75 replies to this topic

[starschwar]

For me, Moonraker is the most enjoyable of the three. Very much the Rocky IV of Bond movies, it's as entertaining a shark jump as can be. Stupid, silly, but fun. And it has some legitimately good action scenes. The PTS skydiving fight and riverboat chase are highlights. Outstanding musical score, even by John Barry standards - he really tried to sell this one. Drax is a good villain - certainly the most evil and egotistical one of the bunch. And, at the risk of blasphemy, I prefer it to TSWLM. I just think it does a better job at being an over the top crazy Bond flick. Both pale in comparison to their antecedent, YOLT.

AVTAK is a poor entry in the series, somewhere in my bottom five. But it isn't irredeemable. Walken's Zorin is another quality villain. Bonus points for sharing the most awkward evil laugh of all time with Mayday. The comic relief with the police goes on way too long. I'm still not sure what the point of the whole horse race rigging subplot was. And, worst of all, it just isn't very memorable. No jaw droppingly amazing action scenes - the closest they get to that is Mayday's jump from the Eiffel Tower. And I still think there's some wasted oppertunity there. There's little to get excited or nostalgic about. Really, Walken and his blimp are all this one has going for it.

TMWTGG is easily the worst in the series. There isn't a single scene that worked in this one for me. Moore era silliness is beyond rampant in this one. Very light on action - and the only decent stunt is ruined by a cartoon sound effect. Christopher Lee's talents go to waste, as does John Barry. Even he couldn't save this one. Sheriff Pepper... who's idea was it to bring him back?! James Bond doesn't need a sidekick, least of all an obnoxious loudmouth. Bad humor, vapid characters, and worst of all: wasted potential. This one could have been one of the best. The world's greatest assassin is after Bond - this should have been enough. Why did they have to bring in the solar energy monopolization/ransom? The laser and generators that Scaramanga himself didn't fully understand? The little person henchman? The evil carnival?! The prosthetic third nipple?!?! It should have been a deadly globetrotting game of cat and mouse between Bond and Scaramanga, with the stakes being their lives - nothing more, nothing less. I really wish EON would give this concept another try. They've rehashed YOLT, Goldinger, and DAF to death - let's see them revamp this one for the Craig era!

[Iceskater101]

See I hate Sheriff Pepper, but the ending to the Man with the Golden Gun worked. I loved that funhouse theme.

[George Kaplan]

I liked the funhouse theme - it makes sense with Scaramanga's carny background.

I didn't like that they pretty much sideline Scaramanga for the end, though (he stands there waiting for Bond to arrive...how exciting!) They could have used the local a lot better and filmed a really tight end and didn't, IMO, leading to an anticlimax.

[Iceskater101]

I haven't seen A View to a Kill in a really long time, that's actually the one Bond film I don't have. I feel like I could make a better judgement if I watched that one, and I really don't like Moonraker all that much.

[sharpshooter]

I rank them like this:

• Moonraker
• The Man With the Golden Gun
• A View to a Kill

Moonraker being one of my absolute favourites in the series.

[WasteOfScotch]

For me, View easily. Walken holds that film together and is probably my favourite villain, great theme song, Mayday is cool and even the terrible is as least funny, such as the hilariously bad old man fight in Staceys house.

Moonraker may be my least fave, I think its offensively stupid, Chiles is practically asleep the entire film. Clery is probably the best bit. I love the parachute jump but it's dumb comedy ending is awful.
Golden Gun not great, but I like Adams and Lee. But again, too much stupid goin on.
I don't need Bond films to be super serious and po-faced, but I don't think it ever needs to go to levels of pigeons doing double takes, knife throwing corpses and certainly not swannee whistles over breathtaking stunts.

How SWLM got to be the delicious filling in that **** sandwich I'll never know.

[Double-0-Seven]

I'm not a big fan of the "Bond in Space" notion but I love Moonraker. Very much a companion piece to The Spy Who Loved Me. Similar tone and another great performance from Roger. By this point he had settled comfortably into the role and found his own way of playing the character. Drax is a good villain and aside from some silly moments (Jaws in love) it's a fun adventure. Easily my favorite of the three mentioned. The Man With The Golden Gun wasn't as bad as I remembered when I watched it recently doing my Bond 50 marathon, but A View To A Kill was a bore.

[kissarmy71]

View to a Kill would be my least of the 3.

Golden Gun and Moonraker are both great. They are both my favorites after The Spy Who Loved Me.

Christopher Lee always plays a great villian.....Drax is also a great character.

I like Goodhead better than Goodnight.

Bond in space is such a unique concept .... it makes the film lots of fun to watch...plus it has Jaws.

Herve was also great in the Golden Gun.

[Scottlee]

I would consider TMWTGG as being comfortably bottom of this particular pile.

AVTAK then takes the overall trophy thanks to MR's shocking use of Jaws and also the poor editing at certain points of that film. But for that, it would have been a close one.

I love AVTAK though. It was one of the first Bond films I loved as a kid.

[Aisforauric]

I thought this would be an easy one to answer, but all three are a bit wonky in their own way, which also gives them appeal. I think on most technical levels TMWTGG is inferior, but having said that it's by far the 'most sensual' (followed by Thunderball) of all Bond films, and that sexual bias does give something to the film that many others (including almost all it's successors) seriously lack.
Moonraker is sumptuous, expansive and expensive, but the good bits aren't original and the original bits aren't good.
AVTAK is such an implausible casting basket-case that it's amazing the film ever got finished. And yet....it has a leisurely pace that gives the film quite a warm fuzzy feeling.

So, I've managed to dodge the actual question ;-)

[Panavision]

Moonraker is the best of a bad bunch. Story structure is just about perfect, although why any villain would want to poison Earth is a daft idea. Roger Moore is great in this and there's a fun factor to it.

 

A View To A Kill was my first Bond at the pictures. 1985, in a little place called Leicester. The story is all over the place. First it starts off with horses, then moves on to destroying Silicon Valley! What???? I still love it, though, because it's the epitome of the 80s. Duran Duran, Hume's photography... Walken's Zorin is hilarious, great, weird acting.

 

Man With The Golden Gun was a wasted opportunity. So much could have been done with this, but they wasted on the solex plot. What were they thinking? Bond versus Scaramanga, guys!!! What could have been!!! It's my least favourite, but I always watch it because it's BOND!.

[MajorB]

Top to bottom:

 

Moonraker--very silly, but beauftiul to look at, sometimes genuinely amusing, and very well paced until the overlong final battle.

 

Golden Gun--many weaknesses, but wonderful locations and Bond spends less time in moving vehicles than in LALD, thus being more interesting than in that movie.

 

View--bottom of my Bond list, good production values but an ambling storyline with perfunctory set-pieces and almost no scenes that I enjoyed.

[RMc2]

Golden Gun, actually. I think it's really underrated. The first hour is really really good: a gripping, surprisingly low-key and gritty espionage thriller. And the Bond/Scaramanga duality theme that runs through the story is brilliantly handled - and Christopher Lee is possibly my favourite villain portrayal (but not my fav villain, if that makes sense). Years before John Woo made it a trope to blur the lines between the hero and the villain, making them flipsides of the same coin, Golden Gun made it the heart of the story.

 

UNFORTUNATELY, Mary Goodnight is an appallingly written character and the representation of solar energy is not only painfully wrong, but embarrassingly reactionary these days. And don't get me started on JW Pepper, the Kung Fu school and the slide-whistle. So it's a 50/50 film for me, but that's still much better than Moonraker or View To A Kill.

[B5Erik]

I'm actually a big fan of A View To A Kill.  Aside from a couple silly moments it's actually a top notch thriller.  Sure, Roger looks about 10 years too old for the role, but other than that and a few cringeworthy screams by Tanya Robers to, "JAMES - DON'T LEAVE ME," I really don't have much criticism for this one.  For my money this is the most UNDERrated Bond movie.

 

I like Man With The Golden Gun a lot, too.  Moonraker is OK.  It's definitely near the bottom for me, though.

Edited by B5Erik, 11 December 2012 - 05:51 AM.

[Iceskater101]

Golden Gun, actually. I think it's really underrated. The first hour is really really good: a gripping, surprisingly low-key and gritty espionage thriller. And the Bond/Scaramanga duality theme that runs through the story is brilliantly handled - and Christopher Lee is possibly my favourite villain portrayal (but not my fav villain, if that makes sense). Years before John Woo made it a trope to blur the lines between the hero and the villain, making them flipsides of the same coin, Golden Gun made it the heart of the story.

 

UNFORTUNATELY, Mary Goodnight is an appallingly written character and the representation of solar energy is not only painfully wrong, but embarrassingly reactionary these days. And don't get me started on JW Pepper, the Kung Fu school and the slide-whistle. So it's a 50/50 film for me, but that's still much better than Moonraker or View To A Kill.

 

I hate Mary Goodnight, she is so annoying and she doesn't do anything. Yeah that whole school thing is bad and JW pepper is awful, other than that The Man with the Golden Gun is actually pretty good.

[iBond]

The Man with the Golden Gun, Moonraker and A View to a Kill are generally the Roger Bonds which are criticized the most.
Which of the three do you prefer and which one did you like the least?

 

Best to Least

 

1. man

2. kill

3. moon