Best Bond Movie (for me)

sporina

Never watched a James bond movie..

I would like to give one a go..

I love drama and foreign language movies... acting and writing are important for me..

Which do ye think is best?

I don't need to start with the 1st one,.

Just one I might enjoy..

flasher0030

Casino Royale - with Daniel Craig.

ArmaniJeanss

Goldfinger - it's probably the most traditional Bond film, and one of the more quotable. And generally just good fun.

byronbay2

As long as you avoid those abysmal, camp Roger Moore examples, you should be OK. Sean Connery has been the best and most authentic Bond imo (charming but with a ruthless edge), so Dr. No and Goldfinger would be my faves.

billyhead

You only live twice is good.

FortuneChip

Casino Royale.

It's near perfect.

It's the first one where Bond is properly changed by the events of the movie, and doesn't just end with Bond trapped (willingly) in a confined area with the Bond girl.

You Only Live Twice and Goldfinger are both excellent "classic Bonds"

I loved Goldeneye. I was about 12 so a good age. It has a baddie in Sean Bean, is in brilliant locations, is the old cheesy bond but without the over the top stupidity of the rest of the Brosnan ones.

A good Bond, a good 90s film.

FunLover18

Casino Royale is good shout and a great movie but it does also break the mold. Bond is character who doesn't change from film to film. The Connery films are all great bar Diamonds Are Forever. On Her Majesty's Secret Service is also a very good film but similar to CR it has an arc for Bond which is unusual.

Juat going by your post I would go for the smaller scale Bonds, there are a few that don't revolve around world domination. From Russia With Love is one of the better ones for me and CR is also relatively small scale but if you're going to watch CR I (unlike most) would recommend watching Quantum Of Solace which is a direct follow up, it has its issues but it's far from the mess most make out. Definitely avoid the Moore films.

I didn't like QoS at all when it came out but having seen it a couple of times in recent years I've warmed to it a lot actually, maybe I had different expectations from it when I saw it originally.

The Brosnan ones sit weirdly with me, saw them all when they came out and didn't hate them but have never had the desire to watch them again and have flicked if they've been on TV. I can happily sit through most of the others any time they are on.

Many don't like the Moore ones but A View To A Kill is one of my favourites.

billyhead

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119429776#Comment_119429776

I thought a spy who loved me was good. A View to a Kill was also enjoyable.

walshb

Personally I’d go with 1964s Goldfinger. I have seen it many times. Really has everything!

bazza1

Goldfinger or Diamonds are Forever...Connery classics!

littlevillage

Octopussy and View to a Kill are good fun.

Goldfinger and Thunderball from the Connery era, all the Craig films except AQoS, and watch them in order.

Best of all? Skyfall, hands down.

dotsman

IMO, Living Daylights is the best. And definitely the best soundtrack/score...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hR2OwmariWk

To me, the 2 Timothy Dalton movies are the best. Connery may have defined the legend, but the 2 Dalton movies find the right balance between capturing the "fun" of the bond movies, but not getting too camp/absurd like the Moore/Brosnan/end-of-Connory eras or the "pretend seriousness" of the Craig era

• For Sean Connery, try Goldfinger or maybe From Russia with Love
• For Roger Moore, A View to a Kill is great, mindless fun.
• For Timothy Dalton, both are great - plenty of gadgets, one-liners, excellent scores, locations etc, with enjoyable plots/bad guys that aren't too crazy.
• For Pierce Brosnan, Goldeneye is leagues ahead of his others
• For Daniel Craig series, tbh, I'm not a fan (tries to take itself too seriously, but still with crazy plots), but try Casino Royale and take if from there.

But the real question is - how can a person have made it to adulthood (assuming OP is an adult) without ever seeing a bond movie? I mean, there are so many of them, with new ones out every few years, and older ones constantly being shown on TV.

littlevillage

View to a Kill and Octopussy are fun ....and Goldfinger is a properly good movie

Markus Antonius

Diamonds are Forever without question.

mewso

Depends on what you want. Bond movies change tone and style like the weather.

Classic Spy Bond - Dr. No, From Russia with Love

Silly but fun Bond - Any early Roger Moore

Uncomfortable Bond (that could be his daughter) - Any later Roger Moore

Sexist Bond - Goldfinger ("Run along, man talk"), Skyfall (I know you were abused when you were younger but I just thought I'd join you in the shower)

Hipster Bond - take your pick from On her Majesty's Secret Service ("I've just discovered this is obviously the best bond ever"), both Timothy Dalton movies ("this is Bond as Fleming wrote it")

Bourne Bond - Casino Royale (2006)

I would suggest just start from Dr. No and keep going. Connery will probably never be beaten for me but all of the actors have had great movies and moments. Some are bad but most will entertain.

sporina

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119429934#Comment_119429934

whats "AQoS"?

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119430622#Comment_119430622

Sorry, errant A there when typing, quantum of solace.

byronbay2

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119428923#Comment_119428923

Goldeneye is not awful (I love the sword-fighting scene) but very hard to suspend the disbelief when a Korean colonel becomes a British gent by DNA recombination! 🙄

The most awful moment in Bond history (the nadir, if you will) for me (unfortunately) falls on Brosnan when he kite-surfs a tsunami (with absolutely horrible CGI) in Die Another Day! Killed Bond for me for a long time, that one.

FunLover18

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119430878#Comment_119430878

You're talking about Die Another Day in your first paragraph, not Goldeneye.

byronbay2

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119430894#Comment_119430894

You are quite right, apologies.

flasher0030

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119430878#Comment_119430878

I watched that kite-surfing clip on youtube there. Shocking stuff altogether. Whoever came up with that idea should never be let near a film set ever again.

I know there is always pressure to come up with the next great stunt - to outdo what was done in the previous movie installment. But that was bad. He was clinging to the side of an ice-cliff holding a canoe and carrying what seemed to be a closed parachute/kite thingy. Next thing he comes bounding over the waves with the parachute opened. and smiling away as he is balancing on a Tsunami. I'm generally o0k with suspension of disbelief. But that was fairly cringe alright.

Markus Antonius

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119430894#Comment_119430894

I don't know... when he spoke of sword fighting in Goldeneye - the steamy scenes with Xenia Onatopp came to mind XD

Acosta

My favourites:

On Her Majesty's Secret Service

Casino Royale

The Living Daylights

For Your Eyes Only

You Only Live Twice

Skyfall

Goldeneye

I'd start with Casino Royal

Tippman24

Goldfinger for me, but honourable mention to On Her Majesty's Secret Service. (I was up in Bloefeld's secret base in the Alpesa couple of times).

unkel

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119427486#Comment_119427486

It really is. I've seen them all over many decades, like most of them and most Bonds in their own right, but Casino Royale is outstanding. From the spectacular parkour opening scene to the gritty and dark Craig as the Bond most like the one in the books. Must see it again soon.

TomSweeney

Any one with Roger Moore in them, he is by far the best Bond.

With Connery Thunderball and Goldfinger are good.

Acosta

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119433987#Comment_119433987

Really want to go up there sometime. Looks pricey but I'm sure it's worth it.

byronbay2

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119434004#Comment_119434004

Good movie but the denouement of the poker scene is absolute cringe: everybody all-in and straight< house< better house< straight flush. All a bit unlikely! 🙄

Vesper does look good though!

sporina

my gosh - so many bond fans on here..

i'll have to review all the replies before deciding what to watch 1st but at a glance, looks like it will be Casino Royale

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119427486#Comment_119427486

The first reply almost had the correct answer.

Casino Royale - with Mads Mikkelsen.

You Only Live Twice is a class Bond movie. Ejector seat, helicopter in a suitcase, terrible racism, Blofeld with a secret lair in an extinct volcano, white cat, goons being shot and falling forward over large drops.

Casino Royale is a great movie, regardless of it being part of the Bond franchise. Skyfall was very good as well.

greedygoblin

A View to a Kill is my favourite Bond movie & the one I've probably seen the most over the years. Was Moore too old? Most definitely. And the plot was a bit crazy. But Christopher Walken was great. As was Grace Jones. And that soundtrack.

Of the Connery ones I'd choose one of From Russia with Love, Goldfinger or You Only Live Twice.

Lazenby's On Her Majesty's Secret Service has aged like a fine wine.

From Dalton's two I'd pick The Living Daylights. License to Kill has a much darker vibe about it.

Then like many others here I'd agree on Goldeneye & Casino Royale being the best of Brosnan's & Craig's efforts respectively.

byronbay2

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119434022#Comment_119434022

Have you seen A View To A Kill?? Moore can barely raise a trot (or even an eyebrow!), not to mind shag gorgeous babes en-route to saving the world!

Roger Moore is the absolute antithesis of what Ian Fleming created James Bond to be!

TomSweeney

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119435661#Comment_119435661

:D A view to a kill is one of my favs!!!

Classic!

byronbay2

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119435667#Comment_119435667

Well, if you liked A View To A Kill, might I recommend Live And Let Die? A glorified Blaxploitation movie that (to me) is a million miles from what Bond movies are supposed to be about. 😡

Arghus

I'd vote for Goldfinger.

It mightn't have been the first, but it established the formula and it's Connery who is the best Bond

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119435661#Comment_119435661

Useless fact, Roger Moore never trotted/ran in Bond films, it was always a double. Rog was flat footed so his stride was less than elegant.

unkel

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119435539#Comment_119435539

Agreed the whole casino part is not great. The film certainly is not without flaws.

pixelburp

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119435661#Comment_119435661

To be fair, so was Connery. The appearance Fleming wrote IIRC, looked by entire coincidence, like Ian Fleming. The book series was a fairly transparent Author Insert.

Moore himself was embarrassed by View to a Kill and admitted he should have bowed out; a bit appalled by romancing a woman the age of his daughter at the time (again IIRC). Chris Walken was a great antagonist though, and I always had a fondness for the airship set piece.

The Best Bond film? It's kinda hard cos even in all the "good ones", there were really shonky moments; like, On Her Majesty's Secret Service had some great action scenes, locations and Telly Savalas was a good Blofeld ... ... but the actual plot of mind-controlled hotties releasing a virus around the world like something from Austin Powers.

Pussyhands

Skyfall on here. Daniel Craig is an awful bond. Can't stand him. He's an agent, not a super hero... Sprints with his mouth closed and never runs out of breath. Runs at a constant speed too no matter if he's running up near vertical beams or flat ground.

Pussyhands

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119434004#Comment_119434004

The parkour scene is awful. Craig running up beams in his shoes at a constant speed, never running out of breath.

flasher0030

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119443135#Comment_119443135

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119443111#Comment_119443111

Having a bad day yesterday, Pussy. Complaining about how fast someone runs in an action scene. Why can't you just watch a film for what it is - an action film with a bit of mystery. And not be looking at how fast one character goes. Or if their mouth is open or shut. Do you realise how sad that looks. Out of curiosity, I did a search for the top action scenes from Bond - and surprise surprise, the crane/parkour scene came tops in the two first hits that I opened. But maybe you are right, and everybody else is wrong.

https://www.mensjournal.com/health-fitness/top-10-most-mindblowing-bond-moments/

https://screenrant.com/james-bond-daniel-craig-best-action-scenes/

The parkour/crane scene is very widely regarded as a top Bond action scene. Going against the norm does not make you look any cooler or trendier.

FunLover18

If that's the level of accuracy you're looking for from a Bond film I suggest you never watch a Bond film.

pixelburp

Wait.

Wait.

Is someone trying to plead realism in a series that has had - by way of limited example - submarine or invisible sports cars, lasergun space battles, and mind-controlled supermodels?

Reported for trolling?

'From Russia with Love' is my personal favourite.

However, I think 'Goldfinger' is the best Bond film of all. As Arghus said above, it was the film that concocted the perfect Bond formula.

It had everything;

• Introduction of the iconic Aston Martin.
• The series' first real car chase.
• Goldfinger and Oddjob, the villainous cast from which other Bond villains were molded.
• An iconic Bond girl.
• And Connery with quite possible the greatest Bond performance of them all.

buried

Dr. No for me. It has the most realistic elements while being a total dark fantastical espionage caper to go with it. The story of whole thing, the sabotaging of US test missiles from Cape Canaveral, always seemed to me to be actually grounded in some sort of real event that may have actually occurred or Fleming discovered while working for the British Naval Intelligence Division.

Pussyhands

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119445249#Comment_119445249

Yes bond isn't realistic but when it comes to who is the best bond you're looking for someone's acting skills.

James bond is an undercover agent, he's not a superhero with super powers.

For example Jaws was clearly a far greater physical specimen than bond yet bond outwitted him to get over him.

The never out of breath, sprinting with mouth closed, sprinting at full speed up 45 degree beams wearing shoes is as awful as can be in a modern film.

It's as bad as cars in the old films squealing on clay.

The new bonds are bad and completely gone off track from the previous 40 years or so. Too much focus on bonds feelings and relationships rather than him trying to catch the bad guy.

For example you'd never see the old bond with m in his arms crying.

There's also 0 humour in Craig. "Jee, I've never done that before!...... Neither have I"... Craig could never pull a line like that off.

Do you Bond films are documentaries?