48 replies to this topic

[The Dove]

My choice would have to be Kristatos.. he was just too much of a nice guy villain to me.. Gustav Graves wasn't bad, but too much over the top, especially that end fight with Bond.

What??? A FYEO fan dissing Kristatos....

Hey, I am The Dove after all, Tarl!! lol.. Seriously, while Julian Glover is a great actor, I was dissapointed by the character of Kristatos..just too much of a nice guy for me!

[DaveBond21]

I find it interesting that some people have commented that they didn't realise that Pushkin is ordering Koskov to be executed, at the end of TLD. The diplomatic bag he mentions is used to take Koskov's body parts!

Hence the change in expression from Koskov.

I assume everyone else got that??

Edited by DaveBond21, 14 August 2006 - 11:07 PM.

[Turn]

I'm surprised nobody has mentioned Stromberg from TSWLM. This guy barely moves, much less does anything really evil. He's got a cool voice and that's about it. He gives orders while eating sardines or something and pushes a few buttons. He's not even standing when Bond does him in.

[drmedula]

Yeah, Stromberg is just plain boring.I actually kind of like some of the more "realistic" recent villians, but they do have to be really dangerous to work (Carver in TND- not frightening; Sanchez in LTK- a very bad man indeed).In my opinion, the big problem with Reynard was that he ended up being just Elektra's henchman- which was good for HER, but left him with a big build-up he couldn't deliver on.(Although he could have pulled it off if Carlyle had gone totally feral in the final fight- you know, scary kamakaze stuff). Still, he's an improvement on a desk jockey like Stromberg, who doesn't even get a good scene-chewing speech...

[Publius]

Rosa Klebb (Kronsteen was far more menacing)
YOLT-Blofeld (laughable threat)
DAF-Blofeld (posh English gentleman cross-dresser...why?)
Stromberg (good actor, poorly used)
Whitaker (mainly because of Joe Don Baker; it should've been Jack Nicholson)
Carver (weak execution, literally)
Whoever the hell was really the villain in TWINE

Edited by Publius, 19 August 2006 - 04:08 AM.

[Shadow Syndicate]

I agree, the DAF Blofeld walking through a Vegas Casino in Drag..."WHAT HAPPENS IN VEGAS STAYS IN VEGAS!!!

[Vanish]

I'm surprised nobody has mentioned Stromberg from TSWLM. This guy barely moves, much less does anything really evil. He's got a cool voice and that's about it. He gives orders while eating sardines or something and pushes a few buttons. He's not even standing when Bond does him in.

Indeed, I'd probably have to change my vote to Stromberg - Quite possibly the most boring villain in they've ever come up with.

[DamnCoffee]

I'm Quite a fan of Stromberg

[erniecureo]

Worst ever? I'd have to go with Drax, for two reasons. First, he had the same charisma as one of his cucumber sandwiches. No menace at all. Snore.

Second, and perhaps unfairly, I judge him against the book's Drax, who was easily the best of the villains. Great plan, great motivation, decisiveness, intelligence, ruthlessness--I'd love to see a Bond film made from the book, as opposed to the lame Star Wars rip-off we got instead.

[dee-bee-five]

Worst ever? I'd have to go with Drax, for two reasons. First, he had the same charisma as one of his cucumber sandwiches. No menace at all. Snore.

Second, and perhaps unfairly, I judge him against the book's Drax, who was easily the best of the villains. Great plan, great motivation, decisiveness, intelligence, ruthlessness--I'd love to see a Bond film made from the book, as opposed to the lame Star Wars rip-off we got instead.

Y'see, I disagree totally. Moonraker has a lot of faults (though nowhere near as many as some would have you believe) but Michael Lonsdale's sublime Drax isn't one of them in my book. His deliberate misquoting of Oscar Wilde is worth the price of admission alone.

As for the literary Drax, I agree that he was one of Fleming's greatest creations. But we have had a version of the book. Dig deep into DAD - yes, the same DAD that everyone bar me seems to despise - and you'll find the literary Drax's plan intact (enemy of Britain changes his face, gets Knighted, produces a weapon ostensibly for the protection of the West, turns said weapon on the West...)

[dinovelvet]

More and more it seems like everyone dislikes Graves. .

Not "everyone". I liked Graves and Toby Stephens' portrayal. The idea that he had modelled himself on Bond, but only succeeded in absorbing the more dislikeable aspects of the character was quite neat.

And it amuses me that many posters complain about the allegedly under-developed villains of the Brosnan films because the prevailing mood amongst fans seems to be to diss every aspect of the Brosnan era. But is anyone seriouslysuggesting that Mr. Big/Kananga or Stromberg or Drax are more fully-developed characters than Carver or Renard or Graves? The former are all pantomime villains, in my opinion, though none the less entertaining for that.

I agree with that. The Graves character is a clever spin on the 'Bond villain' in that he is a grotesque reflection/parody of Bond himself. Toby Stephens is suitably over the top because Colonel Moon is playing Gustav Graves as a pantomime arrogant British snob. He's easily one of my top 5 Bond villains.
Anyway, back to the question, I nominate Kristatos in FYEO. He's deadly...dull. His plan is mundane, he looks like a retired insurance salesman, he exudes no menace whatsoever (see the scene on the boat where he says "You have shot your last bolt, Miss Havelock" with all the intensity of a man trying to decide what extra topping to get on his pizza). The final straw is when Bond is fighting Eric Kriegler at St.Cyril's, Kristatos just sort of skulks around in the background, like he's waiting for a bus.
Koskov is at least slimy/smug and makes you root for him get his comeuppance.

[DavidSomerset]

Eliot Carver was a sick puppy. What was his grand plan - to get better ratings!!!
He sucked big time. Gustav Graves had a much better thought out plan than Carver. Also Carver was a big ham and a bit fey. Atleast GG could equal Bond in a sword fight. Eliot would not know how to handle a letter opener.

[00Twelve]

Agreed. Carver. He had a good 3 seconds between Bond leaving and the drill hitting him. Pansy.

And his mockery of Wai Lin's martial arts was just cringe-inducing. I wish she had given him a quick fist to the larynx right in the middle of that tirade. I'd have fallen out.

Edited by 00Twelve, 02 October 2006 - 05:51 PM.

[Skudor]

Drax is my overall favourite villain. The Best!

The worst.... probably Carver (yawn) or Renard (purely because he didn't live up to expectations).

[Scottlee]

Graves was the worst for me. He's the only Bond villain to severely get on my nerves.

[tonymascia1]

Gustav Graves.

He was a BIG letdown after Colonel Moon.

No particularly witty or memorable lines, and played with a snarky sneer by Toby Stephens --- the kind of sneer I used to reward those offending high school classmates of mine by slapping them around and taking their lunch money for the offense.

[dinovelvet]

I'm not really a fan of Carver, but the character was nicely defined as a more realistic person - he is a petty, jealous man who has worked himself into a position of power, so much so that his ego is allowed to run rampant - he will quite happily start a war or have his own wife killed purely out of spite.

[Publius]

I'm not really a fan of Carver, but the character was nicely defined as a more realistic person - he is a petty, jealous man who has worked himself into a position of power, so much so that his ego is allowed to run rampant - he will quite happily start a war or have his own wife killed purely out of spite.

Agreed, but as 00Twelve pointed out, I just have a hard time reconciling all that with his mock martial arts. Which he was way too into. That and his "not me" whining to Paris. And his lame death. I mean, if you're going to be a Walken-esque eccentric maniac, then be prepared to go out like one, laughing or doing something similarly creepy. Not flailing like an idiot when you could easily move out of harm's way.

Anyway, despite my almost universal loathing of everything in DAD (okay, to be fair, the first was at least hit or miss), I do like Gustav Graves. But that probably owes more to Toby Stephens' great portrayal. And he still could have been handled better, A LOT better, than "evil suit of electricity" and all that other nonsense.

[triviachamp]

Kananga anyone? An extremely underdeveloped character, he is a politician and presumably a corrupt thug who masquerades as a Man of the People but we get none of that. Hell I never got the impression that he was a politician or a drug dealer. I guess they didn't want to offend anyone. I can't believe that they expected anyone to care that Kanaga and Mr. Big were the same person.