Post by bigtuna on Nov 15, 2008 4:16:34 GMT -5
I'm going to start this review by stating that I grew up in the 90's. As far as I was concerned, Peirce Brosnan was James Bond, end of story. I've decided recently to watch the classic Bond films, mostly because TMN is showing them all because of Quantum of Solace, but also because I was curious to see how the other actors portray Bond.
So far I've watched Dr. No, Goldfinger, On Her Majesty's Secret Service, and tried, unsuccesfully, to watch Man With The Golden Gun and License To Kill. (I know i should watch them in order, but that's a moot point.) For some reason, OHMSS is my favourite of the ones I've seen so far, with Goldfinger coming in at a close second.
This film is the second in what wikipedia tells me is called the "Blofeld Trilogy", book-ended by You Only Live Twice and Diamonds Are Forever. In this installment, Bond has to travel to the Swiss Alps, posing as a scottish fellow named Sir Hilary Bray, so that he can infiltrate Ernst Stavro Blofeld's secret base and learn his nefarious plan. He is soon discovered, after nailing several of the beautiful women (which there are a lot of, I lost count at somewhere around a thousand), and finding out that Blofeld plans to use said women to poison some crops, and he gets locked in a room that is moderately difficult to escape from. From that point on, there's a wicked awesome ski chase, a whole bunch of shooting, and a pretty neat fistfight on a bobsled.
I loved everything about it. The opening sequence was awesome. The song during the credits was catchy, and I noted that the main melody would be recycled years later as the First Blood theme (the last note was changed).
I thought Lazenby did fairly well as Bond. He's no Connery or Brosnan, but certainly better than Moore and Dalton. I was also surprised at how well he portrayed Sir Hilary Bray while Bond was undercover.
The action scenes were well done. I noticed the shakeycam was used a little bit for the fightscenes, and it was done fairly well. I don't recall Brosnan's bond ever being quite that rough and tumble, or brutal, like when he merced that guy with the hook in the opening sequence. I'm also pretty sure Brosnan never threw anybody. That's right, Bond threw a guy. And not just once, like 4 times, presumably not because he had to, but just to demonstrate how manly he is. The bad guy as all "WAH!! TAKE THAT!!" and Bond was all "Y'know, I quite think I like you better over here." *throw*. It was awesome. (On a side note, the agents who raided the base in the alps towards the end of the film were dressed identically to the team of men in Die Hard 2 who pretend to attack the church in Die Hard 2.)
The cinematography was absolutely gorgeous. I rewound the shot during the opening sequence where he got out of his car because it was just so cool. The ski chase was absolutely marvelous, even if the shots infront of the backdrop looked kind of silly.
Telly Savalas was hella-balls awesome as Blofeld. He just seemed more real than a lot of Bond villains I've seen. He made Blofeld seem like an actual person, instead of a boring, generic paper cutout of evil. I haven't seen any other portrayals of the character, but I still think this performance is noteworthy. The way he held his cigarette, though, as he smoked, bugged the crap outta me.
This Bond film was also not without it's fair share of humour. In one scene, while Bond was waiting for a device to open a safe, he began flipping through a copy of Playboy, and later, after having successfully opening the safe and retrieving it's contents, walks out of the building, still looking at the magazine while on his way to the elevator, which made me lol fairly hard.
The end of the film was absolutely amazing (tragic is also applicable). I won't spoil it, but the last few shots literally had me staring at the screen in awe, through watery eyes. it was mind blowing. Bond's reaction was absolutely heartbreaking, and i felt, was a brilliant peace of character development.
The only real complaints I had about the film were that Lazenby is far less good looking than the other Bonds, and his chin bothered me alot. Also, there were some shots that were kind of cheesy, but that can be attributed to the age of the film, and the special effects they had at the time.
All in all, it rocked my face, and I highly recommend it to anyone who hasn't seen it.
So far I've watched Dr. No, Goldfinger, On Her Majesty's Secret Service, and tried, unsuccesfully, to watch Man With The Golden Gun and License To Kill. (I know i should watch them in order, but that's a moot point.) For some reason, OHMSS is my favourite of the ones I've seen so far, with Goldfinger coming in at a close second.
This film is the second in what wikipedia tells me is called the "Blofeld Trilogy", book-ended by You Only Live Twice and Diamonds Are Forever. In this installment, Bond has to travel to the Swiss Alps, posing as a scottish fellow named Sir Hilary Bray, so that he can infiltrate Ernst Stavro Blofeld's secret base and learn his nefarious plan. He is soon discovered, after nailing several of the beautiful women (which there are a lot of, I lost count at somewhere around a thousand), and finding out that Blofeld plans to use said women to poison some crops, and he gets locked in a room that is moderately difficult to escape from. From that point on, there's a wicked awesome ski chase, a whole bunch of shooting, and a pretty neat fistfight on a bobsled.
I loved everything about it. The opening sequence was awesome. The song during the credits was catchy, and I noted that the main melody would be recycled years later as the First Blood theme (the last note was changed).
I thought Lazenby did fairly well as Bond. He's no Connery or Brosnan, but certainly better than Moore and Dalton. I was also surprised at how well he portrayed Sir Hilary Bray while Bond was undercover.
The action scenes were well done. I noticed the shakeycam was used a little bit for the fightscenes, and it was done fairly well. I don't recall Brosnan's bond ever being quite that rough and tumble, or brutal, like when he merced that guy with the hook in the opening sequence. I'm also pretty sure Brosnan never threw anybody. That's right, Bond threw a guy. And not just once, like 4 times, presumably not because he had to, but just to demonstrate how manly he is. The bad guy as all "WAH!! TAKE THAT!!" and Bond was all "Y'know, I quite think I like you better over here." *throw*. It was awesome. (On a side note, the agents who raided the base in the alps towards the end of the film were dressed identically to the team of men in Die Hard 2 who pretend to attack the church in Die Hard 2.)
The cinematography was absolutely gorgeous. I rewound the shot during the opening sequence where he got out of his car because it was just so cool. The ski chase was absolutely marvelous, even if the shots infront of the backdrop looked kind of silly.
Telly Savalas was hella-balls awesome as Blofeld. He just seemed more real than a lot of Bond villains I've seen. He made Blofeld seem like an actual person, instead of a boring, generic paper cutout of evil. I haven't seen any other portrayals of the character, but I still think this performance is noteworthy. The way he held his cigarette, though, as he smoked, bugged the crap outta me.
This Bond film was also not without it's fair share of humour. In one scene, while Bond was waiting for a device to open a safe, he began flipping through a copy of Playboy, and later, after having successfully opening the safe and retrieving it's contents, walks out of the building, still looking at the magazine while on his way to the elevator, which made me lol fairly hard.
The end of the film was absolutely amazing (tragic is also applicable). I won't spoil it, but the last few shots literally had me staring at the screen in awe, through watery eyes. it was mind blowing. Bond's reaction was absolutely heartbreaking, and i felt, was a brilliant peace of character development.
The only real complaints I had about the film were that Lazenby is far less good looking than the other Bonds, and his chin bothered me alot. Also, there were some shots that were kind of cheesy, but that can be attributed to the age of the film, and the special effects they had at the time.
All in all, it rocked my face, and I highly recommend it to anyone who hasn't seen it.
"If I'm going to be desensitized into a mindless stock animal, I may as well do it with a cushy ergonomic seat and magnificent THX-certified sound. -Kevin Murphy
