59 replies to this topic

[zerozeroseven]

As the years go by, many of the Bond films become less entertaining after repeated viewings, simply because I've seen them too many times. But in almost every case, if I wait a year, I can enjoy the same old film again. When I watch A View to a Kill, I tend to not enjoy it. I love the cast; Grace Jones, Christopher Walken, Patrick Macnee, Moore. The music is top notch. Jenny Flex looks great. I even saw it in the theater in its original release. I just find the stunt people for Roger Moore to look absolutely nothing like Roger Moore. And the hour that follows the California Girls musical number consists of a bunch of very old men talking and talking. I tend to dose off after Moore sleeps with the oh-so-pretty Grace Jones. I saw the movie when I had the flu a few years ago. And now with each viewing I find myself developing flu-like symptoms. I really want to like the movie. Moore is my favorite Bond. Ultimately, there's something to like in every Bond film including NSNA, and excluding '67's Casino Royale. But, I've just seen AVTAK too many times to enjoy it any more. Any suggestions for how I can start to enjoy AVTAK again?

[[dark]]

Read the In Defense of "A View To A Kill" three-part article at 007Forever.com.

I've been one of A View To A Kill's biggest advocators since I first saw it back in 2000, but the above article made me appreciate all the little things about it that I had never noticed.

It's definitely the most underrated entry in the series, perhaps all too often dismised because of Moore's age, but there are plenty of reasons to like it, including, as you pointed out, its fine cast, as well as some of the best set-pieces in the franchise (the firetruck chase and the Golden Gate Bridge climax, in particular).

To answer the question in the thread's title, I struggle a bit with For Your Eyes Only, as well as those dragging underwater sequences in Thunderball.

[tdalton]

I've always found Thunderball and Diamonds Are Forever to be the hardest Bond movies to sit through.

[dinovelvet]

Thunderball
Licence to Kill

I have a suspicion that Goldeneye might join that list, I'll have to see next time its on TV.

[tdalton]

I have a suspicion that Goldeneye might join that list, I'll have to see next time its on TV.

It's starting to become harder and harder to watch. I used to think that it was a great Bond movie, but my opinion of it dwindles just about every time I watch it.

[bryonalston]

For me, it's Goldfinger. I can't stand the film and I only watch it late at night if I have insomnia or something, because it puts me right to sleep.

[Qwerty]

Maybe A View To A Kill.

[Fraternal]

It's got to be Thunderball. It's too long not to mention the underwater scenes which can be unbearable to watch at times.

Every Connery film with the exception of YOLT gets boring after too many viewings.

Edited by Fraternal, 14 August 2005 - 06:48 AM.

[Qwerty]

I have a suspicion that Goldeneye might join that list, I'll have to see next time its on TV.

Why do you think that?

[Moore Not Less]

I usually find it difficult to sit through the oil rig sequence in DAF, more often than not I switch off. The Jaws/Dolly scenes in MR are very cringeworthy so I always press the fast forward button to avoid them. The double take pigeon/Bondola sequence is almost as cringeworthy. On rare occasions I do manage to sit through it when I am feeling brave. The second half of TND and DAD I find difficult to watch, more often than not I switch off.

[Mr_Wint]

I'm confused. The question is: "Which Bond film is the hardest to sit through because you've seen it too many times". That has nothing to do with "What is the most boring Bondfilm?".

If you have seen a particular Bondfilm "too many times", well then that is your favourite Bondfilm. Why else watch it so many times?

To answer the topic starter: The Spy Who Loved Me. Yes, it's a brilliant film. But I can almost recall every single frame in the movie

[callmejames]

This may get tomatoes thrown at me, but I have a little bit of that with On Her Majesty's Secret Service. Actually I think it's a very important entry in the series, and it has a lot of value, but at it's length, once I know what's coming, I find it a bit tedious.

Great movie, but for me not as suitable for repeated viewing as others.

[Pal]

I enjoy TSWLM all the way through until the last half hour/45 minutes where they are escaping from the tanker and then going back for Stromberg. But I have never had any problems with the rest of the film.

[Bond_Bishop]

Goldeneye, Die Another Day, A View to a kill or Thunderball. Thunderball is my favourite movie but now I have started to watch it so much that is has turned out to be a little harder to sit through. But a late Friday evening TB is excellent and I can watch it through with ease.

[dinovelvet]

I have a suspicion that Goldeneye might join that list, I'll have to see next time its on TV.

Why do you think that?

While I was considering this topic, I thought of Goldeneye and my immediate reaction was "I don't want to watch that". Like Thunderball, it really takes a while to get going; all the stuff with Natalya and Boris arguing, and then Natalya alone in the control room trying to survive. Its just boring, quite frankly, and has little to do with Bond. That for me, is the equivalent of TB's slow and meticulous underwater scenes near the beginning with Largo and co. removing the bombs from the plane and covering it up etc.
I never liked the tank chase either. Just silly. OK its kind of fun to see the tank smash right through a wall for the first time, but by about the eighth time it happens, its just...lame. Though oddly enough, I think the scene would work a lot better in, say, Octopussy. I'll take Rog raising his eyebrow over Pierce straightening his tie any day!

[bryonalston]

This may get tomatoes thrown at me, but I have a little bit of that with On Her Majesty's Secret Service.  Actually I think it's a very important entry in the series, and it has a lot of value, but at it's length, once I know what's coming, I find it a bit tedious.

Great movie, but for me not as suitable for repeated viewing as others.

I agree. I rarely watch OHMSS unless it's for research purposes, and even then I'll just go directly to the scene I need to watch. I can't remember the last time I watched it straight through in one sitting.

Oddly enough, I find DN to be much more exciting than OHMSS (maybe because I haven't seen it that many times, so it seems like a new experience each time I watch it)

[Hotwinds]

The hardest film for me to sit through is NSNA. I had such high hopes for it and almost all of them were missed. Therefore, I do not sit through it at all anymore.
I agree with you about AVTAK and I think it is Moore's weakest entry.

About the Beach Boys reference, there always seems to be one in every Bond films these days and I just dont know why they do it. That subject could make a new thread:
When does Bond "Jump The Shark" in each Bond Film?

As the years go by, many of the Bond films become less entertaining after repeated viewings, simply because I've seen them too many times.  But in almost every case, if I wait a year, I can enjoy the same old film again.  When I watch A View to a Kill, I tend to not enjoy it.  I love the cast;  Grace Jones, Christopher Walken, Patrick Macnee, Moore.  The music is top notch.  Jenny Flex looks great.  I even saw it in the theater in its original release.  I just find the stunt people for Roger Moore to look absolutely nothing like Roger Moore.  And the hour that follows the California Girls musical number consists of a bunch of very old men talking and talking.  I tend to dose off after Moore sleeps with the oh-so-pretty Grace Jones.  I saw the movie when I had the flu a few years ago.  And now with each viewing I find myself developing flu-like symptoms. I really want to like the movie.  Moore is my favorite Bond.  Ultimately, there's something to like in every Bond film including NSNA, and excluding '67's Casino Royale.  But, I've just seen AVTAK too many times to enjoy it any more.  Any suggestions for how I can start to enjoy AVTAK again?

[YOLT]

Goldeneye, Licence to Kill and Diamonds Are Forever. To say the truth except the first halfs of YOLT and TND I get bored must of them, sometimes.

[The Richmond Spy]

They all get hard to sit through once you've seen them a few times especially if you're watching them on TV and have to sit through the commercials.

One got old a little earlier than the rest though, and that was Licence To Kill, but I still have a favorable impression of the movie as a whole.

[Johnboy007]

I'm not sure I've ever been able to sit through Licence To Kill with no breaks or pauses since the first time I saw it.

[Double-Oh-Zero]

There isn't a Bond film that I'm unable sit through because I've seen it too many times.

I do find FYEO to be incredibly boring and diffcult to watch, however.

[trumanlodge89]

i dont think i can get through a repeated viewing of ANY movie without stopping, bond or not. its a lot tougher to watcha a movie when you know whats coming.

[Alex Zamudio]

I love Thunderball, but it is kind of hard to sit through some of the water sequences, but DAF, LALD, TMWTGG and Moonraker are some of the 007 movies I almost never watch because I find them in my humble opinion kind of weak, and with lots of cringe worthy scenes:

DAF: Before 007 steps on American soil, everything is interesting, he is cool and Connery-esque and Tiffany is intriguing. But in Vegas the film becomes amazingly silly and production wise cheap.

LALD: Now I find this film very entertaining, but not very Bondian, Roger Moore is great as ever, but I also find the movie kind of silly, and it

[Bond111]

I first saw For Your Eyes Only a couple years ago, and at the time I couldn't get enough. I watched it over and over within a few weeks, it was the one Bond movie that I had never seen. Then, all of a sudden, I found it incredibly boring. I think I'll wait some time before another viewing.

[Qwerty]

I can understand them wanting to 'come back to Earth' for For Your Eyes Only, but I like the glamour, spectacle and fantasy. I will always enjoy watching a movie like Moonraker more than For Your Eyes Only.

[Bondian]

I'm glad you've put that sub topic in there zerozeroseven.

As we're talking interest value, I would say Thunderball because there's so many 'wee-wee' breaks in it.

Cheers,


Ian

[Doctor Shatterhand]

All of the Bond movies are difficult to watch over and over again by one's self. I can take the most exciting film of the series and feel like I need to be doing something else while it is playing in the background.

Truth be known is that I enjoy any Bond film when I am watching it with someone who has never seen that particular entry. And that includes the worse of the lot - TWINE!

But usually I will view them for research reasons or just to have some Bondian background noise while I'm working on something else.

However, I'm usually playing a Connery or Moore film before I would choose Dalton or Brosnan.

[trumanlodge89]

9 out of 10 times i show a bond virgin a connery entry, and the 10th time i usually show goldeneye, just because someone mentions playing the game...

[Turn]

Ever notice that sometimes if you randomly catch a Bond film on television -- cable, Spike TV, AMC or whatever -- there always seems to be one or two that always seem to be on there?

For me, it's probably YOLT (saw a showing of it while channel surfing Friday), LALD (always seemed to pop up on the TBS marathons) and TLD (although it's one of my favorites).

[trumanlodge89]

Ever notice that sometimes if you randomly catch a Bond film on television -- cable, Spike TV, AMC or whatever -- there always seems to be one or two that always seem to be on there?

For me, it's probably YOLT (saw a showing of it while channel surfing Friday), LALD (always seemed to pop up on the TBS marathons) and TLD (although it's one of my favorites).

LALD for me, with MR a close second.