For the record, I love the James Bond series. I’ve read all the Ian Fleming books (some twice), own all the “official” movies, and a variety of the soundtracks. Every time I’m asked about who my favorite James Bond actor is I reply that it’s Sean Connery. Not because Connery was the original, but because I loved the way he portrayed 007.
I’ll admit that Daniel Craig is currently tied with Connery as my favorite, but Craig has the benefit of more Bond movies to come so he has a chance to surpass Connery. The first Bond film I ever saw was THE LIVING DAYLIGHTS. So initially my favorite was Timothy Dalton. Even to this day I have a special affection for him and I think he did a great job as Bond.
It wasn’t until after GOLDENEYE came out that I really got sucked into Bond’s world. TBS ran a marathon that weekend and I caught some of the Roger Moore classics and I liked them but thought they paled in comparison to the new Pierce Brosnan movie. Then I caught ON HER MAJESTY’S SECRET SERVICE and loved the story but thought George Lazenby was terrible casting. Then I caught a little film called GOLDFINGER (followed closely by THUNDERBALL) and my view of James Bond completely changed.
I was shocked how much I loved those Connery originals. So began my love and passionate following for the franchise. As much as I enjoyed Dalton and Brosnan in the role, I felt like Daniel Craig’s entrance into the series was spectacular. CASINO ROYALE instantly became one of my favorites in the series. As much as QUANTUM OF SOLACE gets bashed (and I’ll admit that it’s not as good as CASINO), I really enjoy it too.
2012 was the 50th anniversary of the film series and since that’s been on my mind so much (and as a dude, I like making useless lists), here’s a countdown of the James Bond movies, based completely off my opinion and nothing else.
23. LIVE AND LET DIE
A sad, pathetic first Bond flick for Moore. The story is muddled, the acting is awkward, the special-effects are laugh-inducing. Of all the James Bond films, this is the one that most feels like it doesn’t belong with the others. The theme song is a classic but the rest of the score is horrendous.
22. DIAMONDS ARE FOREVER
Another miss for director Guy Hamilton. Connery looks old. This movie is the first Bond film that I would consider as CAMP, especially following the very serious tone of ON HER MAJESTY’S SECRET SERVICE. The plot is silly and the acting feels as if they borrowed extra celebrities from IT’S A MAD MAD MAD MAD WORLD. The theme song, performed by Shirley Bassey, isn’t too bad, but as soon as she finishes singing the rest of the movie is a disaster.
21. A VIEW TO A KILL
A confusing, meandering plot that mixes a KGB-trained horserace owning cheater and his master plan to destroy Silicon Valley. Roger Moore looks so tired and “grandfatherly” here that it’s almost embarrassing and a little more than awkward when he hooks up with Stacey (Tanya Roberts). He runs around for half the movie wearing the same “comfortable Member’s Only” jacket that my grandfather wore at the time. The awesome Duran Duran theme song is undermined by the stupid use of Beach Boys music as Bond escapes the villains snowboard style.
20. MOONRAKER
Another Roger Moore flop. I know there are plenty of people who are fans of this film, and I can certainly understand the joy of watching the henchman Jaws as he menaces 007. But this is another CAMP movie for Moore. Jaws falls in love? Bond in space? The producers were eager to capitalize off the reinvigorated sci-fi market following the release of STAR WARS but this is a huge failure and hard to watch. Shirley Bassey once again sang the theme song but it’s not memorable at all.
19. DIE ANOTHER DAY
This one is almost as bad as MOONRAKER, though I enjoy seeing Bond in a far different circumstance than we’ve ever seen before. Bond is captured in the opening pre-title sequence and we see him tortured during a nicely done title montage. However, this is as close to CAMP as Bond has been since the days of Roger Moore. An invisible car? A villain who changed his face and voice? There is almost no real chemistry between Brosnan and Halle Berry. Madonna’s theme song gets lambasted by a lot of critics but I actually like it, though it’s far from a classic. Still, what makes this movie better for me is seeing Bond in a prisoner exchange, beaten up and unshaven and no longer trusted by M and the rest of MI6. I thought Brosnan and Judi Dench worked really well together in their first 3 movies but this outing feels cold and uninspired, as if everyone involved just wanted to get the production over with as soon as possible.
18. THE MAN WITH THE GOLDEN GUN
Christopher Lee plays Scaramanga, a mercenary whose schemes involve solar energy. This movie is certainly refreshing after the bad taste left in my mouth after LIVE AND LET DIE. The fate of the world is not at stake. Lee plays the villain with sophistication. I like the idea of this movie more than the actual film itself. It’s small-scale, to be sure. The Lulu theme song is ludicrous. The film is largely forgettable.
17. THE WORLD IS NOT ENOUGH
Now we’re starting to get into some much better movies. Elektra King is a well-written Bond girl, Christmas Jones is not. Elektra is portrayed well, Christmas is not. The story is likable enough, about Elektra’s schemes to undermine her father and make herself rich. They had a great idea for the villain in Renard, portrayed by Robert Carlyle, as a man who can’t feel any pain. That should have made him a perfect foe for Bond, but unfortunately he’s under-utilized. What should have been his secret power gets wasted. The theme song by Garbage isn’t bad; something in the realm of classic Bond songs.
16. OCTOPUSSY
This story is a bit muddled and this is the first 007 flick where Roger Moore is really starting to show his age. They should have made the switch to Dalton with this movie. The villains aren’t very memorable but there are some fine action sequences and locations. However, Bond running around a circus wearing a clown costume really knocks this film a lot lower on the list than it probably would have otherwise been. The theme song is just okay, but the title sequence is fine.
15. THE SPY WHO LOVED ME
The first good movie that Roger Moore starred in, although the villain is completely over-the-top ridiculous. However, the love-hate storyline involving agent Triple X is interesting. The title sequence is fine and is accompanied by one of the best Bond songs ever. If not for the stupid scheme of the villain, this movie would rate much higher. There are nice action sequences and lots of tension.
14. YOU ONLY LIVE TWICE
I debated whether or not I should swap this movie with #15. I like them about equally. The locales are a nice change of pace for this Connery film and the pre-title sequence must have caught a lot of 1967 audiences by complete surprise. This is the first Bond film that didn’t improve upon the predecessor(s) in the quality of the story telling or filmmaking. We’ve previously been exposed to Blofeld but for the first time we get to see him in full. This movie is probably the primary inspiration for Dr. Evil in the AUSTIN POWERS movies. The plot involves rockets and unfortunately Blofeld’s secret lair is in a “jump the shark” volcano. This is the follow-up film to THUNDERBALL and is probably the single biggest drop-off of quality from one film to the next in the entire series. It could have been great if Blofeld’s portrayal and plot weren’t cut out from caricatures. The theme song by Nancy Sinatra is okay, but not spectacular.
13. QUANTUM OF SOLACE
This movie gets a lot of criticism for having a plot that’s hard to follow and being somewhat of a let-down following it’s predecessor. But truth be told, I really like this movie a lot. There’s plenty to enjoy about it. Sure, a couple of the action sequences go on far too long and the villain isn’t nearly as interesting as some of the series other baddies. However, the return of Rene Mathis and the (first ever) continuation of the plot from the previous movie was a welcome change. The way this movie picks up after CASINO and resonates with Bond being haunted by Vesper’s death is really remarkable and provides a nice, complete feel to 007’s origin story; how he became the agent we’ve known for years. There are great moments in this movie, for instance, the opera music playing over the action sequence where Bond fights his way through Quantum thugs. Although I love the opening titles, the theme song by Alicia Keys is far from awesome. This is also the first movie that moved the gun barrel sequence to the very end of the movie.
12. DR. NO
The film world’s introduction to Connery as James Bond. The plot is simple and uncomplicated. Honey Ryder walking onto the beach in a bikini while holding a knife is one of the most iconic moments in the history of cinema. No rules for Bond had been established at this point. The opening song is “Three Blind Mice” which actually sets up the story. I love this movie because of the historical significance it represents. When it hit theaters back in 1962, I’m sure no one had ever seen anything like it. It was fresh and exciting, with a beautiful, sexy leading (scantily-clad) lady and a tough-as-nails secret agent who kills without mercy and does whatever it takes to finish the mission on hand. It offers beautiful locations and a pacing that was uncommon for the time. The scene where Connery sits in the house, waiting for the assassin to show up and playing solitaire with his gun nearby, is such an intriguing moment that just thinking about that scene now makes me want to go back and watch this movie again sooner rather than later.
11. THE LIVING DAYLIGHTS
As I mentioned in the introduction, this was my first experience with James Bond. I had seen bits and pieces of some of the Roger Moore movies whenever they’d come on TV, but never paid much attention to them. I had no frame of reference for the character of James Bond or Moneypenny or Q or M or Felix Leiter. This movie introduced me to those people and to how cool 007 is and how awesome his car is and that he wasn’t afraid to go into any situation and risk his life to get the job done. I loved the opening title sequence and even have a soft spot in my heart for the A-Ha title song. The plot is a little more complicated than it needed to be, mixing in a faux defection, a couple of faux assassinations, the Afghanistan drug trade and a sleazy arms dealer, but Dalton keeps the story grounded and believable and the action is fun to watch; especially the pre-title sequence and the climax that takes place aboard a plane over Afghanistan. This might be my favorite poster in the entire Bond series. It’s classy, sexy, sleek and dangerous; filled with the promise of a great adventure to come. In some ways the poster exceeds the film itself.
10. GOLDENEYE
This movie had it all. Brosnan slid into the role of Bond as if he’d been born to play it. Judi Dench stormed onto the screen as a feisty M and we were introduced to a new Moneypenny. Desmond Llewelyn returned as Q. The film felt like a breath of fresh air because it returned Bond to the big screen after a prolonged absence. The action felt fresh and crisp. Brosnan’s initial take on Bond didn’t seem all that distant from Dalton’s. For the first time ever, the villain was a former friend of Bond’s, a man he had so much in common with that they were practically mirror images of each other. The Bond babes were awesome. This is the most understated performance that Brosnan delivered as Bond. The title sequence felt “modern” and “updated” to be in sync with the times, no longer a slave to the former designs. The Tina Turner theme song is okay, but it doesn’t ever really tie in with the themes orchestrated by Eric Serra so it’s very unbalanced. I like Brosnan’s moody, quieter Bond in this movie. Dalton was originally supposed to return to play Bond again in this film and, as much as I enjoy Brosnan’s performance here, I can’t help but wonder what Dalton would have done with this material.
9. TOMORROW NEVER DIES
This is slightly better than GOLDENEYE by almost every unit of measure. Brosnan is much more comfortable in the role of Bond after the success of his first outing. M is better utilized and comes across much more ballsy. The plot is straight forward and there’s no wasted, unnecessary scenes. Elliott Carver is a serviceable villain as a man trying, not to control the world, but to capitalize off of media domination. The Bond babes are great, classy and capable of staying with Bond through emotionally engaging dialogue and nail-biting action sequences. The scene where Bond is drinking alone in his hotel room, with his gun nearby, waiting to see who Carver will send is one of my favorite all-time Bond moments. Then the moment gets even better when Teri Hatcher (Paris Carver) walks in the room. The fact that she has a past with Bond was an interesting twist. And when she’s dead, Bond has a moment of humanity as he grieves over her before resuming the mission. David Arnold took over the scoring duties on this movie and it was a great improvement over Eric Serra. Cheryl Crow sings the opening song over a nice, creative title sequence, but K.D. Lang’s closing credits song is the real deal to listen for. The pressing issue of national importance plays out so much more realistically here than in previous Bond films, where our hero is trying to save the world from an evil mastermind bent on world domination. So much about this movie feels real and, as good as GOLDENEYE was, takes everything up slightly one notch.
8. ON HER MAJESTY’S SECRET SERVICE
The first time I saw this movie it was a little hard for me to get by George Lazenby’s performance as Bond, which I think is weak and dry and uninteresting. I think the role of Bond was a little too overwhelming for Lazenby. However, this is a solid story. The plot is better than YOU ONLY LIVE TWICE and the icy, mountaintop setting is fun to watch. In fact, that setting provided the inspiration for INCEPTION’s most memorable location. This is the first time that we see Bond in a legitimate love story. I don’t particularly care for the silliness involving his disguise as he infiltrates Blofeld’s lair, but overall this is a solid movie when you really give it a chance.
7. LICENCE TO KILL
To me, this movie gets better with time. It’s a simple revenge story but the twist is that Bond is the one seeking revenge for what happened to his pal, Leiter. This is the only Bond film where no scene takes place in London. Dalton is in even more command of the Bond character and he faces off against Robert Davi, who plays the suave and ambitious Franz Sanchez. The stuff with Professor Joe Butcher (Wayne Newton) is a little over-the-top, but forgivable. Michael Kamen did the score for this film and it’s truly fantastic. I’m not a big fan of the Gladys Knight theme or Patti LaBelle’s closing credits song because Dalton’s Bond, and more specifically this movie, are much darker and gritty and more realistic than previous Bond epics. The songs just don’t seem to fit in with the theme of revenge. This is perhaps the most underrated of all the Bond films and if you’ve only ever seen it once, you should give it another try. It’s serious and menacing, filled with great action sequences and the way Dalton plays against Davi is truly enjoyable.
6. FOR YOUR EYES ONLY
Without a doubt this is Roger Moore’s finest Bond movie. After the silliness of MOONRAKER it’s nice to see Bond return to Earth in a story that is totally about cold war espionage. The pre-title sequence is terrible (the worst of the series?) and the film’s score is a train wreck, provided by Bill Conti. Sheena Easton’s theme song is one of the all-time Bond classics and not to be missed. Melina Havelock is one of my favorite Bond girls. As much as LICENCE TO KILL is about Bond seeking revenge, so much of what fuels this story is about Melina’s vendetta. The settings are gorgeous and of all the Roger Moore films this one feels the most like a spy thriller. I just wish that John Barry had been able to score it and they’d of thought of a much better pre-title sequence. The poster for this film is one of my favorites of the entire series, right behind THE LIVING DAYLIGHTS.
5. THUNDERBALL
This is one of the movies that made me fall in love with Connery’s Bond and created in me a desire to explore more of the original Bond films. It’s classic 1960’s spy stuff. Largo is a master villain who never sees Bond as much of a threat, just a nuisance that must be dealt with. Domino is a charming Bond girl. The Tom Jones theme song doesn’t hold up well by today’s standards, but somehow perfectly fits the tone and spirit of Connery’s Bond. There’s something special about this film, following GOLDFINGER’s release a year earlier, that has a “big event” feel to it. Bond had been gaining in popularity with each release and this was the pinnacle of that era. This is Connery’s last great performance as Bond, in my opinion. Though he’d officially play the character twice more (and once unofficially), the Bond here feels like the same guy from the first three movies. By the 5th outing in YOU ONLY LIVE TWICE, Connery’s Bond is feeling a little long in the tooth to me and not surprisingly he walked away from the series after that. Of course he returned, but he was never as good as he was in THUNDERBALL’s explosive joy.
4. FROM RUSSIA WITH LOVE
This is such a perfect cold war spy movie. British agents, Russian agents, Turkish agents, gypsies, sneaking about through sewer systems and foreign embassies and high-stakes fights on a train and a boat. The second half of this movie is one of the greatest chase films ever produced, akin to NORTH BY NORTHWEST. This is the second Bond movie produced and is leaps and bounds better than DR. NO, the first entry in the series. It’s stunning that the actor, director, producers and writer were able to vault so much higher with this outing in only their second attempt. The soundtrack was brought to vivid life for the first time by the master, John Barry. Matt Munro did the title song and thankfully it is only really heard in its entirety over the end credits. There’s a brief quote of it heard as source music over the radio during a scene. If you’re in the mood for classic cinema or an espionage thriller, this movie has it all and is well worth investing a couple of hours to sit back and properly enjoy.
3. GOLDFINGER
What could be more classic than this movie? This is perhaps the movie that has best served to define who James Bond is in the mind of the general public. It had girls, guns and gadgets. Bond’s car had an ejector seat! There’s a classy swagger to this film that improved on its predecessor, FROM RUSSIA WITH LOVE. Goldfinger is one of the best villains ever realized in this series. Just when Bond thinks he’s got Goldfinger figured out and that his plan will never work, Bond realizes that he was wrong. Goldfinger’s plan is much more sadistic and a lot closer to reality than Bond could possibly have anticipated. Oddjob is in the movie as a henchmen and to this day people remember him throwing a hat that could decapitate a statue. Pussy Galore is a harsh beauty who is immune to Bond’s charms at first. This film features perhaps the most memorable exchange of dialogue between Bond and a villain, as Goldfinger has 007 strapped down to a table, just about to be sliced in half by a laser. Bond asks, “Do you expect me to talk?” and the response from Goldfinger, after a brief chuckle, is, “No Mr. Bond, I expect you to die.”
Oh, Goldfinger is such a marvelous villain because he’s so clever and so far ahead of Bond. All 007 can do is to try to react and catch up. The music is charming and Shirley Bassey’s theme song is the most instantly recognizable of the entire series. In fact, when James Bond is brought up in conversation, one can’t help but hear the theme rattling around in the back of our minds. This movie was so good that it solidified James Bond as a cultural icon and made the populace frenzied for the next picture, THUNDERBALL.
2. CASINO ROYALE
Honestly, I wasn’t looking very forward to this movie because of the way the producers unceremoniously fired Pierce Brosnan. Sure, I didn’t like DIE ANOTHER DAY very much, but I don’t think it was Brosnan’s fault. It was a bad script with a terrible director. After Brosnan made GOLDENEYE he wanted to keep things dark and realistic, as Dalton had done. He wanted to team up with Quentin Tarantino to make CASINO ROYALE, as a straight copy from the original Fleming novel. He also had an interest in remaking ON HER MAJESTY’S SECRET SERVICE. I wish the producers had gone that route after TOMORROW NEVER DIES and let Brosnan go dark and serious. That would have been fantastic, but they insisted on going the opposite direction and we wound up with an invisible car in Brosnan’s last outing. That wasn’t fair to Brosnan and I felt like the producers had really done him wrong when they fired him prior to starting the next movie, even though he was under contract for it. Then when they hired Daniel Craig to play Bond I really thought we were entering the final stages of the Bond films and the glory of all those bygone years was fading fast.
Boy was I wrong.
Daniel Craig is a wonderful James Bond. This movie was so different than the Bond movies that had come before. In fact, nothing could have been in sharper contrast from DIE ANOTHER DAY than CASINO ROYALE. It started out in black and white. It started out with Bond as a mercenary, earning is 00 status by collecting his first two kills. This is 007’s origin story and it was much needed. I heard that after the producers saw the success of the Jason Bourne movies that they wanted to steer Bond back in that direction. Well, they made a wise decision (I still wish they would have listened to Brosnan initially, who already wanted to go that direction anyway). Craig plays Bond as a cocky, arrogant, inexperienced field agent who has not one ounce of humility in his body. He is new to being a spy and hasn’t learned how the world of espionage really works yet.
The cast is fantastic. Eva Green plays Vesper Lynd and she’s stunningly beautiful and her Vesper is so interesting to watch. Le Chiffre is an atypical Bond villain because he’s not a maniac out to destroy the world or bring down governments or steal weapons or anything like that. He finances terrorist organizations and that’s it. He really doesn’t care whether Bond lives or dies because he’s not in the killing business. Giancarlo Giannini is perfectly cast as Rene Mathis (I almost wish they’d done a spy movie starting Giannini on his own mission) and Jeffrey Wright puts on a great Felix Leiter. Martin Campbell, who expertly directed GOLDENEYE, returned to the series to bring gravitas to CASINO ROYALE and he manages making gambling scenes intense and intriguing.
I love the style of the title sequence. The opening theme song is okay, but not great and memorable. However, the song and the title sequence fit in perfectly with the theme of the movie. This story is all about Bond learning about what it will take to be a master spy. It’s about Bond’s first real love and how he is shaped to become the man who will trust no one so that he can get the job done. It’s a tragic, heartbreaking story of loss; loss of love, loss of identity, loss of pride, loss of youth and arrogance. The structure of the story encompasses all of the novel, though it adds as much as 45 minutes of new material at the beginning. The action sequences are a spectacle to behold but the story also takes its time, following Le Chiffre’s demise, to finish out the tragic love story and set up Bond’s next adventure in QUANTUM OF SOLACE, which is a really well-done follow-up to this movie.
1. SKYFALL
I love everything about this movie. Yes, I’m a James Bond fan, but in this case, my experiences with the franchise have nothing to do with this movie winding up as my favorite of the year. The characters are fresh and engaging. I found myself wanting to spend more time with each one and enjoying what they brought to the screen. The actors (especially Javier Bardem, Daniel Craig and Judi Dench) deliver performances that surprised and made me laugh and tugged at my heart. The background characters (the new Q, the new Moneypenny, the new M, Bill Tanner, Kincade) work so well into the fabric of this story that it feels as if they’ve always been there, waiting for us to discover them. The movie has a great kinetic energy to it that propels the story forward at a quickening pace. There isn’t one wasted, unnecessary scene in the entire story.
The writing is crisp and focused. As I was writing this, DIE ANOTHER DAY just happened to be on TV. My 9 year-old son has fallen in love with the 007 movies and he’s slowly been working his way through them. He watched the movie and enjoyed it, but said that it wasn’t as good as SKYFALL. I agree. Even though I said earlier that this movie is my favorite of the year and that it has nothing to do with my love of the franchise, at the same time I can’t help but contrast SKYFALL with the previous Bond entries. DIE ANOTHER DAY pales in comparison to SKYFALL. As I watched a few minutes of it I couldn’t help but feel as if they just stitched together scenes to form a plot that not only bordered on absurdity, it jumped over that line and went into full-on parody.
When they relaunched the franchise with CASINO ROYALE a few years back I thought it was one of the smartest decisions they ever made with the series, but only after actually seeing the movie. I felt like it was the perfect origination story for 007 (and yes, it still is). QUANTUM OF SOLACE concluded the story that CASINO began and a lot of people didn’t care for it but I think it was a good action movie and I still enjoy watching it when it’s on TV. As much as CASINO is 007’s origin story, I think SKYFALL is James Bond’s origin story. The first movie was about how he became a spy. This movie is about how that spy became a man and about the choices he’s made — the most important choice being that he chose to remain a spy, even though he had a way out.
This is the best directed movie of the series. Sam Mendes pulls performances out of his actors the likes of which I never dreamed I’d see in a Bond flick. This is the best written (John Logan) and best photographed (Roger Deakins) of the series. You could just about take a single frame from every scene in the movie and you’d find a piece of art that would fill the pages of a book or line the walls in a gallery celebrating great films.
Now, this movie doesn’t play out like any previous Bond movies. It’s a very personal story which examines why Bond is who he is. GOLDENEYE examined the theme “Is there still a place for James Bond in our present age?” and SKYFALL largely asks that same question. As the story of terrorism and revenge, betrayal and loyalty, play out, Bond takes M to his childhood home in order to protect her. From here on out, we get more insight into how James Bond became the secret agent we all know and love. The last hour of the movie, from the moment Silva escapes custody to the grand finale, in which SKYFALL plays more like a thriller than a spy/action-adventure, this movie offers unexpected twists and ends in such a satisfying way that it left me begging for the next mission.
In a conversation with a friend, we discussed some of the things that surprised us about this movie. Bardem’s villainous Silva is now my favorite Bond villain ever. I’ve often thought that one of the things that made Auric Goldfinger such a fantastic bad guy was that he was clever and always way ahead of Bond; even when Bond thinks he’s got everything figured out, Goldfinger enjoys seeing the revelation on Bond’s face when 007 realizes that he’s misunderstood Goldfinger’s intentions and that his dastardly plan is actually a lot closer to reality than Bond could have ever dreamed in his worst nightmare. Well, finally, a Bond villain has come along that actually surpassed Goldfinger. Silva is so far ahead of Bond and M and the rest of MI6 that he makes them think they’re in control when in actuality, they never really are; in fact, as my friend pointed out, this is the first time that Bond essentially fails his mission. In the end, the villain got exactly what he was after. He is as suave and sophisticated as Christopher Lee’s Scaramanga in THE MAN WITH THE GOLDEN GUN or Robert Davi’s Sanchez in LICENSE TO KILL and is far more terrifying than Richard Kiel’s Jaws. Silva is a mixture of Hans Gruber and Hannibal Lecter.
We originally thought the producers made a mistake casting the young Ben Whishaw as the new Q, but both of us came away from this movie having thoroughly enjoyed Whishaw’s performance and we look forward to his future banter and crazy exploits in Bond’s world. I loved the new “underground” MI6. I love the new Moneypenny and I think Ralph Fiennes is a fantastic addition to the cast. I’ve always been a fan of PATRIOT GAMES and I love the fact that the last act of this story feels like the last act of that Harrison Ford classic.
I had grown very tired of David Arnold’s scores for the Bond franchise. Each one sounded increasingly like a carbon copy of the other ones he’d done. Thomas Newman scored this movie and the music was a vast improvement. In fact, it’s one of my favorite soundtracks of the year. The title sequence at the beginning is, in my opinion, the best one they’ve done. When I saw it the first time I didn’t realize that the images on screen were foreshadows of the story to come — absolutely brilliant!
Over the past decade I’ve fallen in love with Christopher Nolan’s Dark Knight trilogy. In a lot of ways, this movie feels like it could have been called JAMES BOND BEGINS. It wasn’t until after I saw it that I read how Sam Mendes was inspired by Nolan’s work. SKYFALL has the same blend of gravitas and high-stakes thrills as INCEPTION, which is one of my favorite films of the past decade. I expected to like SKYFALL because I generally love the character and I like all the James Bond movies (yes, I even own all the corny bad ones). I didn’t expect to get out of this movie an origination story that felt like the espionage version of INCEPTION and BATMAN BEGINS. I think that was such a pleasant surprise that after a few viewings of this movie it rose to the top of my list because I couldn’t get enough of it.
Sam Mendes didn’t just direct a James Bond movie, he produced a work of art that I have enjoyed more and more with each viewing. It will be hard for the producers to ever top SKYFALL, but I certainly hope that Mendes and Deakins and Logan and Newman are involved in the next couple of Daniel Craig Bond adventures. This is Judi Dench’s finest work in the series and her performances will be missed in the adventures to come.
So that’s my BOND countdown. What’s yours?
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