So anyway, over the weekend I went to see the new Bond movie, and was terribly disappointed. Hailed as the best Bond since From Russia With Love, the truth was different: on my inaginary ranking, I would rank the latest James Bond movie below such flicks as XXX.

Pros
* The plot. Finally we have another megalomaniac who wants to take over the world! Oh, how I missed such people...
* The women. Both are a serious boner material...

Cons
* Screenplay. To tell you the truth, if I want to see an action movie, I rent Delta Force 2 or a similar flick. I go to see a Bond movie because I want a good spy movie. There's no spying here, anymore...
* Logic. Let's face it: Bond movies were never too logical or plausible, but in this movie, logic has hit a new low point... Go see yourself.
* Henchmen. You basically have two guys. Mr. Kill ("That's a name to die for," Bond remarks), who's basically a 6'2" tall black guy and the main henchman whose claim to fame is that an explosion has embeded a few diamonds into his face. Nothing more...
* Bond. Bond himself is a major problem here. He simply seems to be doing things because he's expected to. Let me explain: all his double-meaning lines, all his women approaches and all his statements of the obvious sound so fake that you can't believe it's Bond. Connery had a certain spark; it always seemed like he really wanted to get the girl or that he really meant what he was saying. Not here...
* Dialogue. Another low point in the history of the Bond franchise. There's three different things you will hear: double-standard lines, statements of the obvious and bad puns. There's no other conversation at all.

Overall, the Bond frnachise has finally died for me .

To quote myself from a topic about one's 'personal Bond film ranking':Bad to see I was right On a sidenote, From Russia With Love ranks quite low on my personal scale, too

Yeah, but "best since From Russia With Love" takes into account all movies between that one and Die Another Day...

Anyway, MGM is trying really hard to convince everybody that it's the 19th Bond movie, not the 20th. They dropped The Living Daylights from the list of the official Bond movies...

The Living Daylights? That's the one in Afghanistan, right? I like it better than From Russia With Love

It must be the A-Ha song...

But seriously: I'm trying to locate a DVD of that movie with the MGM logo still on. It may become a rarity soon.

Aargh! What have you done? Now I can't get that out of my head!

Why is MGM saying The Living Daylights is not an official Bond movie?

Actually, I do like that song - but that confession belongs to the 'embarrassing things' thread

Good one . As you know me, Mr Creosote, that kind of music is close to my heart. Actually, I still remember the song and the video from various German and Austrian TV charts...

Don't know why exactly they scratched it from the official series, but they did the same with Live and Let Die a while ago, so I would assume some similar reasons...

And what were the reasons to take out Live And Let Die?

Supposedly it was a spoof Bond movie, not a real one. Connery was too old to be a real Bond in that movie. (I personally enjoyed that one a lot. However, I have proven so many times that i have to taste that I may be wrong about the quality of the movie.)

Er.... Roger Moore played in Live And Let Die and he's older than Connery!

Sorry, my bad. As usual, I confused the names. I meant Never Say never Again, not Live and Let Die

Ah, I see. Never Say Never Again was produced by another company as far as I know, that is why it isn't usually counted. That argument does not apply to The Living Daylights.

I was dragged into the cinema by some fellow students today to see this movie. I have nothing to add to NetDanzr's review - it was just bad. Especially the dialogues - I've never heard such cheap and silly lines! The baddie (in his second incarnation) had some potential, but he only kept his style for 10 minutes, then he went mad, trashing a whole building with several swords... The whole movie felt like a brainless annumeration of past Bond stories and scenes (story from Diamonds Are Forever, good agent being split up with a laser from Goldfinger,.....).

Heh... I was watching both yesterday... We have a Bond movie marathon on TV this weekend... Anyway, I see that my warnings mean nothing to you .