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Things you don't like about your FAVOURITES in the series.


29 replies to this topic

#1 Gothamite

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Posted 01 October 2013 - 12:55 AM

We're always giving reasons why we don't like this film or that film, the invisible car, Blofeld in drag, the slide-whistle, etc. What are the flaws you find in your favourite Bond films? Are they harmless enough that you learn to love them regardless or do they actually seriously detract from an otherwise stellar film?

 

Major flaws for me would be Goldfinger's final act where Bond has little to do with the plot (at least up until the scene in the plane) and 'The Living Daylights' where I feel the entire third act falls apart and loses the sharp, fresh, dark edge running throughout the rest of the film. 

 

Minor flaws would be the sub-plot of the Skyfleet airliner - I found this to be the one section of the film that dragged a bit - I don't think there needed to be another action scene there and while it's undoubtedly impressive, for a scene so elaborate and expensive, it's fairly forgettable and seems to have only been put there to stir up a sense of post-9/11 dread. Other minor flaws are the boisterous music that plays during the scene where the jeep breaks down in TSWLM and the overly silly Laurence of Arabia homage - both of these moments just pushed the comedic envelope too far. 

 

I'm sure I'll think of plenty more. Any other additions?



#2 glidrose

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Posted 01 October 2013 - 06:53 PM

Excellent idea for a post.

Godawful stealth boat finale in TND. I can no longer sit through that sequence, shame really 'coz the rest of the film is first rate.

Motorized gondola & the fake python fight in MR. On the other hand I love Jaws flapping his arms in the PTS.

Moore's too damn old in AVTAK. Lousy computer room tag team fight with Patrick Macnee.

Muddy visuals in TB. Too many slow scenes in final half hour.

Ugly colour processing in CR'06. Too many villains, too many shots of people on cell phones. Overrated free-running/crane fight sequence.

#3 Walecs

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Posted 01 October 2013 - 07:32 PM

About GoldenEye, I don't like most of the soundtrack. Granted, it has some awesome pieces, like GoldenEye Overture, Natalia's theme and John Altman's music for the tank chase, but everything else means nothing to me.

 

About OHMSS, the only disturbing thing is Draco's fist to Tracy.



#4 solace

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Posted 01 October 2013 - 09:00 PM

Diamonds are forever was a good film imo up to the point of blofelds entrance and the finale is shocking



#5 dtuba

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Posted 01 October 2013 - 10:38 PM

GF: The contant use of back projection (and the fact that Connnery never left the U.K.) -really noticeable on the Blu ray

 

TB: Rik Van Nutter as Felix . His dialogue is horrible and wooden.

 

GE: Pierce's hairdo

 

CR: the jumpy editing in the first part of the card game sequences


Edited by dtuba, 01 October 2013 - 10:40 PM.


#6 Ernst Stavro Blofeld Jr.

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Posted 01 October 2013 - 11:02 PM

On Her Majesty's Secret Service

The bad day for night photography.  It really takes the illusion away, and while the stuntwork is quite impressive, it draws you out of the story too much for me.

 

Casino Royale

Cutting out the awesome shot of Bond standing at the window drinking seen on the special features.  Great shot that would have been a great addition

 

The Living Daylights

The left over Moore-esque humor and Dalton's double takes.  That and Kara.

 

Skyfall

The lack of the gunbarrel at the beginning.  It just doesn't work to close a film for me, and would have been a great start to an amazing film for me.



#7 Grard Bond

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Posted 21 December 2013 - 12:42 PM

The spy who loved me: Moore is not serious enough in the scene where Jaws is attacking the van with Bond and Anya. It would have been so much better and more exiting if it was played straight.

 

Moonraker: Jaws' girlfriend! Just awfull! What were they thinking?

 

For your eyes only: some stunts are too obvious fake, like the 2CV jump. Just smart editing.



#8 Professor Pi

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Posted 21 December 2013 - 04:25 PM

Title song in Licence to Kill.  Bad lyrics, theme unrelated to score, R&B artist with latin locale? 

 

The changing actors of Felix Leiter over the series.  They better not recast Jeffrey wright!



#9 Whalltt

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Posted 22 December 2013 - 09:38 PM

Octopussy: Tarzan yell and the entire elephant chase scene; the whistled Bond theme by Vijay; Q as a field agent in a hot air balloon (!!!)

MR: Hovercraft gondola; Jaws in love (where were their minds when they turned an interesting and menacing caracter like Jaws into this cartoony crap...) ; the entire Bond in space idea (please...).

AVTAK: The stuntman in the broken-in-half car scene set in Paris, looks awkwardly, obviously, not like Roger Moore; the san francisco locations (gives an ordinary 80's american movie vibe)

YOLT: Donald Pleasence as Blofeld.

GE: Boris Grishenko = annoying caracter

TND: The title isn't Tomorrow Never Lies (much more appropriate plotwise - "Die" is overused); A remote controlled car (What next? An invisible car?); Bond (supposedly) too emotionally involved with Paris.

TWINE: Denise Richards as a nuclear physicist; Bond (supposedly) too emotionally involved with Elektra.

DAD: Second half CGI overuse; Bond/Jinx dialogue in their first encounter in Cuba about hyenas and feasting like no tomorrow... what a challenge for an actor to make those lines work...); And why on earth would anyone want to eat a fig while having sexual intercourse??? 


Edited by Whalltt, 23 December 2013 - 12:44 AM.


#10 glidrose

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Posted 23 December 2013 - 06:45 PM

Octopussy: Tarzan yell and the entire elephant chase scene; the whistled Bond theme by Vijay; Q as a field agent in a hot air balloon (!!!)


Hey, I love those!

 

MR: Jaws in love (where were their minds when they turned an interesting and menacing caracter like Jaws into this cartoony crap...) ; the entire Bond in space idea (please...).


I like both ideas.

AVTAK: The stuntman in the broken-in-half car scene set in Paris, looks awkwardly, obviously, not like Roger Moore;


No disagreement there.
 

the san francisco locations (gives an ordinary 80's american movie vibe)


Major disagreement there. Fantastic visuals. Wish newer Bond films could look that good.
 

YOLT: Donald Pleasence as Blofeld.


A great villain, but miscast as Blofeld.
 

GE: Boris Grishenko = annoying character


I don't care for him, but I grown to accept him over the years. Besides, there's so much wrong with that dire film...
 

TND: A remote controlled car (What next? An invisible car?);


Like the car. Makes for a killer action sequence. Don't mind DAD's invisible car either.
 

Bond (supposedly) too emotionally involved with Paris.


No problem with that at all. Makes for interesting drama.
 

TWINE: Denise Richards as a nuclear physicist;


Don't understand this complaint. I had no problem accepting her in the role.
 

Bond (supposedly) too emotionally involved with Elektra.


I see a trend here...
 

DAD: And why on earth would anyone want to eat a fig while having sexual intercourse???


Good for the digestion system, plenty of fibre. Maybe she wants to take a good ol' king cobra sized you know what during the act with Bond. I mean, who knows what kinks that guy gets off on when we're not watching... :P

#11 hilly

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Posted 23 December 2013 - 07:15 PM

FRWL- Bond slapping Tanya on the train. A moment that makes me wince in an otherwise perfect Bond film.
LTK- the model fish winking at the end. After 2 hours of trying to show a brutal hard-edged Bond,we get something akin to the Moonraker pigeon doing a double-take.

#12 Satorious

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Posted 24 December 2013 - 10:40 AM

OHMSS: The sped-up choppy editing. The fact that Connery isn't in it.

TLD: Weak villains. Weak final confrontation. The second half (post Vienna) not being as strong as the first half was. Plus a few of the Moore hangovers.

FYEO: The disco score for some of the action scenes. Much as I think this is Moore's best performance, it's a shame there wasn't a younger Bond introduced. Needs more humour.

CR: One action scene too many (the airport scene). The romance between Bond and Vesper feels forced. The editing needed some tightening. Defibulator scene goes on too long and is melodramtic.

Skyfall: Gunbarrel issues + the plot doesn't hold up to great scrutiny.

(I'm trying to think of some for FRWL but I am struggling! I guess it can be argued some of the locations are obvious - eg. Pinewood is Spectre Island + the Scotland scenes are clearly Scotland!)



#13 Grard Bond

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Posted 24 December 2013 - 04:12 PM

CR: the first cardgame, although it's cool Bond is winning the DB5, it's stuppid that he reveals himself to the guy he's stalking and because later on in the story there are enough cardplay scene's, this first one is needless and makes the movie overlong.



#14 Aziz Fekkesh

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Posted 10 January 2014 - 12:40 PM

A moment in FRWL that makes me cringe is when the conductor runs up to Bond and Tania and tells them that there's "been an accident". Despite the obvious seriousness, Tania says "no tea?" as Bond bundles her into their compartment. Really? SMERSH all forgotten in the midst of the tea-deprival calamity?



#15 Colossus

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Posted 10 January 2014 - 11:04 PM

Good thread idea

Dr. No- kind of boring occasionally. Jamaica was a character in itself but i wish it could have been even more ALIVE as in the novella. Has some of the most interesting allies with Quarrel/best Leiter but they're so underused! 

 

FRWL- it is majorly reliant on the train aspect for a lot of the goodness in it. Anything with trains is automatically cool, there's already a level of intrigue even if one is just drinking tea by himself. Without the train aspect i wonder how good it could still remain? 

 

YOLT- the entire volcano lair portions are so strangely boring even though so much is happening in it. 



#16 S K Y F A L L

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Posted 11 January 2014 - 09:34 PM

When Bond is driving the tank in GE that whole horse with wings statue scene kind sucks IMO.



#17 Daddy Bond

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Posted 12 January 2014 - 10:27 AM

TSWLM - My favorite Bond film, but I don't enjoy the dancers at the Mojaba Club...I always fast forward through their dancing which I find silly and irritating,

 

OP - Bond dressed as a clown.



#18 Palmyra Shark 2

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Posted 20 January 2014 - 07:26 AM

Thunderball - The Disco Volante is traveling at a ridiculous speed during the final fight between Domino, Largo, Bond, and the henchman carrying the champagne while everything happening underwater throughout the movie moves so slowly. It all boils down to horrible editing. Q speaks with his mouth closed for god's sake.

Ohms - James's expertise in lepidoptery...add entomology to the list? He came across as an insufferable know-it-all in that movie.

FRWL - On the train, James's secret knocking code is the standard three knocks.

#19 tdalton

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Posted 20 January 2014 - 07:31 AM

I wouldn't count it as a huge negative, as I don't mind Q in Licence to Kill, but I think that they could have made more interesting use of that screen time by having Bond and Pam being completely on their own as they go after Sanchez in Isthmus.  



#20 kaiserthegreat

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Posted 20 January 2014 - 05:31 PM

While the golf scene is fun in GOLDFINGER, I don't get why  he would go out of his way to piss off a guy he's trying to ingratiate himself with.  (Or why MI6 would even send Bond, since he already pissed off Goldfinger in the beginning of the film and his voice is fairly recognizable.)  

 

The scene in OCTOPUSSY where he somehow gets in a gorilla costume in less than two seconds always bugs me for some reason.  

 

Every time I watch CASINO ROYALE I now desperately try and figure out why this isn't true, but haven't come up with anything yet.  



#21 kronsteen63

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Posted 20 January 2014 - 06:41 PM

From Russia with Love - The "unmasking" of Bond in the pre-titles sequence, Bond waving goodbye to the porno film reel during the closing shots

 

OHMSS - The sped up fight sequences, a large majority of the scenes where he pretends to be Sir Hilary (the voice dubbing, the outfit, the overly long sequences of sneaking around seducing the patients)

 

Casino Royale - The fact that James Bond is yet to be established (therefore excluding familiar elements such as Q/Moneypenny, the James Bond theme, etc.). While this is necessary to the structure of the film and "reboot" concept, it prevents it from being the definitive Bond film



#22 Walecs

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Posted 04 February 2014 - 03:22 PM

On Her Majesty's Secret Service

 

The classic arrangement of The James Bond Theme played at Piz Gloria assault. Not only John Barry's "Battle At Piz Gloria" is way better, but that arrangement of the James Bond theme makes the movie look so much dated. Couldn't Peter Hunt simply use "This never happened to the other fellow"'s arrengement of JB theme?



#23 SecretAgentFan

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Posted 04 February 2014 - 06:15 PM

While the golf scene is fun in GOLDFINGER, I don't get why  he would go out of his way to piss off a guy he's trying to ingratiate himself with.  (Or why MI6 would even send Bond, since he already pissed off Goldfinger in the beginning of the film and his voice is fairly recognizable.)  

 

The scene in OCTOPUSSY where he somehow gets in a gorilla costume in less than two seconds always bugs me for some reason.  

 

Every time I watch CASINO ROYALE I now desperately try and figure out why this isn't true, but haven't come up with anything yet.  

 

Now, that link is fantastic.



#24 Stubris

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Posted 09 February 2014 - 06:32 AM

I always forget about the Maggie Thatcher scene at the end of FYEO...a seriously misjudged capper to what is otherwise a wonderful Bond adventure.

 

"I got into some deep water". That line always makes me wince a little, especially when Craig has to immediately go into concerned mode the second he has uttered it.



#25 Moore'sStuntDouble

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Posted 12 February 2014 - 06:03 PM

FRWL- Bond slapping Tanya on the train. A moment that makes me wince in an otherwise perfect Bond film.

 

Agreed. Along the same lines, the sequence with the two girls in the gypsy camp (the fight that goes on a little too long and Bond getting to "decide" between them) is a cringe moment for me. Though the ensuing gunfight is one of my favorite action sequences in the series. 



#26 plankattack

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Posted 12 February 2014 - 06:58 PM

Sylvia Trench's appearance in FRWL. I understand the original idea for having her in there, but I still don't like. I always feel the early scene with her presence is as jarring as the microwave-sized phone that SC uses at the end of the scene!



#27 The Krynoid man

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Posted 14 May 2014 - 09:22 AM

OHMSS - Lazenby's performance, the fact that Bond sleeps with all the women in Pitz Gloria even though he's supposed to be deeply in love with Tracy

TSWLM - Stromberg is a weak villain

FRWL - the helicopter scene is just a rip off of North by Northwest and isn't particularly exciting either.

Goldeneye - 006's fake darth leaves a few plot holes.

#28 Iceskater101

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Posted 16 May 2014 - 03:07 PM

Honestly.. with LTK I am way too much bias. I can't say anything bad about it. 

 

I will say though in the TSWLM Stromberg is really weak and boring. 



#29 Janus Assassin

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Posted 16 May 2014 - 04:51 PM

The way 006 survives in the beginning of GoldenEye's PTS. I mean we are to assume that Ourumov shot him with a blank, but still he shot that one guard who shot at the gas canisters. So basically Treveylan gets shot in the head and the facility explodes with his presumably still in it and still somehow survives.



#30 Guy Haines

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Posted 17 May 2014 - 06:33 AM

Dr. No - Bond to Quarrel - "Fetch my shoes". I felt uncomfortable about it then, before anyone had even thought of the term "political correctness" - a term I don't particularly like, incidentally.

 

Thunderball - the continuity errors during the underwater battle, and the editing of the hydrofoil scenes - towards the end of the movie it looks as if it's going to take off!

 

You Only Live Twice - lazy editing of the stock footage of the US and Russian space launches. The "Russian launch" is clearly a Gemini/Titan II lifting off from Cape Canaveral, the palm trees in the foreground being a dead giveaway.

 

Live And Let Die - Yaphet Kotto's Dr Kananga deserved a better demise than being turned into a blow up doll!

 

The Spy Who Loved Me -  borrowing music from other movies .The classical scores in the Stromberg HQ were fine. But when Bond and Anya were stuck in the desert, did we need Maurice Jarre's theme from "Lawrence Of Arabia" to remind us? A trend which continued in Moonraker (The Magnificent Seven theme) and, disastrously in A View To A Kill (California Girls in the pre title credit - John Barry reportedly loathed the use of that.). I didn't like the "chorus line" version of "Nobody Does It Better" at the end of the film either.

 

Licence To Kill - the end. Leiter has just lost his wife and his leg, yet when Bond telephones him he looks as if he'll be up and about in no time at all, his troubles behind him now. Makes you wonder what the previous two hours mayhem was in aid of.

 

Casino Royale - the airport scenes could have been trimmed somewhat.

 

Quantum Of Solace - the shaky camera editing in the rooftop chase

 

Skyfall - when you think about it, retreating up to Bond's ancestral home, with no guarantee of weapons and no backup, and luring the villains there is probably not a sensible way of keeping M alive - as it proved!