The Best Bond Movies

Happy 50th, James Bond! Here's a quick look at some of the best (and not so good) James Bond movies. (Admittedly, this is not necessarily a thorough review of each and every Bond movie, but more of light reflections.)

24.  Die Another Day
The bad guy is a North Korean with plastic surgery to make him look white and who resides in an ice palace. This is not only the worst Bond movie but also one of the worst movies I've ever seen.

23. Never Say Never Again
The "unofficial" Bond movie. After a lengthy battle in court, Warner Bros. created their version of "Thunderball" and actually brought back Sean Connery. (This was the summer of the "Battle of the Bonds," as Eon productions released the official "Octopussy" with Roger Moore.) While a majority of critics then and now generally praise the movie, I tend to agree with Norman Wilner's opinion that it's "pretty awful" (though it's been years since I've seen it). One fairly unjustifiable aspect that I recall is the way Q in this movie seemed to encourage Bond's debauchery, practically ruining the unique relationship between the two.  

22. The Man With the Golden Gun
"The Man With the Golden Gun" features one of my favorite actors, Christopher Lee (who was a cousin of Bond author Ian Fleming). Unfortunately, he's not in the movie enough to make this movie anything but forgettable.

21. Tomorrow Never Dies
Other than the car, this one is basically skippable.

20. Live and Let Die
Roger Moore's first outing as Bond has some respectable elements to it. For one, some of the characters are interesting--Yaphet Kotto as the villain and Jane Seymour as the Bond girl--and being a fan of the Beatles and blaxploitation films, I like Paul McCartney's theme song and the incorporation of blaxploitation era characteristics. Still, in some respects Moore seemed to be copying Connery and it would take a while before he found his groove.

19. A View to a Kill
While "Live and Let Die" showed us a Roger Moore who didn't quite understand what role he wanted the character to head towards, "A View to a Kill" showed us when an actor gets too old to be Bond. By this point, he was over sixty years old and it was showing. But one awesome aspect of the movie is Christopher Walken as villain Max Zorin. (Seriously--Walken as a Bond villain!)

18. Octopussy
There's a train scene, and I love train scenes ("Mission: Impossible," "Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade," "Back to the Future III, etc."), but it pales in comparison to the excitement and adrenaline of the train scene in the new "Skyfall." Also, there's Bond defusing a bomb dressed as a clown.

17. License to Kill
Timothy Dalton's Bond was famously more brooding than the others, but this time that direction went too far. Here Bond has a merciless look in his face, and the overall style is overly violent. It's true that Bond movies seem to numb our minds to violence in the very way that movies shouldn't, but after half-a-century of almost lampooning violence, perhaps Bond movies should get a pass.

16. Thunderball
"Thunderball" is a favorite among many, but for me, I've never seen what was no great about this movie. Personally, I only really remember the villain's eye patch, but do I specifically remember the villain, or that Robert Wagner spoofed him in "Austin Powers"?

15. Moonraker
"Moonraker" was infamously made during the science fiction craze of the late 1970s. With "Star Wars," "Star Trek: The Motion Picture," "Close Encounters of the Third Kind" and "Alien," it's not surprising that the studio wanted Bond in space. Surprisingly, however, this is a rather enjoyable Bond film (if one skips the actual scenes in space). It plays like a traditional Bond film, with clever ways of getting the henchmen ("missing" the birds during a round of hunting but getting the bad guy) and Shirely Bassey's song is hypnotic and memorable. Unfortunately, the space scenes really do hurt the movie, especially with the laser gun fight outside the space ship.

14. Diamonds Are Forever
With Connery back (thanks to a million-dollar paycheck), I think "Diamonds Are Forever" is one of the more underrated Bond movies, showing audiences that Bond could survive in the 1970s and beyond. It's a bit on the simplistic side, but more often than not, we're not looking for sociopsychological subtexts or philosophical debates with Bond outings (though "Bond and Philosophy: Questions Are Forever" is an interesting read).

13.  Quantum of Solace
Marc Forster's "Quantum of Solace" is another one of the most underrated Bond movies. It's not perfect, and starts to shift back into that formulaic, box-checking approach that recent Bond movies have tried to avoid, but it's still an enjoyable (and surprisingly short) Bond film. One aspect that I didn't enjoy was that the fight scenes had become a bit too intense and headache-inducing; when I reviewed the movie for my university's newspaper as an undergraduate student, I titled my article "The Bond Identity," to draw attention to the filmmakers taking the wrong inspiration (from the "Borne" series).

12. The World Is Not Enough
Perhaps one of the reasons I like "The World Is Not Enough" so much is because at least half of the Brosnan-as-Bond movies were rather disappointing. This movie is mostly a step in the right direction. The opening chase is one of the series' most exciting and there are mostly enjoyable moments throughout the movie. It also features the final appearance as Desmond Llewelyn as Q (he died later that year) and he gives Bond some important advice before he departs, and it's advice that, wrongly or rightly, I have applied to my teaching:

Q: "I've always tried to teach you two things. First, never let them see you bleed."

Bond: "And the second?"

Q: "Always have an escape plan."

(Click here for a moving tribute to Llewelyn.)

11. Dr. No
Some might not recognize "Dr. No" as a Bond movie: there's no opening theme song, no Q branch, etc. But it did set a precedent for some essentials: hot Bond girls (this one iconically played by Ursula Andress), and Bond's introduction as "Bond, James Bond" (and Connery's is still one of the coolest, and one of the reasons Connery remains to many the coolest Bond). Still, it's at times too simple. (It should be noted, however, that this was largely due to budget concerns; the filmmakers chose Fleming's "Dr. No" over the first novel, "Casino Royale," because the main location of "Dr. No" was in Jamaica, while "Casino Royale" took place in a variety of countries). This movie also showed us that Bond can sing (please ignore the German).

(There's some interesting trivia on the movie and subsequent Connery-as-Bond movies found here.)  

10. You Only Live Twice
Some might argue that the attention to Bond gadgets (which is a positive or a negative, depending on your perspective) can find its augmentation beginning here; there is, after all, a jet pack. But there's also a terrific theme song from Nancy Sinatra, beautiful locations in Japan, and an entirely iconic villain; so iconic, that it is probably more likely that thanks to Mike Myers, we know him as Dr. Evil instead of Ernst Blofeld (played here by Donald Pleasence).

9. For Your Eyes Only
"For Your Eyes Only" is close to being the best Roger Moore Bond movie. One appealing aspect is its authoritative arrogance; what I mean by that can be found in its opening moments. Bond battles what's credited as the "bald man in a wheelchair." Clearly supposed to be Blofeld, Bond's main nemesis in many of the earlier films, the filmmakers couldn't refer to him as such because of the legal battles regarding "Never Say Never Again." The result? Bond kills off Blofeld once and for all in the very first moments. It was a nice, succinct way of saying, "Screw you. We don't need Blofeld. We can still make good Bond movies without him." It was also the first Bond film directed by John Glen, who argued (rightfully so) that Bond, after going into space, needed to get back to the basics. Here, our villain is not found on a space ship, but in various locations across the globe; he is played by Julian Glover, who has also appeared in the "Star Wars," "Harry Potter" and "Indiana Jones" series (also as antagonists). (Supposedly, Glover was once considered for the role of James Bond.)    

8. From Russia With Love
For many (including Sean Connery), "From Russia With Love" is the best Bond film. Despite being a bit slower than its predecessor and successors, it still serves as one of the few Bond films where the character doesn't rely so much on gadgets and fist-fighting. Bond has been best when his villain is effective, and here Robert Shaw is perfect as an incredibly-chiseled Russian. The BFI points out that "From Russia With Love" had an "intelligent script that retained the substance of Ian Fleming's novel while toning down the overt Cold War politics." This was a brave move on the filmmakers part, especially because, as the BFI mentions, the movie was released only a year after the Cuban Missile Crisis. Incidentally, the novel was one of President Kennedy's favorite books and supposedly it was the last film he saw before he was assassinated. 

7. Skyfall

"Skyfall" deserves the attention it has been receiving. It's not on the same level as "Casino Royale," but considering that I enjoyed "Skyfall" so much, and I think that "Casino Royale" was one of the best films of 2006 and also think that "Quantum of Solace" is underrated, it can be concluded that Craig has had a good run as Bond so far. Not only does it also feature an enjoyable and somewhat haunting performance by Oscar-winner Javier Bardem, but Ralph Fiennes and Albert Finney have also joined and are both great in their roles. And this is certainly the most beautiful Bond movie ever created, with absolutely gorgeous cinematography of scenes in Shanghai, Macau, Istanbul and Scotland; the work of Roger Deakins is worthy of an Oscar nomination. Director Sam Mendes doesn't waste his time or ours with gratuitous amounts of CGI. When he does, it's unfortunate--there's a somewhat silly moment with a dragon, and a character's fall appears to be computerized as opposed to what looked more like an impressive stunt fall seen in the trailers.

The book on Bond and philosophy I referenced earlier contains a chapter on the character as Plato's guardian archetype. There's an interesting conversation from the Guardian about Plato's idea of a just character. According to a philosophy scholar in the interview, Plato argued that an individual needs to be in control not only of his desires but also needs to be a man of wisdom. Undoubtedly Bond is a spirited individual--all the Bond films have contained some sort of romantic one-night stand. But he is also a wise one. Consider that he finally defeats Oddjob in "Goldfinger" not by destroying him with his high-tech car but by using his head. These Plato of a just individual, which Bond arguably is and arguably isn't, are explored in "Skyfall." When he is asked by a psychologist to respond to the word "murder," Bond responds with "employment." So there's a complexity in the film that often isn't seen in the Bond movies, and for once there's a villain who doesn't just want to take over the world. There's also clever references to former Bond moments, and the ending is quite fitting.    

6. On Her Majesty's Secret Service

This was the first non-Connery Bond film, and the reception at the time was quite critical. Audiences were not ready to see Connery part from the role, and especially due to the love story involved, audiences took out their anger on George Lazenby. Fortunately, reflective reviews have been a bit more positive, though some have argued that the film would have been better with Connery instead of Lazenby. I don't agree. While I like Connery as much as the next guy, I sympathize with his desire to get away from the role. And I especially sympathize with Lazenby; he has claimed in interviews that he was convinced by his agent that now that he had had a Bond movie under his belt, he would receive countless calls from Hollywood. This is not how it would turn out, and Lazenby really hasn't made a movie since. It's quite sad, because I truly believe he was good in the role. The amount of sympathy I felt towards Bond, the ultimate bachelor, in this movie still surprises me, and Lazenby expresses a certain amount of vulnerability that I'm not sure some of the other Bond actors could pull off. Still, many don't see it that way. Even fellow Bond Pierce Brosnan once referred to Lazenby as "poor George."


5. The Living Daylights

Timothy Dalton was offered the role as a replacement for Sean Connery, but considered himself too young. And by the time there was a need for a new Bond after the Moore years, Dalton was busy, paving the way for none other than Pierce Brosnan to take over the role. But when fans of Brosnan's series "Remington Steele" found out that Brosnan would be Bond, the show was scheduled for another season, leaving Brosnan without the role he so badly wanted. By this point, Dalton was available. This Bond movie is most interesting, I think, because of what Rita Kempley recognized as Bond now being consciously aware of sexually transmitted diseases in the late 1980s so much that he "explores monogamy and probably practices safe sex." This wasn't a Bond who would pat a girl on the rear end with a twinkle in his eye. That being said, there was a scene that was particularly disturbing in which Bond rushes in a woman's hotel room, violently rips off her shirt to expose her to the chasing henchmen, who is then obviously distracted enough for Bond to get him. James Bond was not a feminist yet (and alas, probably never will be one).

But as a Bond, I still think Dalton was incredibly good in the role. His take focused on the written material from Ian Fleming, so naturally his Bond was a bit more humorless than some of his predecessors. (Incidentally, the individuals who complain about Dalton's more brooding, serious acting usually are the ones who praise Daniel Craig; Dalton was obviously way ahead of his time.)

4. The Spy Who Loved Me
This Bond movie was made at a time when Roger Moore seemed to be having difficulty in the role after rather unsuccessful attempts in "Live and Let Die" and "The Man With the Golden Gun." The third time was the charm, as Moore (who admitted that he thought the role of Bond was more worthy of humor than machoism) finally found the rhythm he was searching fall. (Moore has much justification for playing it that way: as he put it, who would ever believe that in reality, James Bond would actually be a good spy?) It also features the first appearance of henchman Jaws, an exciting ski jump, and one of the best Bond songs of all time: Carly Simon's Oscar-nominated "Nobody Does It Better" (written by Marvin Hamlisch and Carole Bayer Sager).

3. Casino Royale
Like his previous task with "GoldenEye," Martin Campbell was hired as director to resurrect the Bond franchise. After the dismal "Die Another Day," it had been about four years with no Bond. There were numerous A-list actors considered for James Bond, but there was a bit of a collective gasp when it was announced that a fairly-unknown Daniel Craig would take over. Craig had effective supporting roles in Steven Spielberg's "Munich" and Sam Mendes' "Road to Perdition" (as well as a more embarrassing movie called "A Kid in King Arthur's Court"). He was and is not conventionally handsome like his predecessors, but critics were so outraged that they petitioned against him being cast, with some actually showing a video that digitally morphed his face into that of an ape. (Some former Bonds had to come to his rescue with praise.) But when "Casino Royale" debuted in 2006, Craig won the approval of fans and critics alike. Despite its length, "Casino Royale" remains one of the best, and it showed that the formula can be tweaked a bit without rocking the boat too much. Virtually every aspect here works wonderfully, and Campbell and company made a wise and smart choice by keeping Judi Dench as M, playing with continuity a bit, but it certainly proved to be the correct choice.

2. GoldenEye
Ben Evans infamously pointed out that "GoldenEye" was his favorite because he played the video game as a child. While I undoubtedly also spent much of my youth playing the game, I cannot see how nostalgia alone can serve as the most convincing argument for it. Still, "GoldenEye" comes quite close to being the best for several reasons. For one, Pierce Brosnan is incredibly effective in his first outing as Bond (and it's a sincere pity that his following Bond films were mediocre at best). He seemed to strike an effective balance between the machoism of the Connery era and the lax humor of the Moore era. Additionally, the film succeeded at accomplishing one of its most challenging goals: making Bond relevant in the post-Cold War era. There's still some bad guys with Russian accents, but we see Bond in a graveyard of former Soviet statues. Bond is, as M (Judi Dench) criticizes, a "relic of the Cold War." The Cold War was over, but James Bond wasn't.  


1. Goldfinger
Goldfinger is usually considered the greatest probably because it essentially set the standard for the following films. Unlike its two predecessors, there is an opening moment (unrelated to the overall plot), a theme song, a fancy car that can do anything, and a villain who at times is more interesting than our hero. But it's not simply setting a standard that makes it so great. John Barry's score is probably his best as the Bond composer. The villain, Ausric Goldfinger (Gert Frobe) isn't simply a two-dimensional caricature but an antagonist of haunting charm. How terrifying it is as he practically giggles as Bond is about to be split in half--quite slowly--by a gold-cutting laser (and from the waste-up, no less). "You expect me to talk?" Bond says, probably knowing that his rhetoric isn't working. "No, Mr. Bond," Goldfinger replies. "I expect you to die." Any other actor probably would have lowered the intonation of "die" to make it sound conventionally frightening, but Frobe was rather clever in rising the intonation to taunt and tease Bond. I could go and on about what makes this the best, but I suspect many have already heard what's so terrific about it: its car, its song, etc. But I think the best argument it has is that not only is there an exciting car chase, beautiful scenes in Europe, and a villain who can (almost) match Bond, but consider arguably its best scene: a tense golf match between Bond and Goldfinger. "Goldfinger" doesn't have to rely on the expected elements of what makes a Bond movie great; it has those, but more, and in this case, it's as simple as a golf match.

Movies, movies, theater, cinema, watch, watching, watches, view,  see, saw, cinema,  film, flick, motion picture, Bond, James Bond, Sean Connery, Pierce Brosnan, Daniel Craig, Skyfall, GoldenEye, Casino Royale

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Obama 2012

With the first debate on its way in several hours, it's clearly election time. While the race is still close, this is a no-brainer: President Barack Obama should be re-elected.

There are many reasons to vote for a second term for President Obama, economic and non-economic alike. Regarding economic issues, there was his Recovery Act (popularly or unpopularly known as "the stimulus"). Now, ignore just for a moment that both Governor Romney and Congressman Ryan at one point supported stimulative economics and that Ryan, as did many Republicans, supported his state receiving some of those funds.  Ignore also that the country was in severe economic peril and that under virtually any other president, both parties would have come together to help solve the problem. Please ignore the fact that the Recovery Act was less than a trillion dollars worth of stimulus meant to fix a several-trillion dollar problem.

What's impressive beyond all those facts is that the law, according to Jonathan Alter, was essentially five major acts in one: the biggest funding for health care, education, and science since Lyndon Johnson; the biggest tax cut since Ronald Reagan; and the biggest infrastructure spending since Dwight Eisenhower. Many presidents fail to accomplish one major act in eight years; Obama accomplished five in one month. Many conservatives, the Romney team especially, have claimed that Obama's economic recovery failed. They are in disagreement simply with the facts, and you don't have to take my word for it: Mark Zandi (an economic adviser to Senator McCain's presidential campaign) of Moody's concluded that without the programs, gross domestic product would be almost seven percent lower and eight million more people would have been unemployed. I haven't even discussed the best part of the stimulus, that the funding for long-term expansion of green energy, making it the largest green bill in history, which Michael Grunwald explains:

Regarding Grunwald's praise of the President's green energy spending, this contrasts of course with the disappointment in the lacking of serious new laws to tackle undoubtedly the biggest problem facing us: global warming. Currently, though, at least the President is dealing with the problem through existing laws by treating carbon dioxide emissions as a pollutant. Compare this to his opponent, who once wrote that he believed climate change was happening and that "human activity is a contributing factor." He quickly changed his mind, surprisingly, and now claims "we don't know" what's causing the problem.


The other day, a Romney supporter, who plans on voting for Romney because he's a businessman (the only businessmen who have been presidents that I know of are Herbert Hoover and the Bushes, so that's not much of a record to bet on), complained to me that President Obama was responsible for the much maligned Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP), ignoring the fact that one, the program was started under Obama's immediate predecessor, and two, the program has actually made a profit.

It is not simply the Recovery Act that will serve as President Obama's economic legacy. The Dodd-Frank Law, while unfortunately watered-down and not as strong as it should have been (especially since taxes were removed from the law, banks are still too big to fail, and Wall Street's behavior has not changed), nevertheless restored some of the protections needed to avoid another meltdown. Among its chief accomplishments are the creation of the Consumer Protection Agency and the Volcker Rule. (Incidentally, the public is on the President's side.)  And conservatives seem to be deeply (and somewhat justifiably) upset at our deficit situation. I would simply ask them where they were during the Reagan and Bush years, and second, remind them that federal spending is at the lowest it has been since the 1950s. In case you're having trouble opening that link, let me tell you that it's written by the notable socialist newspaper known as the Wall Street Journal and has been verified by the non-partisan Politifact. Consider also that most of what comprises our debt comes from Bush-era policies regarding guns-and-butter and that, should Mr. Romney find himself in the Oval Office, our debt would be severely worse. (If Republicans hate Obama complaining about his predecessor they should talk to this guy.) I haven't even mentioned the unpopular-at-the-time auto bailout, which Mr. Romney insisted was the wrong approach, but now believes he deserves credit for it.  

Aside from economic policies, President Obama has been remarkably successful in terms of social domestic policies and foreign policy. Personally, I was always annoyed at Democrats' inability to fight back against Republicans' outrageous charges. This time, it's Democrats making the dickish charges. They may be dickish, but they aren't untrue. In 2007, then-Senator Obama claimed that if there was evidence that Pakistan was holding Bin Laden and was unwilling to move to apprehend or eliminate him, then the U.S. would. He was criticized both from the left and the right over this. One of his conservative critics was none other than Romney, again campaigning for president, who said that Obama had "gone from Jane Fonda to Dr. Strangelove in one week." It was a clever line, but one which would come back to haunt him (as well as his complaint that it was not worth "moving heaven and Earth" to find Bin Laden). As Bill Clinton eloquently explained, President Obama risked an incredible amount: not simply the position of the United States and his election, but the lives of the Navy SEALs. I didn't vote for Barack Obama thinking he could actually get Osama Bin Laden. By that point, I was convinced Bin Laden was either dead-and-buried or forever hiding in some cave far beyond our reach. I thought that we had permanently lost our chance. That changed in May of 2011. John Kerry put things a bit more bluntly: "Ask Osama Bin Laden if he's better off today than he was four years ago."  Name another election in the past forty years in which the Democrat has the upper-hand against the Republican on foreign policy?

I'm probably boring readers by now by repeating stuff they probably (or at least should) already know. But in case they haven't, let me briefly summarize his other accomplishments: Obama not only supports equal marriage, but also will forever be known as the president who signed the Matthew Shepard Act into law after a decade of failed attempts and who also repealed the discriminatory and waste-of-money, backwards, bigoted policy known as Don't Ask, Don't Tell. The Iraq War is over and our troops in Afghanistan have begun coming home. Not only has the automobile industry been rescued, but they are producing cars with greater fuel efficiency. And finally, likely his greatest domestic achievement, both economic and non-economic, is his health care law, an accomplishment virtually a hundred years worth of presidents couldn't get. With his health care law, the deficit will be reduced, there is a ban on discriminatory rationing regarding pre-existing conditions, Medicaid has been expanded, and some are predicting that it will be the end of for-profit health care.

Has Obama disappointed me? Of course he has, particularly regarding the dangerous, lethal, and immoral policies regarding drones. And the way I see it, I agree with the Green Party on ninety percent of the issues, with the Democratic Party on eighty percent, and the Republican Party on about thirty percent (they do have some good ideas).  I don't think we human beings always fit into perfectly defined spaces of left-versus-right.  That being said, why waste my vote on a false sense of ninety percent when I can vote to realistically achieve eighty percent? (And I sure as hell am not going to vote to get only thirty percent.) As the Vice President likes to say, don't compare President Obama to the Almighty, compare him to the alternative.

We will be told by critics after an Obama victory that Republicans lose because they pick moderate candidates. Now, it is true that there was a time when Governor Romney was a moderate, but those days are long gone. He is, as he put it, "severely conservative." And even if that were not the case, Republicans had more than a handful of conservatives to pick from, including Michelle Bachmann, Rick Perry, Newt Gingrich, Herman Cain, Rick Santorum, and Ron Paul (although, based on that list, perhaps it is understandable why they went with Romney; see SNL's take on it). Republicans have essentially attempted to purchase this election (some of them quite single-handedly--"corporations are people, my friend"). But the real reason why Republicans have lost the past four-out-of-five presidential elections and why they will likely lose this one is not because their candidates are too weak (although that is certainly a factor). It's because they haven't changed their game plan and there's no evidence that they will any time soon. The base of the Republican Party--white, working class males--is shrinking, while the base of the Democratic Party--minorities--is growing. Romney is expected to do even worse among Hispanics this election than McCain did four years ago, and he has no one to blame but himself (and his harsh rhetoric against the "forty-seven percent" of "victims" and his opposition to the Dream Act).      


Obama simply isn't just a very good president; he is also up against an incredibly weak opponent. Romney has changed his opinion on virtually every issue--abortion, the Reagan/Bush years, stimulus, LGBT rights, gun control, etc. As someone once said, you're only allowed a certain amount of flip-flops before the American people doubt your character. Republicans have moved so far to the right that it's frightening (imagine President Reagan, who pulled out of Lebanon after an attack, raised taxes and the debt ceiling both around ten times, and supported closing tax loopholes, with today's Tea Party). Romney has happily embraced these ideologies. And we've heard a lot about his low tax rate, his overseas banking, and his love of Olympic horses, and pretty Michigan trees. It's not simply his far-right conservatism, his omnipresence of position changes, or the dire state of our economy and standing in the world should he become president that frighten me. It's his character. The video below should make your stomach so sick that you would have more than enough reasons to vote against Mitt Romney. Compare this to the character of President Obama. President Obama has had to deal with an opposition of intransigence whose own leaders have publicly admitted that their biggest goal was to make Obama a one-term president. He has had to deal with reporters and interviewers interrupting his answers to their own questions, as well as congressional representatives shouting out that he is a liar. He has had his faith and birth questioned. Through this all, he has shown remarkable composure and humor. The best example of this was during the Bin Laden raid; the week began with the release of his birth certificates while he rightfully claimed that he had more important things to do, then was hilarious at the White House Correspondents Dinner--even while comedian Seth Myers made a joke about Bin Laden--and only several days later, announced that Bin Laden had been killed. Remarkable.

Vote for Obama.

Finally, there's also this.

  

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