Directors: Terence Young, Guy Hamilton, Lewis Gilbert, Peter R. Hunt, John Glen, Martin Campbell, Roger Spottiswoode, Michael Apted, Lee Tamahori, Marc Forster, Sam Mendes
Movies: In my opinion, the best Bond film was Casino Royale. This surprised me largely because I'm not usually a fan of origin stories and reboots, but I like what they did here - it was kind of like the Bond-version of Christian Bale's Batman, minus the exposition explaining the back story. I don't think I'm going to list off all the movies in order of how much I liked or did not like them, but I will say that my top 5, in order of release, would be Dr. No, From Russia with Love, GoldenEye, Casino Royale, and Skyfall. My bottom five, also in order of release, would be On Her Majesty's Secret Service, Live and Let Die, Moonraker, The World is Not Enough, and Die Another Day.
Bonds: If you've been paying attention, my favourite Bond was by far Daniel Craig. Despite the problems of his series, and I will admit that there were many - particularly with Quantum of Solace - I really like the character that he portrayed here most. In a lot of ways, it's a more rounded and developed person than the previous Bonds. My second favourite would be Sean Connery, and I would follow that up with Timothy Dalton, Pierce Brosnan, Roger Moore, and George Lazenby, in that order.
Ms: Oh, how I love Dame Judi Dench. She really rocked the M. My favourite line in the entire series is her characterization of Bond in GoldenEye, and I really love the relationship that she had with her two Bonds. I did also like Bernard Lee, and I'm really looking forward to seeing what Ralph Fiennes does with the character in the future - I hope they retain him in the as-of-yet titled Bond 24 and Bond 25. Sorry Robert Brown, you didn't make much of an impact on me. Thus, in order: Judi Dench, Bernard Lee, Ralph Fiennes, Robert Brown.
Qs: While I was really happy that they reintroduced Q in Skyfall, I wasn't particularly wowed by Ben Wisham's Q. He had some good lines and played a significant role, but he didn't wow me. I loved Desmond Llewelyn's Q, and while I really enjoyed John Cleese's role, I think I preferred him as "R" to Q. I kind of feel that Q needs to be a bit more of a straight man than Cleese allowed for. I don't think Peter Burton left an impact either. In order: Desmond Llewelyn, John Cleese, Ben Whishaw, Peter Burton.
Moneypennys: The best Moneypenny, by far, is Lois Maxwell's. She played the roll in 16 films, against three Bonds. I really love how she balanced the flirtation with Bond against the rejection of Bond. My second favourite would be Samantha Bond, who really seemed to embrace the early Moneypenny while also going with a bit of a more modern upgrade. This upgrade was initiated a lot by Caroline Bliss' Moneypenny, but it didn't have the earlier affection - I didn't like her. As for Naomie Harris... I'm still really on the fence here. I loved her as a Bond girl, but I hate the idea of Moneypenny being a Bond girl. I'm really not sure if she crossed that line here, and that bothers me. Thus, in order: Lois Maxwell, Samantha Bond, Caroline Bliss, and Naomie Harris sits out on the sidelines.
Bond Girls: I'm not going to go into the individual Bond girls, as there are so many of them - with the exception of Quantum of Solace, which only has two, there's always been at least three, and in A View to Kill there were six women identified as Bond girls. I'm always a bit mixed on the Bond girls in general, they kind of seem to go back and forth between being useful, developed characters, and simply just sex objects. I think in general I liked the earlier ones more than the later ones simply because they didn't try to force us to believe that they were more than just sex objects - the idea of the Bond girl having to be this strong, independent person really began to be forced on is in the Brosnan movies, but a lot of the girls before then were a lot stronger and really better characters. One thing, I'm not a huge fan of the Daniel Craig Bond girls, with the exception of Casino Royale's Vesper Lynd (Eva Green) and, in a complicated way, Skyfall's Eve Moneypenny (Naomie Harris). I thought that both were really strong characters. I really loved Vesper in general and the way that Bond develops feelings for her specifically - in a way it's very reminiscent of On Her Majesty's Secret Service, without the cheese. I also really liked the relationship that Bond and Eve had, I just didn't like the reveal of her being Moneypenny in the end - Moneypenny is not a Bond girl.
Villains: I really fluctuate on my feelings towards different Bond villains. Some of them I loved, some of them I hated. Some of them I thought were great actors and were doing their best with what was given to them, but still fell short. My favourite villains in general tended to be the ones who either operated as a part of some elaborate fictional organization - SPECTRE or Quantum - or were rogue agents themselves. I actually kind of find it funny that these movies seem to pair up Bond dealing with a rogue agent with Bond going rogue himself.
Music: You know what might be my favourite part of this series overall? The music. I really love most of the themes for this series, and in particular the way that they make reference to the film's title - it doesn't happen in all the films, but definitely enough. I can kind of divide the themes into two categories; songs that totally have a James Bond theme song sound to them, and ones that don't. In my opinion, the former category is far better. These include Adele's "Skyfall," Madonna's "Die Another Day," Tina Turner's "GoldenEye," Sheena Easton's "For Your Eyes Only," and Paul McCartney and the Wings' "Live and Let Die," as well as the Shirley Bassey songs, "Goldfinger" and "Diamonds Are Forever." Even just in typing the names out, the songs have implanted themselves into my head, resulting in a strange mashup playing out. Now, that's not to say that other Bond-songs aren't good, just that they don't sound as much like Bond songs and thus are somehow less iconic. What is the most iconic of all, of course, is the "Bond Theme Song," which I think perfectly captures the feel of a Bond film.
I'm just going to finish this off with a table listing off the movies and the actors in the major roles. As usual, links are provided to my reviews of the actual movies themselves.
Movies: In my opinion, the best Bond film was Casino Royale. This surprised me largely because I'm not usually a fan of origin stories and reboots, but I like what they did here - it was kind of like the Bond-version of Christian Bale's Batman, minus the exposition explaining the back story. I don't think I'm going to list off all the movies in order of how much I liked or did not like them, but I will say that my top 5, in order of release, would be Dr. No, From Russia with Love, GoldenEye, Casino Royale, and Skyfall. My bottom five, also in order of release, would be On Her Majesty's Secret Service, Live and Let Die, Moonraker, The World is Not Enough, and Die Another Day.
Bonds: If you've been paying attention, my favourite Bond was by far Daniel Craig. Despite the problems of his series, and I will admit that there were many - particularly with Quantum of Solace - I really like the character that he portrayed here most. In a lot of ways, it's a more rounded and developed person than the previous Bonds. My second favourite would be Sean Connery, and I would follow that up with Timothy Dalton, Pierce Brosnan, Roger Moore, and George Lazenby, in that order.
Ms: Oh, how I love Dame Judi Dench. She really rocked the M. My favourite line in the entire series is her characterization of Bond in GoldenEye, and I really love the relationship that she had with her two Bonds. I did also like Bernard Lee, and I'm really looking forward to seeing what Ralph Fiennes does with the character in the future - I hope they retain him in the as-of-yet titled Bond 24 and Bond 25. Sorry Robert Brown, you didn't make much of an impact on me. Thus, in order: Judi Dench, Bernard Lee, Ralph Fiennes, Robert Brown.
Qs: While I was really happy that they reintroduced Q in Skyfall, I wasn't particularly wowed by Ben Wisham's Q. He had some good lines and played a significant role, but he didn't wow me. I loved Desmond Llewelyn's Q, and while I really enjoyed John Cleese's role, I think I preferred him as "R" to Q. I kind of feel that Q needs to be a bit more of a straight man than Cleese allowed for. I don't think Peter Burton left an impact either. In order: Desmond Llewelyn, John Cleese, Ben Whishaw, Peter Burton.
Moneypennys: The best Moneypenny, by far, is Lois Maxwell's. She played the roll in 16 films, against three Bonds. I really love how she balanced the flirtation with Bond against the rejection of Bond. My second favourite would be Samantha Bond, who really seemed to embrace the early Moneypenny while also going with a bit of a more modern upgrade. This upgrade was initiated a lot by Caroline Bliss' Moneypenny, but it didn't have the earlier affection - I didn't like her. As for Naomie Harris... I'm still really on the fence here. I loved her as a Bond girl, but I hate the idea of Moneypenny being a Bond girl. I'm really not sure if she crossed that line here, and that bothers me. Thus, in order: Lois Maxwell, Samantha Bond, Caroline Bliss, and Naomie Harris sits out on the sidelines.
Bond Girls: I'm not going to go into the individual Bond girls, as there are so many of them - with the exception of Quantum of Solace, which only has two, there's always been at least three, and in A View to Kill there were six women identified as Bond girls. I'm always a bit mixed on the Bond girls in general, they kind of seem to go back and forth between being useful, developed characters, and simply just sex objects. I think in general I liked the earlier ones more than the later ones simply because they didn't try to force us to believe that they were more than just sex objects - the idea of the Bond girl having to be this strong, independent person really began to be forced on is in the Brosnan movies, but a lot of the girls before then were a lot stronger and really better characters. One thing, I'm not a huge fan of the Daniel Craig Bond girls, with the exception of Casino Royale's Vesper Lynd (Eva Green) and, in a complicated way, Skyfall's Eve Moneypenny (Naomie Harris). I thought that both were really strong characters. I really loved Vesper in general and the way that Bond develops feelings for her specifically - in a way it's very reminiscent of On Her Majesty's Secret Service, without the cheese. I also really liked the relationship that Bond and Eve had, I just didn't like the reveal of her being Moneypenny in the end - Moneypenny is not a Bond girl.
Villains: I really fluctuate on my feelings towards different Bond villains. Some of them I loved, some of them I hated. Some of them I thought were great actors and were doing their best with what was given to them, but still fell short. My favourite villains in general tended to be the ones who either operated as a part of some elaborate fictional organization - SPECTRE or Quantum - or were rogue agents themselves. I actually kind of find it funny that these movies seem to pair up Bond dealing with a rogue agent with Bond going rogue himself.
Music: You know what might be my favourite part of this series overall? The music. I really love most of the themes for this series, and in particular the way that they make reference to the film's title - it doesn't happen in all the films, but definitely enough. I can kind of divide the themes into two categories; songs that totally have a James Bond theme song sound to them, and ones that don't. In my opinion, the former category is far better. These include Adele's "Skyfall," Madonna's "Die Another Day," Tina Turner's "GoldenEye," Sheena Easton's "For Your Eyes Only," and Paul McCartney and the Wings' "Live and Let Die," as well as the Shirley Bassey songs, "Goldfinger" and "Diamonds Are Forever." Even just in typing the names out, the songs have implanted themselves into my head, resulting in a strange mashup playing out. Now, that's not to say that other Bond-songs aren't good, just that they don't sound as much like Bond songs and thus are somehow less iconic. What is the most iconic of all, of course, is the "Bond Theme Song," which I think perfectly captures the feel of a Bond film.
I'm just going to finish this off with a table listing off the movies and the actors in the major roles. As usual, links are provided to my reviews of the actual movies themselves.
