For me Roger Moore was James Bond. Pierce Brosnan 2nd. I liked a little bit of humour thrown in, it makes for an enjoyable film. I'm not too keen on overly serious takes on Bond.

 

Why this ridiculous pre-occupation with "humour" in Bond. Read the books, what little humour there is is very much of the Gallows variety (which Connery put across very well..) - it's how Fleming wrote Bond. All this 'tongue-in-cheek' codswallop came in the 70s with the Prancing Dandy (ie Roger Moore..) and it's stuck ever since then - the Moore years totally ruined Bond and took it out of its historical Cold War context....

 

And considering the Bourne films have been totally out-performing the past few Bond films, I suspect that people are getting a little sick of all this silly forced humour and want a little bit of edge....

 

 

 

 

I would have to disagree GF. Perhaps when there have been over 20 Bourne films, their popularity may fade a little.

 

I want a bit of everything in films when I watch them, and that includes humour. For me Roger Moore was the best bond. Ian Flemming wrote the books many years ago, and featuring them in a different media, the writers/producers must be allowed some artistic licence to ply their trade. I agree that Bond films could benefit from a little more edge(when was the last time you really hated a Bond baddie?) but it needs to be ballanced with enough fun to attract a wider audience, which now incorparates hundreds of millions of ticket buying children around the world.

 

Regarding Daniel Craig, I have never seen him in anything before, but on first impression of his looks, I didn't think he was right for Bond. I will however keep an open mind, and see how he gets on.

I would have to disagree GF. Perhaps when there have been over 20 Bourne films, their popularity may fade a little.

 

I want a bit of everything in films when I watch them, and that includes humour. For me Roger Moore was the best bond. Ian Flemming wrote the books many years ago, and featuring them in a different media, the writers/producers must be allowed some artistic licence to ply their trade. I agree that Bond films could benefit from a little more edge(when was the last time you really hated a Bond baddie?) but it needs to be ballanced with enough fun to attract a wider audience, which now incorparates hundreds of millions of ticket buying children around the world.

 

Regarding Daniel Craig, I have never seen him in anything before, but on first impression of his looks, I didn't think he was right for Bond. I will however keep an open mind, and see how he gets on.

 

A little humour is one thing (the bit where Bond is in a deathtrap asks the baddie, "So, do you expect me to talk?", the baddie's reply "No Mr Bond, I expect you to die".. is an utter classic and is a perfect example of the sort of gallows humour of which I am talking of); but Moore is just taking the piss and deliberately playing for laughs instead of playing it straight and letting humour come out naturally, add the increasing ridiculousness of the plots during the Moore years and what you have is a franchise that just couldnt be arsed anymore...The 70s/early 80s, apart from "Live and Let Die" (the one film where Moore plays the part pretty much straight..), are the WORST period for Bond...

 

As for your point about really hating a Bond baddie, well, that just proves my point totally - all the ones that I really went 'boo, hiss' at were the likes of Blofeld, Rosa Kleb, Auric Goldfinger, Dr No - and gee, what did they all have in common? They were the baddies from Fleming's original books, funny that....

 

 

The comedy incorparated into the Moore Bond pictures, was good, pure fun :) How can you not love the scene where Jaws bares his massive teeth, attempting to intimidate Bond, and Roger Moore give's a beautiful smile right back at him, priceless :D

 

The original bad guys were great strong characters, a large part of why the books proved so incredibly popular. But books of this nature aren't read generally by people under 16, and like it or not, that is a very large part of the cinema's target audience these days. I think there is room for comedy as well as an edgier plot, with more sinister bad guys. In ER, they mangage to combine very well the mix of dealing with very serious and extremely emotive subjects and humour too , and I feel if they want to succeed, they will need to do similar with Bond.

 

We will have to wait and see what direction they take this remake of Casino Royale.

The comedy incorparated into the Moore Bond pictures, was good, pure fun :) How can you not love the scene where Jaws bares his massive teeth, attempting to intimidate Bond, and Roger Moore give's a beautiful smile right back at him, priceless :D

 

 

Cringemaking more like.... Moore just cannot play the character to anything like the believability of Connery or Dalton, or even Brosnan. The whole Jaws thing was stupid anyway, I mean, we're just supposed to believe that he stops his murderous rampages because he falls in love with a widdle gurl with pig-tails? Puh-leeeeeeze. Cheesy as fukk, and cringe-worthy, entertaining only to a 10 year old.

 

It's time to reclaim Bond back for the adults, something that I feel Daniel Craig is more than capable of. Bond should be, and originally was, fairly mature adult thriller material, the Moore years infantilises the character and turns him into a running joke which Mike Myers exploited so superbly within his Austin Powers films. How can you possibly take Bond seriously after that? This is why we had to have Bourne - adult-oriented spy thriller action, superb, and Matt Damon, incredibly convincing. I'd also love to see someone resurrect Harry Palmer - "The Ipcress File" was a fukkin' amazing film....

 

 

 

 

 

Cringemaking more like.... Moore just cannot play the character to anything like the believability of Connery or Dalton, or even Brosnan. The whole Jaws thing was stupid anyway, I mean, we're just supposed to believe that he stops his murderous rampages because he falls in love with a widdle gurl with pig-tails? Puh-leeeeeeze. Cheesy as fukk, and cringe-worthy, entertaining only to a 10 year old.

 

It's time to reclaim Bond back for the adults, something that I feel Daniel Craig is more than capable of. Bond should be, and originally was, fairly mature adult thriller material, the Moore years infantilises the character and turns him into a running joke which Mike Myers exploited so superbly within his Austin Powers films. How can you possibly take Bond seriously after that? This is why we had to have Bourne - adult-oriented spy thriller action, superb, and Matt Damon, incredibly convincing. I'd also love to see someone resurrect Harry Palmer - "The Ipcress File" was a fukkin' amazing film....

They already made an updated version of the ipcress file didn't they. Sly Stallone was the lead I think, and Michael Caine played a cameo role in it. If it is the film I am thinking of, it wasn't a patch on the original.

 

As for Matt Damon as a super tough, top secret, government agent :lol: . I found him laughable in the role personally, completely wrong for it IMHO!

 

Roger Moore brought so much more charisma to the role than Timothy Dalton, I can't believe many people would agree that Dalton was better.

 

It wouldn't do for us all to think the same though would it :)

They already made an updated version of the ipcress file didn't they. Sly Stallone was the lead I think, and Michael Caine played a cameo role in it. If it is the film I am thinking of, it wasn't a patch on the original.

 

 

Ummm, wasn't that "Get Carter"? And it certainly was not a patch on the brilliant Mike Hodges original....

 

The only version of Ipcress I'm aware of is the Caine original. I think someone was talking about a remake at some point, but I think they need to find the right actor. Ironically in many ways Daniel Craig has all the right qualities to make him an excellent Harry Palmer..... :lol: :lol:

 

And Dalton is very under-rated IMO, in "Licence To Kill" he brings exactly the right amount of edge to it that the rather darker, more realistic plot-line required; Moore wouldn't have had a fukkin' clue how to play in that film, it would've required him to actually act.... "Licence To Kill" wasnt well received only because people were so used to Bond being the pantomime Dandy that Moore made him for most of the 70s and 80s, but Dalton's Bond was far more in touch with how Fleming had envisaged the character....

Well, I still think that Roger Moore was the epitomy of Bond. And as for Baddies, Jaws was my favourite. So, "The Spy Who Loved Me" and "Moonraker" were top notch.

Timothy Dalton I would rank alongside George Lazenby. Just not my cuppa Tea, but excelent I've no doubt.

One other thing; Why is humour perhaps seen by some to be a purely juvenile aspect. I would have thought that humour, if anything is the more sophisticated genre!

 

 

Well, I still think that Roger Moore was the epitomy of Bond. And as for Baddies, Jaws was my favourite. So, "The Spy Who Loved Me" and "Moonraker" were top notch.

Timothy Dalton I would rank alongside George Lazenby. Just not my cuppa Tea, but excelent I've no doubt.

One other thing; Why is humour perhaps seen by some to be a purely juvenile aspect. I would have thought that humour, if anything is the more sophisticated genre!

 

Depends on how it's done, when it's put into a genre where it doesnt really fit (such as the spy thriller), it has to be unforced and appear naturalistic. The example I gave earlier of Goldfinger's reply to Bond - the "I expect you to die" moment, is a brilliant example of humour fitting into the genre, albeit an entirely black and sinister form of humour. Moore was not so much a comedian, he was a joke, he took the whole humour aspect too far, Bond turned into an unintentional parody of itself during his tenure and if they'd actually intended it, well, they could've done a better job of it. Myers' parodic take on the Spy genre, and Bond in particular, is an incredibly sophisticated satire (well, "Goldmember" aside, because it steps into the trap of parodying itself in an incredibly unironic fashion...). When comedy is done well, it's brilliant, when it's done just to get a cheap laugh, it's awful....

 

In short, Connery played it straight and humour just came naturally, Moore tried way too hard to play it as a sort of parody and it just came off as half-arsed to me....

Dalton was the best Bond by a long shot. Moore was by far the worst. Brosnan was OK, but the The World Is Not Enough and Die Another Day were rubbish films.

 

Moore was heading towards the original casino royal on many occasions, very tongue in cheek

Caterina Murino or eva green?