Have seen all the movies, since Connery. Killing bond is unacceptable. Also writing was messy, I’m sure the PWB element played a role, with all the rewrites…
Moore's time was cursed by the tendency to make them clown films, like Sheriff Pepper. Live and Let Die is let down more by Rosie being so badly acted; The Spy Who Loved Me by Jaws crashing into the house and so on; and Moonraker for the blatant product placement. I would still put Live And Let Die and the SPWLM right at the top. For your eyes only is a more serious tone, which is something in its favour but the skater trying to pull Bond when there's a 40 year age gap is twisted. Octopussy would not be my number one, but isn't that the point of videos like this, to cause debate?
I thought it was awesome haha. I appreciated how focused a movie it seemed to be, and I felt myself being like “yeah, take down those bad guys” more so than with many of the other films. I never really put this one on growing up, but I’m enjoying it more as an adult.
Where was the safe house meant to be located? because it looks like England but only a few scenes later Bond seems to have just casually driven to back to the opera which was in Bratislava.
Of all the reviews you've done this is the one I disagree with the most on most points. However, my main problem with this film is they used India, which could've been a fantastic location, and made a joke of it.
2024. The movie was entertaining. Daniel Craig's getting old and he's tired and beat up. He was given full control on how he wanted the movie to turn out. As a Result. Bond Got Bombed.
Great review, always loved this film since seeing its UK TV premiere in 1988. The clown suit is criticised as if the writer thought it was cool. It was the perfect disguise under the circumstances as was the gorilla suit. The Jackal in Day of the Jackal uses make up while evading capture. The Politburo scene is one of my favourites of the series as Europe turns red and Orlov laughs at the Brits for having a "token force". You've both sold the film well. Good work.
I LOVE your top 2 so much! Both ladsies are very high in my list too. My most favorite Bond girls are also a bit controversial: Lois Chiles (Moonraker), Kim Basinger (Never Say Never Again), Tanya Roberts (A View to a Kill)
I would’ve put never say never ahead of Diamonds. Add in a John Barry soundtrack and. Gun-barrel sequence and it’d rank higher than You only Live Twice where even Connery was bored.
I was a US Army officer stationed in Germany when Octopussy was released. A group of us went to see it at Patch Barracks, the HQ of US European Command (lots of brass). We got a big kick out of this Bond adventure. First, General Orlov's briefing to the Soviet Politburo....notice the Brezhnev look-a-like?.... and General Gogol, the KGB chief, rolling his eyes at yet another hardliner General bragging he can defeat the Allies single handedly! Then pay attention to the map of Europe...Orlov describes exactly the Soviet plan for a limited invasion of Germany, grabbing the industrial might of the Ruhr area, and going for Antwerp. I fell out of my seat, looking around the cinema to see if any Intelligence types had bug eyes on the screen! Wait, it gets better... then Bond crashes thru the gate of a US Air Force base, yelling at the guard, "I'm a British agent". We all HOWLED with laughter! Oh and the German Polizei really have acrobatic drivers who can pull those stunts. Roger Moore played his James Bond for maximum absurdity. What rollicking fun. By the way, this was during the planning stages of operation ABLE ARCHER (look it up). We had no idea it would turn into a near nuclear war. To quote Judi Dench playing 'M' in a later Bond film; "God, I miss the Cold War"
I love it, but I can't fault any of your criticisms. It feels like the crew were too stuck in their ways by this point to follow through on delivering the kind of tone that this concept and Dalton's performance deserved.
