved about Bond, but with a serious face on and top quality filmmaking standards. I challenge anyone not to leave the cinema buzzing (and probably slightly exhausted) from the experience.
This film is beautiful, exciting, clever, well paced, well plotted, well characterised, often hilarious, and with not a moment wasted. Don't wait until the DVD release. See this one in the cinema. It's worth it.
A+
Summary on Bond movies....
Above I shared my top nine of the twenty five Bond movies released so far. By mentioning the Bonds I haven't seen, plus my ignorance on both unofficial titles, that accounts for fourteen of the Bond films. I also discussed another two that I wasn't so keen on and I've never seen "Octopussy" (in spite of the intriguing title), so that leaves another 8 undiscussed. For that reason I am wrapping this up with a neat little list of all the bond movies in chronological order accompanied by a very quick comment in each case. This probably isn't entirely necessary, but it puts the above discussion into context showing you exactly what order the films were released.
Sean Connery Era
1. Dr. No (1962) - This first ever Bond movie is now pretty dated and the scene with Sean Connery randomly singing "under the mango tree" seems comically out of place in the action movie franchise. Still, the villain is as cool as any and the fact that this was the first Bond movie is as good as any reason to check this out. Still, expect this to be VERY slow paced.
2. From Russia with Love (1963) - While the Now Playing podcasts recently seem to consistently point to this film as one of the greater classics, two of the podcasters initially admitted that they'd always had trouble concentrating on the film all the way through without losing interest or falling asleep. I shared this negative experience myself, so I personally couldn't recommend this.
3. Goldfinger (1964) - Favourite discussed above.
4. Thunderball (1965) - I seem to remember the bits involving people being fed to sharks by the villain being kind of cool. We also have the now often-spoofed scene of Blofeld in a conference room pressing a button to eliminate one of the SPECTRE members who disagrees with him. Overall though, this film suffers from an extremely slow pace.
-. Casino Royale (1967) - Unofficial spoof James Bond movie starring Peter Sellers and David Niven. It's supposed to be awful and not very funny.
5. You Only Live Twice (1967) - Favourite discussed above.
6. On Her Majesty's Secret Service (1969) - The only movie starring George Lazenby as Bond. I was warned off this one, but some claim that Lazenby was unfairly underrated. Others found the idea of James Bond getting married to be out of sync with the series.
7. Diamonds Are Forever (1971) - Discussed above.
Roger Moore Era
8. Live and Let Die (1973) - Roger Moore's debut Bond movie. Favourite discussed above.
9. The Man with the Golden Gun (1974) - Favourite discussed above.
10. The Spy Who Loved Me (1977) - Favourite discussed above.
11. Moonraker (1979) - Discussed above.
12. For Your Eyes Only (1981) - Begins with a bizarrely comical fight with Blofeld. Once the film gets going there's a very cool chase scene on a hillside. Unfortunately overall I found this film a bit dull.
13. Octopussy (1983) - The only Moore film I haven't seen.
-. Never Say Never Again (1983) - Sean Connery returns to the role for a somewhat updated remake of "Thunderball". Apparently not that good.
14. A View to a Kill (1985) - Roger Moore's final Bond movie features Grace Jones and Christopher Walken. Walken actually seems kind of bland in the role as a Bond villain (and the idea that he is ex-KGB never quite makes sense). Grace Jones does a pretty good job, but overall I was unimpressed with this.
Timothy Dalton Era
15. The Living Daylights (1987) - Timothy Dalton's debut Bond movie. Dalton is known for taking the Bond franchise to a darker place in contrast to Roger Moore's more campy run. Unfortunately audiences generally did not seem to find this appealing. I have not seen this.
16. Licence to Kill (1989) - Timothy Dalton's second Bond film. I have not seen this.
Pierce Brosnan Era
17. GoldenEye (1995) - Pierce Brosnan's debut Bond movie. Favourite discussed above.
18. Tomorrow Never Dies (1997) - Favourite discussed above.
19. The World Is Not Enough (1999) - Robert Carlyle appears as a villain who feels no pain because of a bullet lodged in his skull. There were some good ideas here, but unfortunately the film mostly feels scatty.
20. Die Another Day (2002) - Pierce Brosnan's final movie as Bond. Features a more techno Bond theme from Madonna that I don't think really fits. While the film begins interestingly with James Bond failing a mission, it soon becomes utterly wacky with many particularly criticising Bond's invisible car that magically avoids making any noise or leaving any trail in the snow.
Daniel Craig Era
21. Casino Royale (2006) - Daniel Craig's debut Bond movie. Favourite discussed above.
22. Quantum of Solace (2008) - Due to the writer's strike, the director and Daniel Craig both ended up working to finish the script. The end result felt highly disjointed and this film is probably best forgotten.
23. Skyfall (2012) - Reviewed above.
If you are interested in more in-depth consideration of the Bond movies, I can highly recommend the Now Playing retrospective series of podcasts on the Bond franchise. They do not refrain from spoilers at all, so if you want to enter the films fresh you'll need to watch them first. (So when they get to "Skyfall" DEFINITELY watch the movie first.) However, the podcasts are entertaining and the discussions often include some neat little interesting facts about each film.