Spectre

SPECTRE
2015 | Dir. Sam Mendes | 148 Minutes

"You're a kite dancing in a hurricane, Mr. Bond."

James Bond follows up on a lead left behind by the late M and discovers a sinister secret organization. In order to locate and confront the evil mastermind, Bond must protect the daughter of a past enemy. Meanwhile, the future of MI6 is threatened by the arrogant head of the Joint Intelligence Service.

Directly following Skyfall, Sam Mendes' Spectre is a decidedly less daring, less engaging picture by comparison. Constructing a cohesive continuity within Daniel Craig's James Bond films is an intriguing idea but the culmination of the ongoing story in Spectre leaves much to be desired. The return of the ultimate Bond nemesis Ernst Stavro Blofeld is disappointingly mishandled as the screenwriters predictably cast Blofeld in the role of puppet master behind the primary antagonists from the last three films while needlessly giving him a personal motivation for specifically targeting Bond that borders on nonsensical. The side plot that once again questions MI6's place in the modern world would have been interesting, if somewhat redundant, had it not been completely undercut by the fact the dissenting voice this time around is SPECTRE in disguise.

Visually, Spectre is a dark and flat picture. Cinematographer Hoyte van Hoytema makes the stylistic choice to frame the picture dead center on the subject for the majority of his shots, burning out all sense of drama from any given scene. The secret meeting in Rome is a prime example, quickly coming across as more of an eye-straining slog than a tense and unpredictable sequence.

With the exception of the excellent cold open set in Mexico City, the action scenes are fine if somewhat standard. Highlights include a nighttime car chase in Rome with a few comedic flourishes that would have been fitting in the Roger Moore era, an elaborate destructive pursuit sequence in the Austrian Alps, and an intense brawl between Bond and gigantic strongman Mr. Hinx onboard a train. The climatic action sequence in the bombed out remains of the former MI6 headquarters is disappointingly rote and uninspired, amounting to Bond being presented with an impossible choice that quickly proves to be far from impossible.

Daniel Craig confidently takes on the role of James Bond for the fourth time and he remains consistently great in the part even if the writing is noticeably weak for this installment. As love interest Madeleine Swann, Léa Seydoux is convincingly headstrong and subtly vulnerable, exhibiting a deep-seated world-weariness that is difficult to quantify. Craig and Seydoux are excellent performers but they share very little on screen chemistry and the romance at the core of the picture simply doesn't work. Though the script doesn't do him any favors, casting Christoph Waltz in the role of Ernst Stavro Blofeld is an inspired choice and he makes the most of the hand he was dealt, demonstrating a believably menacing intelligence in spite of the absurdity of the material. The film also features Dave Bautista delivering a fun performance as the skillful sadistic brute Mr. Hinx, Andrew Scott appropriately irritating as Joint Intelligence Service head Max Denbigh, and Monica Bellucci as the tormented widow of a SPECTRE operative. Ralph Fiennes, Naomie Harris, Ben Whishaw, and Rory Kinnear return as M, Moneypenny, Q, and Bill Tanner, each with a bit more to do than in Skyfall, while Jesper Christensen delivers a brief but harrowing performance reprising the role of Mr. White. A welcome sight, Judi Dench also makes a cameo appearance as the former M.

While it is ostensibly a competently constructed action film, Spectre falls well below the high standard set by Skyfall. The picture ties together all of Daniel Craig's James Bond films a little too neatly, not quite cleverly, and the major plot revelations it offers fall completely flat. It isn't necessarily one of the worst Bond pictures but frustratingly it could have been a much better installment considering how it has all the right pieces.


THE COLD OPEN
The elaborate Mexico City Day of the Dead action sequence is truly excellent, really one of the best cold open sequences of the entire franchise. The helicopter stunt is a real show stopper. It's a gripping, well-paced action sequence that the rest of the picture fails to match.


THE THEME SONG AND OPENING TITLES
Sam Smith's "Writing's on the Wall" is overproduced and somewhat dull, a weepy dirge of a tune. Though it is arguably one of the weaker James Bond theme songs, it is the second song from the series to win an Academy Award for Best Original Song. However, Daniel Kleinman's opening title sequence is another winner, prominently featuring a foreboding octopus motif inspired by the SPECTRE insignia. The segment featuring a collage of eyes is chilling, while the segment with clips from past films is cheesy as hell.


THE BOND GIRL
Dr. Madeleine Swann is meant to be an ideal match for Bond, an intelligent and capable somewhat prickly woman who is no stranger to the violent world of her father Mr. White. Though she demonstrates that she can handle a gun and she saves Bond from certain death on more than one occasion, she is still relegated to the role of damsel in distress when she is first introduced and during the final act. Dr. Swann is last seen riding off with Bond in his Aston Martin at the end of the picture, Bond having chosen her over revenge and continued employment with MI6, but nothing suggests their relationship will last any longer than Bond's previous romances.


THE BOND VILLAIN
Reintroducing Blofeld as Bond's adoptive brother Franz Oberhauser, and tying his villainous origin to Bond childhood is an unfortunate mistake. This new Blofeld is motivated simply by murderous jealousy, committing patricide and taking on his mother's name simply because his father took a liking to Bond. While he has the trademark white Persian, the proclivity to place Bond in an impractical death trap only to have him escape, and even the disfiguring facial scar by the final act of the film, Blofeld's forced connection to Bond makes him far less intriguing than previous incarnations of the quintessential Bond villain.


FEATURED HENCHMAN
The massive taciturn Mr. Hinx is cut from the same mold as Oddjob and Jaws, a sadistic killer with a quirky gimmick - a set of metal thumb nails he uses to gouge out the eyes of a rival when he is first introduced. Hinx encounters Bond three times in the film, presented as a nigh indestructible opponent. Despite speaking only once - he curses just as he is dragged by the neck by a half dozen kegs out of the cargo door of a speeding train, he exudes a surprising amount of personality.


BEST GADGET
The exploding wristwatch is classic Bond movie trope put to excellent use in stopping another time-honored Bond movie trope: the impractical death trap.


FLEMING FIDELITY
The secret organization SPECTRE and its leader Ernst Stavro Blofeld were first introduced in Ian Fleming's eighth James Bond novel Thunderball first published in 1961. Hannes Oberhauser was introduced as Bond's childhood skiing instructor and father figure in Fleming's short story Octopussy first published in 1966.


MCCLORY'S SPECTRE
Written to be the first Bond film, author Ian Fleming collaborated with Kevin McClory and Jack Whittingham on the initial screenplay for Thunderball. Losing faith in McClory's cinematic vision for Bond, Fleming repurposed the story and used it for his eighth Bond novel published in 1961. McClory and Whittingham sued Fleming, and the case was settled out of court resulting in McClory gaining the literary and film rights for the screenplay. McClory is credited as a producer for Thunderball and eventually produced the awful 1983 Taliafilm remake Never Say Never Again featuring a spiteful Sean Connery as Bond. In 2013, MGM formally acquired the complete film rights for the concept of SPECTRE from the McClory estate as well as all of the characters associated with the organization, paving the way for Spectre to reincorporate the evil organization and Bond's arch-nemesis Blofeld into Eon Productions' James Bond film franchise.


FRAGMENTS
- Gary Oldman was approached for the role of Ernst Stavro Blofeld

- Christoph Waltz and Léa Seydoux previously appeared together in Inglourious Basterds

- Bond, Moneypenny, Tanner, and M meet in London at a safe house disguised as the business "Hildebrand Prints & Rarities", an homage to the Ian Fleming's short story The Hildebrand Rarity first published in Playboy magazine in March 1960

- At the bottom of the end credits, the film advertises that "James Bond Will Return"


MCU CONNECTIONS
- Dave Bautista (Drax in Guardians of the Galaxy, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2, Avengers: Infinity War, Avengers: Endgame, Thor: Love and Thunder, and Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3)

Skyfall

SKYFALL
2012 | Dir. Sam Mendes | 143 Minutes

"Some men are coming to kill us. We're going to kill them first."

Missing and presumed dead after a failed mission, a weary James Bond returns to service in response to a devastating attack on MI6 headquarters. Unhinged former MI6 agent Raoul Silva seeks revenge against M for disavowing and leaving him for dead years ago. To counter Silva's ruthless tactics, Bond must utilize unconventional methods to protect M.

Sam Mendes' Skyfall is a contemplative, stylish, atmospheric, and visually stunning James Bond film, a nearly flawless film in virtually every level. Between every death-defying confrontation, the narrative directly questions the value of Bond's loyalty to M and the service, the toll Bond's violent work takes on his physical and psychological health, and the relevance of MI6 and necessity for its continued existence in the modern world. Impressively,  the movie also manages to honor the franchise's long history by reintroducing and simultaneously reinventing several of the series' key characters and tropes in innovative and unexpected ways.

While Skyfall is a thoughtful picture, it is also appropriately a fantastic action film with exciting stunt work and memorable set pieces. Courtesy of legendary cinematographer Roger Deakins, every single frame of the picture is a sight to behold. The epic pre-credits chase sequence is among the best, and unlike so many lesser Bond films, it only gets better from that point - a stunning neon-lit fight to the death between Bond and an enemy operative in a Shanghai skyscraper, a thrilling foot chase in the London Underground leading to a suspenseful courtroom shootout, the explosive climatic battle pitting Bond, an elderly gamekeeper, and M against Silva and his army of hired killers at Bond's dilapidated ancestral home - nearly every action sequence is bolstered by escalating danger and elevated personal stakes, for once serving the plot instead of the other way around.

Daniel Craig is at his very best in his third appearance as James Bond, delivering a powerful quietly emotional performance as a jaded damaged action hero ravaged by time. In her final featured appearance as M, Judi Dench gives her very best performance in the role, completely embodying the nobility of a leader who refuses to retire while her past mistakes are running amok, ever willing to stand up for what's right in spite of any damage sustained by her reputation. The dynamic between Craig's Bond and Dench's M has never been stronger and it effectively carries the final act of the film. As the deranged Raoul Silva, Javier Bardem is both completely captivating and absolutely terrifying, believably portraying a twisted man who is capable of anything. Ola Rapace is convincingly brutal as Silva's gun for hire Patrice. Bérénice Marlohe is thanklessly tasked with playing Silva's doomed mistress Sévérine, a stock Bond film character type that makes an unfortunate return. Albert Finney amusingly portrays the cranky Scottish Skyfall estate gamekeeper Kincade. The film also features Rory Kinnear returning as as MI6 Chief of Staff Bill Tanner, Ralph Fiennes as Intelligence and Security Committee chairman Gareth Mallory, Naomie Harris as MI6 field agent Eve, and Ben Whishaw as a modern take on Q.

Skyfall is one of the very best pictures of Eon Productions' James Bond film series. Featuring a thoughtful plot that places dire stakes on the line for both 007 and MI6, the feature is as dramatically serious as a Bond picture can possibly be while it is also ranks among the franchise's most entertaining installments. The film impressively deconstructs and reconstructs the status quo of the series, honoring what came before with genuine reverence while paving the way for thrilling possibilities going forward.


THE COLD OPEN
The intense highly-destructive Istanbul chase sequence is simply riveting. The tonal balance is perfect in execution, from the broad humor of Bond pulverizing a trio of VW Beetles in an excavator to the high drama of M ordering Eve to take an impossible shot. The fact that Bond takes a bullet ending the mission in failure sets the stage for an emotionally unpredictable ride.


THE THEME SONG AND OPENING TITLES
Adele's "Skyfall" is at least as good as Shirley Bassey's best Bond theme songs. It's perhaps the best Bond theme song ever, the first Bond theme song to win the Academy Award for Best Original Song, a soulful ballad with lyrics that gracefully thematically reference the plot of the film, rather than literally. Daniel Kleinman's fantastic opening titles once again break the tradition of flaunting seductive female figures, instead diving into Bond's psyche prominently featuring abstract representations of Bond's mortality and the titular abandoned family estate as well as sparing depictions of the female form.


THE BOND GIRL
The latest in a long line of women Bond fails to protect, Sévérine is perhaps best seen as a reminder of all those who came before and perhaps a plot point foreshadowing M's ultimate fate. Her tragic backstory as a sex slave just makes it even more depressing when Silva guns her down to demoralize Bond in a twisted meaningless game. In the end, she is woefully underwritten and indisputably the weakest aspect of the film.


THE BOND VILLAIN
While Bond villains conceived to be dark reflections of Bond have been done before, none have been quite as chilling or intriguing as Raoul Silva. M's favorite agent until he disobeyed her orders and she disavowed and abandoned him, his customary Bond villain physical deformity is rather grotesque, a severely mutilated mouth and face are concealed by a sophisticated prosthesis, the result of a failed suicide attempt by cyanide when he was captured by the enemy. Silva's scheme to expose the identities of every secret agent in the world is in actuality secondary to his plot to take M's life and to end his own. Eccentric, flamboyant, and sexually fluid, one of the most entertaining moments in the film is when hits on Bond with Bond responding in kind.


FEATURED HENCHMAN
Patrice doesn't have much of a personality to speak of but he makes for a formidable opponent in the cold open and in the spectacular Shanghai skyscraper fight. These two memorable sequences alone elevate Patrice's placement among the all-time great Bond henchmen.


BEST GADGET
The tricked out Aston Martin DB5 is as cool as it was in Goldfinger. M's quip about it being an uncomfortable ride is hilarious and Bond's response to its destruction during the climactic showdown with Silva's men is amusingly emotional.


FLEMING FIDELITY
Bond's Scottish heritage and his father's name, Andrew Bond, are sourced from Bond's obituary in Ian Fleming's eleventh James Bond novel You Only Live Twice first published in 1964. Sévérine's death scene is inspired by a similar moment depicted in Ian Fleming's twelfth and final James Bond novel The Man with the Golden Gun first published in 1965.


FRAGMENTS
- The role of Kincade was originally written with Sean Connery in mind but producers Barbara Broccoli and Michael G. Wilson were unable to convince Connery to come out of retirement to make the surprise cameo appearance

- Following the gun barrel sequence, at the top of the end credits, the film advertises that "James Bond Will Return" below the logo commemorating the 50th anniversary Eon Productions' James Bond film franchise

Quantum of Solace

QUANTUM OF SOLACE
2008 | Dir. Marc Forster | 106 Minutes

"When you can't tell your friends from your enemies, it's time to go."

When a double agent within MI6 allows Mr. White to escape from custody, Bond discovers the traitor's connection to Dominic Greene, environmentalist entrepreneur and head of the nefarious secret organization Quantum. Greene plans to broker a deal with a corrupt general to seize control of the Bolivia's water supply. Bond partners with Bolivian agent Camille Montes, both driven by revenge against Greene and the general respectively.

While Marc Forster's Quantum of Solace is a direct sequel to Casino Royale, its opening moments occurring just minutes after the end of the previous film, the plot of the picture is woefully thin and underwritten. The narrative serves only to close out Bond's character arc established in the previous film instead of allotting him a fresh one, conceptually robbing the film of its ability to stand on its own. While the filmmakers provide Bond with a dramatic foil in the form of the vengeful Camille, the story doesn't have anything particularly interesting to say about revenge. The villains still end up dead while the heroes carry on without learning anything profound about the nature vengeance.

To make matters worse, as Quantum of Solace rolls through the dizzying cold open car chase followed by the first major choppy action sequence in Siena, Italy, it becomes clear that this entry's action direction is marred by ugly rough editing. While elaborately staged, particularly the opera house sequence and the climactic battle in the desert hotel, the action sequences are physically difficult to watch due to unnecessarily frenetic camera work and needless quick cutting. Any impressive stunt work performed for the picture is completely undermined by thoroughly poor presentation.

Daniel Craig once again fully commits to the role of James Bond, stunts and all, the action scenes clearly taking more of a physical toll during this second round. It's a shame that it doesn't translate more onto the screen as the camera work is so shoddy. Capably playing equal parts tough and vulnerable, Olga Kurylenko is convincing as the headstrong Camille Montes. Mathieu Amalric delivers the right amount of sleaze as human slime Dominic Greene while Anatole Taubman plays his henchman Elvis perhaps only memorable for having a stupid-looking haircut. Joaquín Cosío is appropriately despicable as the secondary villain General Medrano. Judi Dench makes her sixth appearance as M, while Giancarlo Giannini and Jesper Christensen return as René Mathis and Mr. White respectively. The indispensable Jeffrey Wright has the honor of being the only actor to play Felix Leiter in two consecutive Bond films. The film also features Rory Kinnear as M's aide Bill Tanner, Gemma Arterton making a strong charming impression as doomed MI6 agent Fields, and David Harbour as smarmy CIA section chief for South America Gregg Beam.

Quantum of Solace fails to satisfy as a stand alone picture. It is designed to serve more as an extended coda to Casino Royale, but it pales in comparison to that vastly superior Bond film. While it isn't awful, the feature is an odd underdeveloped misfire that doesn't offer anything significantly new or interesting.


THE COLD OPEN
The car chase that kicks off the film immediately gives the audience a sample of the questionable herky-jerky style of the picture's action direction. The inherent thrill of having a Bond picture open immediately where the previous one left off is pissed away as soon as you realize you can't tell what the hell you're looking at for more than a few seconds.


THE THEME SONG AND OPENING TITLES
Jack White and Alicia Keys' "Another Way To Die" is an interesting sonic experiment that never quite comes together. While the tune isn't terrible, their respective distinct styles simply don't mesh very well and the song just doesn't deliver. Composer David Arnold wrote "No Good About Goodbye" for classic Bond theme song singer Shirley Bassey and even works the tune of that song into the score for Quantum of Solace and though it was purportedly never in consideration to serve as the theme song for the film, it would've been a much better fit. The opening title sequence provided by graphic design company MK12 is quite impressive, energetically presenting Bond and the standard abstract feminine figures with an sandy desert motif.


THE BOND GIRL
Camille is the first female lead character of the franchise to be written more as a foil and decidedly not a love interest for Bond. General Medrano murdered her family when she was a child, providing her with her tragic backstory and quest for revenge. Unfortunately, aside from these details, there isn't much more to her character. As capable as she proves to be throughout the picture, Bond still has to rescue her from the burning hotel during the fiery climax of the film as her past trauma disappointingly completely paralyzes her. Two steps forward, one step back for what it's worth, I suppose.


THE BOND VILLAIN
Dominic Greene fits the mold of the standard Bond villain, a megalomaniacal magnate with a diabolical scheme. The problem is that he is far from menacing, more of a irritating nuisance than a convincing threat. In the grand scheme of the series, he hardly registers as anything more than a scoundrel driven by simple greed. The fact that he isn't even afforded and on-screen death says it all.


FEATURED HENCHMAN
Elvis kind of sucks and is far from memorable. His one moment to shine is Fields sending him down a flight of stairs. Though he is more of a secondary villain than a henchman, General Medrano is a notable adversary that deserves to be mentioned as much as Dominic Greene. He's a lecherous sadistic bastard that gets a much more satisfying death scene than the main villain of the film.


FLEMING FIDELITY
The title of the film is taken from Ian Fleming's short story Quantum of Solace first published in Cosmopolitan magazine in 1959. In the short story, a governor recounts the failed marriage between a British civil servant and an unfaithful flight attendant who settle down in Bermuda. Eventually, the man abandons his cheating wife in Bermuda with all of his financial debts, having cut all emotional ties with her when their "Quantum of Solace" dropped to zero. Bond's confrontation with Vesper's boyfriend in the film's epilogue is based on Fleming's short story 007 in New York first published in the New York Herald Tribune in 1963, in which Bond warns a female MI6 employee that her boyfriend is a KGB agent.


FRAGMENTS
- Produced during the writer's strike, director Marc Forster and Daniel Craig came up with much of the picture's story while filming with a bare bones script; Daniel Craig vowed that he would never perform in a picture with an incomplete script ever again

- Pre-Fast and Furious, Gal Gadot auditioned for the part of Camille Montes

- Pre-Game of Thrones, Oona Chaplin appears briefly as the hotel receptionist that General Medrano assaults in the last act

- Friends of Marc Forster, Alfonso Cuarón cameo appearance as a helicopter pilot and Guillermo del Toro provided additional voices for the film

- At the bottom of the end credits, the film advertises that "James Bond Will Return"


MCU CONNECTIONS
- David Harbour (Alexei Shostakov in Black Widow)

- Olga Kurylenko (Antonia Dreykov in Black Widow)

Casino Royale

CASINO ROYALE
2006 | Dir. Martin Campbell | 144 Minutes

"So you want me to be half-monk, half-hitman."

On his first mission as a 00 Agent for MI6, James Bond prevents the bombing of an airliner commissioned by private banker to terrorists and notorious gambler Le Chiffre in an attempt to profit by betting against the aerospace company in the stock market. The banker attempts to recuperate the funds he lost in a high-stakes card game at the Casino Royale in Montenegro. M subsequently orders Bond to bankrupt the Le Chiffre at the casino and take him into MI6 custody.

Directing his second James Bond feature following the phenomenally entertaining GoldenEye, Martin Campbell's Casino Royale is a more polished, better-paced, even stronger film. The twenty-first picture of Eon Productions' James Bond franchise radically resets the tonal trajectory of the series, trading broad gimmicks and over-the-top gadgets for genuinely engaging dramatic stakes with an emphasis on grounded practical stunt work. Between the truly superb set pieces, troubled love interest Vesper Lynd questions how Bond's occupation erodes away his humanity, compellingly presenting much more meaningful introspection for the character than ever before. The character of Bond is redefined as more of a blunt weapon than a suave precision instrument, prone to violence and brash decision-making, carrying out his duty with extreme prejudice more to selfishly satisfy his own ego than to serve Queen and Country.

From the brutal brawl before the opening credits to the literally breathtaking finale in Venice, Casino Royale delivers exhilarating action from top to bottom. Stand-out sequences include an intense parkour chase through a construction site in Madagascar, an explosive high speed pursuit across the tarmac at Miami International Airport, and a bloody knock-down drag-out fight in a stairway at the Hotel Splendide. The uniformly excellent cinematography and editing perfectly capture every thrilling moment. Perhaps the most impressive feat of the picture is that the filmmakers even manage to imbue the poker scenes with palpable tension combining excellent performances with clever staging.

Daniel Craig's debut James Bond performance is a revelation, bringing a convincing harder edge as well as subtle vulnerability to the quintessential secret agent, crafting a well-rounded character that is truly a welcome departure from previous takes on 007. Eva Green is mesmerizing as Vesper Lynd, exuding sharp intelligence and a sort of quiet torment that tragically culminates in the film's final act, her onscreen chemistry with Craig's Bond is off the charts. In one of his finest roles, character actor Mads Mikkelsen's Le Chiffre is chilling, somewhat pitiful but delightfully creepy. French freerunner Sébastien Foucan is absolutely mind-blowing, demonstrating his considerable parkour skills as the bomb-maker Mollaka in his brief but memorable appearance. Claudio Santamaria as the crafty terrorist operative Carlos is considerably less impressive by comparison. Simon Abkarian is perfectly slimy as Le Chiffre's petulant associate Alex Dimitrios while Caterina Murino is appropriately alluring as his doomed wife Solange. Judi Dench returns as M, amusingly somehow sterner than before, and Jeffrey Wright is the seventh and best actor so far to fill the role of Bond's CIA ally Felix Leiter for Eon Productions. The film also features Giancarlo Giannini as smooth-talking French MI6 agent René Mathis, Jesper Christensen as the mysterious Mr. White, and Tobias Menzies as M's assistant Villiers.

Casino Royale is one of the very best pictures of Eon's storied James Bond franchise. Stylish, suspenseful, action-packed, and even slightly meditative, Daniel Craig's first Bond film confidently refreshes the very idea of 007, appealing to contemporary sensibilities by discarding more problematic aspects of the series while still remaining surprisingly faithful to its source material.


THE COLD OPEN
Presented in striking black and white, Bond confronts corrupt MI6 Prague section chief Dryden in his office as he recalls his brutal drawn-out fight to the death with the Dryden's contact. Killing his second target with relative ease, Bond gains 00 status, immediately establishing Daniel Craig's Bond as a colder, rougher take on 007. Working the iconic gun barrel shot as Bond shoots Dryden's contact to transition the cold open into the opening titles is simply sublime.


THE THEME SONG AND OPENING TITLES
Grunge rocker Chris Cornell's "You Know My Name" may not be among the most celebrated Bond theme song but its aggressive uptempo style is tonally fitting for Casino Royale. Daniel Kleinnman's opening title sequence also presents a appealing departure from previous introductions featuring stylized abstract male figures in combat, in stark contrast to the series' standard of seductive feminine shapes, constructed from imagery inspired by playing card and casino imagery.


THE BOND GIRL
Vesper Lynd carries the dubious honor of being the source of Bond's dysfunctional attitude towards women. Fortunately, Vesper is more than a one-dimensional desirable object. When clashing with Bond verbally, she gives as good as she gets, constantly challenging Bond's methods and disposition with valid logical arguments. Bond is so stricken with Vesper, he nearly leaves MI6 to be with her, and even invents a drink and names it after her. The shock and heartbreak of her betrayal is enough to install an indefinite emotional detachment to women in Bond's psyche.


THE BOND VILLAIN
Le Chiffre is a relatively simple but still fascinating adversary. His customary Bond villain deformity alone is memorable, a health condition that causes him to occasionally bleed out of his left eye. A compulsive gambler in charge of financing terrorist activities for a mysterious criminal organization, his diabolical schemes are small-time when compared to other cinematic 007 antagonists but his methods are remarkably nasty: attempting to bomb a massive jet for profit, poisoning Bond in the middle of the poker tournament, and whipping a captured Bond's genitals demanding his bank account's password after Bond bests him at the card table. It's somewhat unfortunate that Le Chiffre meets a rather unceremonious end, shot in the head by Mr. White.


FEATURED HENCHMAN
Ill-tempered and generally despicable, Alex Dimitrios is just irritating enough for it to feel satisfying when Bond wins his Aston Martin in a hand of poker, woos his beautiful wife, and ultimately kills him silently in the middle of the Body Worlds exhibition at Miami International Airport but not unique enough to be notably memorable. The ultimate middle manager, his underlings, bomb-making parkour master Mollaka and resilient operative Carlos, are much more formidable adversaries by comparison.


BEST GADGET
One of the most practical gadgets of the series, the compact government-issue defibrillator plays a vital part in the memorable poisoning sequence.


FLEMING FIDELITY
While the first half of the film is comprised of original material, the plot of the second half is remarkably faithful to Ian Fleming's first James Bond novel Casino Royale published in 1953. The screenwriters made only a handful of changes to modernize the story. In the novel, Le Chiffre is an accountant for a branch of Soviet counterintelligence agency SMERSH who loses SMERSH's money by investing it in brothels just before a general prostitution ban, the card game featured in the novel is baccarat, and Vesper's suicide is by sleeping pill overdose.


FRAGMENTS
- There are two prior screen versions of Casino Royale: an Americanized adaptation for CBS television program Climax! starring Barry Nelson as James "Jimmy" Bond aired in 1952, and a loose comedy film adaptation starring Peter Sellers made without the involvement of Eon Productions released in 1967

- Madame Wu, The poker player who appears onboard Le Chiffre's yacht and at the tournament in Montenegro is played by Tsai Chin who previously appeared as the undercover MI6 agent Ling in the cold open of You Only Live Twice

- At the bottom of the end credits, the film advertises that "James Bond Will Return"

Die Another Day

DIE ANOTHER DAY
2002 | Dir. Lee Tamahori | 133 Minutes

"Let's just say my relationships don't seem to last."

James Bond is captured by North Korea during a mission, betrayed by an unknown double-agent within MI6. Released in exchange for a villainous North Korean agent, Bond defies M's orders, escapes MI6 custody, and hunts for the mole. Going rogue, 007 teams up with NSA operative Jinx to uncover a sinister plot devised by British millionaire Gustav Graves.

Objectively, director Lee Tamahori's Die Another Day is the worst picture of Eon Productions' flagship franchise. The action sequences are somehow simultaneously over-the-top and uninspired, the editing is jarringly choppy, the visual effects are technically shoddy, the dialogue is overloaded with cheese, and the plot is thoroughly absurd. Despite enduring a ludicrously stylized torture sequence at the top of the film, Bond carries on as a nigh invulnerable, ostensibly infallible protagonist effortlessly romancing beautiful women and defeating his enemies without plausible struggle or dramatic tension. Sauntering her way through the feature, Jinx isn't much better, created to be Bond's equal but sexually objectified and constantly rescued by Bond all the same. Devoid of the pathos and drama of the best Bond films, this installment ironically makes a strong argument that James Bond is no longer relevant as a viable cinematic action hero.

The set pieces are mostly hilariously awful. The hovercraft chase through the Korean Demilitarized Zone minefield at the start of the film and the confrontation with Zao at the Cuban gene therapy clinic are overall serviceable but everything that follows is thoroughly terrible. The fencing duel between Bond and Graves escalates to preposterous levels. The climactic battle onboard Graves' cargo plane is beyond silly, full of corny slo-mo and cheap-looking visual effects. The absolute worst action sequences all take place in Graves' visually unappealing ice palace. The invisible Aston Martin chase is silly enough but Bond surfing a massive tidal wave to safety indisputably takes the prize for the most absurd moment of the entire series.

Even for such a mediocre installment, Pierce Brosnan does his best with the material. It's just a shame that he ends his run as 007 with this atrocity. Halle Berry looks like she's having the time of her life as Jinx, a role that requires none of her esteemed acting talent. Toby Stephens scowls his way through the part of arch-villain Gustav Graves, his performance somehow more shameful after the late-film reveal that he's essentially playing a Korean man playing an Englishman. As the traitorous Miranda Frost, the versatile Rosamund Pike in her feature film debut is mostly ridiculous going from emotionally-detached MI6 agent to awkwardly evil baddie. Rick Yune chews all sorts of scenery as Graves' prime henchman Tang Ling Zao but he's at least more memorable than Michael Gorevoy as Graves' personal scientist and Lawrence Makoare as non-descript muscle Mr. Kil. Michael Madsen sleepwalks his way through his brief role Jinx's NSA boss Damian Falco, while legendary Hong Kong actor Kenneth Tsang's considerable talents are wasted on the part of the relatively noble General Moon. Judi Dench returns as M while Samantha Bond, John Cleese, and Colin Salmon make their final appearances as Moneypenny, Q, M's Deputy Chief of Staff Charles Robinson.

Pierce Brosnan's turn as James Bond ends with a colossal dud. Die Another Day represents all of the excesses of the film series in the very worst way. It is dreadfully, hilariously bad, more or less serving as a blueprint for what a modern Bond film shouldn't be.


THE COLD OPEN
The cold open is arguably the most plausible, least embarrassing part of the film. Bond's mission in North Korea is compromised after his cover is blown by an unknown source, later revealed to be Frost. He seemingly kills rogue North Korean Colonel Tan-Sun Moon played by Will Yun Lee but is captured by Moon's father the general.


THE THEME SONG AND OPENING TITLES
As Bond is tortured the North Koreans, Daniel Kleinman's opening titles break away from the boundaries of good taste, showing abstract manifestations of fire, ice, and electricity taking seductive female forms. Madonna's "Die Another Day" is pure techno trash, arguably the worst-fitting Bond theme song ever. Oddly, Madonna even makes a distracting cameo appearance in the film as Graves and Frost's fencing instructor Verity.


THE BOND GIRL
Though she is technically conceptually Bond's American equal, Jinx never quite measures up. Constantly objectified by the camera and her less-than-subtle sexually suggestive one-liners, she comes off as something of a parody of an old white screenwriter's idea of the ideal Bond love interest. She's got a ravenous sexual appetite like Bond but her dialogue is more foolish than sexy. She's resourceful and capable but she still needs Bond to rescue her. She's a skilled fighter but she can only defeat female villains, particularly the other woman Bond sleeps with in the narrative. It's a real blessing that Jinx's planned spin-off film never happened.


THE BOND VILLAIN
Gustav Graves is meant to be a twisted evil interpretation of James Bond, but the message is lost in the muddle of ice palaces, solar-powered space lasers, and North Korean aggression. The series already delivered a fine anti-Bond in GoldenEye and Graves pales in comparison. The fact that he is literally a genetically whitewashed Korean man adds an extra layer of unnecessary problematic discomfort.


FEATURED HENCHMAN
Tang Ling Zao, in his diamond-pocked incomplete genetically-altered glory, is perhaps best known for trying to out-quip Bond at every turn, more than any other henchman. He's got a memorable goofy/disturbing appearance but otherwise, he kind of sucks as a henchman, not even making it to the climatic battle.


BEST GADGET
The invisible Aston Martin is memorable for all the wrong reasons, just like the film itself. It remains arguably the most outlandish, implausible gadget of the series, more despised than the crocodile submarine.


FLEMING FIDELITY
Die Another Day was not inspired by or named after existing source material written by Ian Fleming.


FRAGMENTS
- Michelle Yeoh's Wai Lin from Tomorrow Never Dies was originally supposed to return to aid James Bond in Hong Kong but she was replaced by Chinese Intelligence Agent Chang played by Ho Yi

- While filming their love scene in Cuba, Pierce Brosnan perform the Heimlich maneuver on Halle Berry when she choked on a fig, saving her life

- At the bottom of the end credits, the film advertises that "James Bond Will Return"

The World Is Not Enough

THE WORLD IS NOT ENOUGH
1999 | Dir. Michael Apted | 128 Minutes

"There's no point in living if you can't feel alive."

Ex-KGB terrorist Renard sends an assassin to murder oil tycoon Sir Robert King. M places James Bond on assignment to protect King's daughter Elektra. When Bond discovers Elektra and Renard are scheming to settle a personal vendetta against M and to cause a nuclear disaster for profit, he must save the head of MI6 and work together with a beautiful nuclear physicist to avert catastrophe.

Veteran director Michael Apted's The World Is Not Enough feels like a throwback to lesser entries of the James Bond film series, particularly the weaker pictures produced during Roger Moore's run as 007. The villains have interesting and relatively original motivations if not the most creative diabolical scheme. Elektra is among the most complex Bond villains to date. However, the driving narrative is noticeably weak. With seemingly nothing hidden under his surface-level cool detachment, Bond being tasked with rescuing M doesn't carry any palpable dramatic weight as he never seems personally invested in the mission, he just seems to be going through the motions in this one. It's a middling adventure that could have been more engaging considering the pieces in play.

The action sequences featured in The World Is Not Enough are good overall but fans of the series have seen better. The boat chase during the cold open and the escape from the sawing helicopters at the caviar factory are particularly great, and Brosnan even gets his customary James Bond skiing set piece in this one complete with the payoff of an over-the-top gadget. However, the pipeline sequence is a showcase of unconvincing special effects and the climatic fight in a cramped submarine is less than thrilling.

Pierce Brosnan effortlessly slips back into the role of James Bond in a film that unfortunately requires more physical commitment from him than his skills as an actor, playing a decidedly colder Bond. Sophie Marceau is captivating as the treacherous Elektra King, sharing good chemistry with seasoned character actor Robert Carlyle turing in a surprisingly imposing as the tormented madman Renard. Denise Richards is uniformly bland as Dr. Christmas Jones, sounding mechanical in much of her line delivery, yet another love interest for Bond who shares no romantic chemistry with Brosnan's Bond. Judi Dench makes her third appearance as M, showing a more vulnerable side of the character. Samantha Bond, Michael Kitchen, and Colin Salmon also reprise their roles as Moneypenny, Bill Tanner, and M's Deputy Chief of Staff Charles Robinson respectively. Desmond Llewelyn makes his final memorable appearance in the series as Q alongside celebrated comedian John Cleese as Q's successor. Robbie Coltrane returns as Valentin Zukovsky, this time clearly having more fun with a bigger role in the story than in from GoldenEye and a decent death scene. The film also features John Seru as Elektra's loyal bodyguard Gabor, English rapper Goldie as Valentin's traitorous henchman Bullion, and Maria Grazia Cucinotta in a brief but memorable part as the assassin featured in the cold open.

The World Is Not Enough puts all of the weaknesses inherent in the standard formula of the James Bond franchise on full display. The most intriguing aspects of the plot are woefully underdeveloped while Bond makes his way through some decent action scenes to single-handedly save the day, and romance the one-dimensional pretty lady, without growing as a character in any discernible way. The whole experience is as disposable as a Bond film can be.


THE COLD OPEN
Opening with a Swiss bank caper in Spain before properly starting the story in England, this one's a bit long and takes a while to get to the good stuff. Despite the rather silly experimental boat Bond commandeers, the explosive chase sequence on the Thames is one of the top highlights of the film. Maria Grazia Cucinotta's nameless assassin is rather captivating despite her limited screen time.


THE THEME SONG AND OPENING TITLES
Garbage's "The World Is Not Enough" is as catchy and cheesy as Bond theme songs get, going as far as working a key line of dialogue into its lyrics. Daniel Kleinman's opening title sequence featuring seductive female figures worked into abstract oil and fire imagery is slick but looks somewhat dated by modern CGI standards.


THE BOND GIRL
Dr. Christmas Jones is one of the worst love interests of the series, having little to no agency and absolutely no chemistry with Bond. She serves more as eye-candy than as a scientist throughout the picture. Even her name seems to be written for a tasteless joke to cap off the film.


THE BOND VILLAIN
The first female primary antagonist of the series, Elektra is actually pretty complex. Abducted by Renard for ransom money before the events of the film, she developed Stockholm Syndrome and a deep hatred for her father and M as her father denied Renard payment following M's guidance. Her scheme to destroy Istanbul to disrupt the only oil pipeline that rivals hers is relatively small-time for a Bond villain but she is the first go after M directly.


FEATURED HENCHMAN
A bit more than a henchman, and more or less a red herring, Renard's most interesting trait is his inability to feel pain courtesy of 009's failed attempt to kill him, lodging a bullet in his Medulla Oblongata. His twisted relationship with Elektra adds a bit more color to his disturbing characterization. Otherwise, he's one of the most run-of-the-mill villains of the series, motivated more by his devotion to Elektra than any grand philosophy.


BEST GADGET
The inflatable ski jacket that saves Bond and Elektra from an avalanche may not be the flashiest gadget ever but it is the most practical zanny gadget of the film.


FLEMING FIDELITY
The title of the film is taken from the Bond family motto introduced in Ian Fleming's tenth James Bond novel On Her Majesty's Secret Service published in 1963.


FRAGMENTS
- The home video release of the film is dedicated to Desmond Llewelyn who passed away soon after the picture was released

- Maria Grazia Cucinotta originally auditioned for the part of Elektra King

- At the top of the end credits, the film advertises that "James Bond Will Return"

Tomorrow Never Dies

TOMORROW NEVER DIES
1997 | Dir. Roger Spottiswoode | 119 Minutes

"Great men have always manipulated the media to save the world. Look at William Randolph Hearst, who told his photographers, 'You provide the pictures, I'll provide the war.' I've just taken it one step further."

Media mogul Elliot Carver uses the technology and influence at his disposal to instigate war between the British and the Chinese. James Bond must team up with Chinese spy Wai Lin to expose Carver's plot and dispel tensions between their respective governments.

Tomorrow Never Dies is a fine action film with consistently thrilling set pieces and an inspired plot about the hidden agendas of unethical news media, exponentially heightened for entertainment value to be sure, but it never quite reaches the overall quality level of the classic James Bond pictures. Its presentation is more polished than its immediate predecessor, composer David Arnold delivers a film score that's on par with some of John Barry's best work, and Roger Spottiswoode does a fine job balancing action and sly humor. However, the film distractingly falters a bit at a few points, particularly when it comes to Bond's romantic escapes. The unnecessary forced drama between Bond and Carver's wife Paris falls flat - yet another former lover predictably disposed of to clumsily give Bond personal stakes in the mission. The loss of Paris hardly registers before Bond runs off with Wai Lin. The British and Chinese spies work incredibly well together as an action duo but there is virtually no romantic chemistry between the two. The underwater "kiss of life" and subsequent make out session at the end of the picture feel unearned.

The picture perhaps most memorably features a fun car chase in a parking garage with Bond remotely controlling a BMW decked out with all of the trademark 007 explosive gadgets with a cell phone. While the remote control BMW sequence is definitely amusing, the best action sequence is the chase through the streets, rooftops, and alley of Saigon as an attack helicopter pursues Bond and Wai Lin handcuffed to each other while driving a motorcycle. The film's only missed opportunity for even more exhilarating action is the inability of the filmmakers to organically capitalize on international action star Michelle Yeoh's considerable kung fu skills. The momentum of the film grinds to a halt for an awkwardly shot fight scene in a ramshackle bicycle shop after fantastic helicopter chase sequence.

Evidently completely comfortable in the role, Pierce Brosnan continues to exude natural charisma in his second film as James Bond. Michelle Yeoh is great as Wai Lin, absolutely believable as an attractive and ultra-capable Chinese spy, despite her lack of romantic chemistry with Brosnan. Though Elliot Carver may not be one of the most memorable Bond villains, Jonathan Pryce does a fine and convincing job as the megalomaniacal madman. As the jaded rather underwritten Paris Carver, Teri Hatcher is mostly fine giving a somewhat stock performance. Götz Otto plays the standard brawny henchman Richard Stamper without much panache, while character actor Vincent Schiavelli is much more intriguing in his one scene as torture expert Dr. Kaufman, and professional magician Ricky Jay just feels out of place as hacker Henry Gupta. Judi Dench and Samantha Bond return as M and Moneypenny, growing well into their respective parts, and Joe Don Baker appears again as the goofy CIA Agent Jack Wade. As fun as ever, Desmond Llewelyn makes his sixteenth appearance as Q. Colin Salmon makes his debut as M's Deputy Chief of Staff Charles Robinson.

Though it doesn't rank among the best films of the series, Tomorrow Never Dies is overall an entertaining and perfectly serviceable James Bond adventure. With great action and a good central villain with a rather contemporary diabolical scheme executed well, the picture is a solid entry in Pierce Brosnan's run as 007. Its clever premise becomes more plausible over time as media conglomerates continue to consolidate their power and flex their influence.


THE COLD OPEN
Not one of the best but having Bond disobey orders from an admiral to stand down, blowing up a black market weapons deal and preventing a nuclear disaster is a decent way to jump back into the world of 007.


THE THEME SONG AND OPENING TITLES
Definitely carrying the swagger of a classic Bond tune, Sheryl Crow's "Tomorrow Never Dies" is as slick and stylish as Daniel Kleinman's kinetic opening title sequence featuring various digitally rendered images of suggestive feminine figures. Arguably the better song, k.d lang's "Surrender" written by David Arnold, which plays over the end credits, its tune prominently featured in the film's score, was originally intended to be the film's theme song.


THE BOND GIRL
Wai Lin is among the best Bond movie love interests despite having almost zero sexual chemistry with Bond. She's tough, resourceful, absolutely skilled in combat and, of course, beautiful. It would have been more interesting, if less acceptable at the time, for her to depicted just as Bond's platonic equal with no romantic connotations.


THE BOND VILLAIN
Elliot Carver is a heightened version of Rupert Murdoch though somehow less cartoonishly villainous in hindsight. As deep-fake videos and fact-bending grow in prominence, Carver's scheme and methodology seem less implausible and relatively quainter if anything.


FEATURED HENCHMAN
Richard Stamper is standard muscle despite his alleged talent for torture. He's not all that memorable though he is one of the few henchman with the honor of outliving their boss if only be a few minutes.


BEST GADGET
For better or worse, the remote control BMW is one of the most memorable gadgets of the series. While it may objectively seem over-the-top, it sure is fun and is becoming more plausible as automobile technology continues to evolve.


FLEMING FIDELITY
Tomorrow Never Dies is the first James Bond film not be be inspired by or even named after existing source material.


FRAGMENTS
- The film is dedicated to the memory of series producer Albert R. Broccoli who passed away in 1996

- The original title of this film was Tomorrow Never Lies

- Anthony Hopkins was originally cast as Elliot Carver but left the film after three days because the production was chaotic, carrying on without a completed shooting script

- Monica Bellucci auditioned for the part of Paris Carver; she eventually appears in Spectre as Lucia Sciarra

- A young Gerard Butler, at the start of his film career, appears as a Royal Navy seaman

- At the bottom of the end credits, the film advertises that "James Bond Will Return"

MCU CONNECTIONS

- Michelle Yeoh (Aleta Ogord in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 and Jiang Nan in Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings)

GoldenEye

GOLDENEYE
1995 | Dir. Martin Campbell | 130 Minutes

"I might as well ask you if all the vodka martinis ever silenced the screams of all the men you've killed, or if you find forgiveness in the arms of all those willing women for all the dead ones you failed to protect."

In a post-Cold War world, James Bond faces off against a mysterious criminal organization bent on destroying London with a electro-magnetic pulse satellite weapon stolen from Russia. Bond discovers the mastermind behind the operation is the former 006, an old friend long-believed to be dead.

Director Martin Campbell's GoldenEye is a stylish action-packed reintroduction to James Bond that strikes the perfect balance between heightened drama and cheeky humor. Thematically, the film makes a strong case for the continued existence of 007 after the Cold War as the world faces new threats that require Bond's specific talents. However, the picture makes a point of showing how the world surrounding Bond has changed besides the dissolution of the Soviet Union, most noticeably its general attitude towards women. Bond now reports to a female M, one who has as little patience with Bond's recklessness as previous male Ms. The love interest constantly and rightfully calls Bond out for his uncaring bravado. The most capable killer working for the villain is a sadistic beauty who literally uses sex as a weapon. Intriguingly, though the meta-commentary is surface-level at best, for a handful of stand-out moments Bond's allies and enemies question his persistent character flaws.

GoldenEye is among the best examples of the franchise's hallmark of blending thrilling stunts, impressive special effects, and solid production design. The featured set pieces are genuinely fun and some of the most memorable and inspired of the series. The fantastically entertaining tank chase sequence through the streets of St. Petersburg may be the most iconic sequence of the film. Trevelyan's secret base in Cuba, the setting of the explosive climatic battle, is an fitting update to the customary elaborate Bond villain hideout. The GoldenEye EMP effects sequences hold up fairly well by contemporary cinematic standards. Considering every facet of the polished production, the only aspect that feels particularly dated is Éric Serra's cheesy industrial-synth-heavy score.

Pierce Brosnan is a perfect fit as James Bond, markedly more handsome than his predecessors, much more believable than Roger Moore as an action hero but decidedly less rugged than Timothy Dalton. Izabella Scorupco is convincing as the resourceful programmer and love interest Natalya Simonova though her forced Russian accent is pretty rough. Tortured supporting actor extraordinaire Sean Bean is excellent as Trevelyan, pitch perfect as a disillusioned dark reflection of Bond. Famke Janssen looks like she's having the time of her life as the sadistic underling Xenia Onatopp. Gottfried John is essentially a Russian caricature as the traitorous Commander Ourumov, though the look on his face as he takes a swig from a flask when he sees Bond chasing him in a tank is priceless. Of all the bad Russian stereotypes and horrible accents featured in the film, character actor Alan Cumming's portrayal of arrogant hacker Boris Grishenko borders on hate crime. Joe Don Baker, who previously appeared in The Living Daylights as arms dealer Brad Whitaker, phones it in as CIA Agent Jack Wade. Robbie Coltrane appears briefly in a memorable scene as ex-KGB gangster Valentin Dmitrovich Zukovsky while Minnie Driver makes a odd cameo appearance as his nightclub singer mistress Irina. Judi Dench makes her regal no-nonsense debut as M alongside Samantha Bond making a topical sexual harassment joke in her first appearance as Moneypenny and Michael Kitchen in his first appearance as Chief of Staff Bill Tanner. Desmond Llewelyn is entertaining as always in his fifteenth appearance as Q.

A slick and entertaining action film, GoldenEye effectively brings James Bond into the post-Cold War era with just a bit of introspection and many, many explosions. Pierce Brosnan's debut as 007 remains one of the indisputable high points of Eon Productions' signature franchise.


THE COLD OPEN
One of the best action sequences of the entire series from the bungee jumping stunt to the high-flying escape. It also serves as a solid introduction to Trevelyan and a coda to Bond's Cold War adventures. The way that Bond defies physics by somehow falling faster than the airplane to catch up with it is jarring but forgivable because the whole sequence is just so damn entertaining.


THE THEME SONG AND OPENING TITLES
Tina Turner's "GoldenEye" written by Bono and the Edge is full of fabulous energy though the lyrics are somewhat confounding. Taking over for Maurice Binder, Daniel Kleinman's opening title sequence is striking, rife with imagery signifying the collapse of Soviet rule while still retaining the customary beautiful female figures of a James Bond intro.


THE BOND GIRL
Natalya Simonova is delightfully feisty and self-sufficient. Despite being captured and in need of rescue, she manages to appropriately criticize Bond for his arrogance and general lack of caring. As far as Bond love interests go, she is a significant step in the right direction in terms of overall characterization.


THE BOND VILLAIN
Alec Trevelyan represents everything despicable about Bond twisted into the form of an anti-British antagonist. He has all of Bond's skills as well as his overt sexual proclivities though demonstrated much less tastefully in how he harasses Simonova. His background as a Lienz Cossack orphan betrayed by the British government is an intriguing criticism of Western Cold War politics, giving him the proper motivation to turn against his former employers.


FEATURED HENCHMAN
Xenia Onatopp is ostensibly a bad joke turned deadly, taking great pleasure in crushing men between her thighs. Her lust for violence is comically out of control, turned on by mowing down unsuspecting programmers at the secret Siberian base and the prospect of experiencing a train wreck. She is sex and death personified.


BEST GADGET
The exploding pen is one of the most memorable gadgets of the series, though the payoff leaves more to be desired.


FLEMING FIDELITY
As an officer for British Naval Intelligence, author Ian Fleming was in charge of Operation Goldeneye, tasked with monitoring developments in Spain following the Spanish Civil War. Fleming named his house in Oracabessa, Jamaica after the operation and would write all of the James Bond novels there. The film is named after the Operation Goldeneye and Fleming's house, while the plot of the film is completely original.


FRAGMENTS
- Sean Bean previously auditioned for the role of James Bond in The Living Daylights

- GoldenEye 007 for the Nintendo 64 released in 1997 is one of the very few objectively excellent video games based on a film, and arguably one of the best video games of all time overall

- At the bottom of the end credits, the film advertises that "James Bond Will Return"

Licence to Kill

LICENCE TO KILL
1989 | Dir. John Glen | 133 Minutes

"British agent. I knew it! You have class."

A Latin American drug kingpin disfigures CIA Agent Felix Leiter and murders his wife on their wedding day. To avenge his friend, James Bond goes rogue and dismantles the cartel from the inside.

Licence to Kill is a questionable total departure from the James Bond formula. Timothy Dalton's second and final 007 adventure is a bloody revenge film that sees Bond driven by personal vendetta, forsaking his professional duty to serve the British government. While the stakes are the lowest ever for a Bond movie plot, the violence on display, delivered by reliable series regular John Glen on his fifth and last turn behind the director's chair, is brutal and occasionally shocking as characters graphically lose limbs, explode, and ground into pulp. Though the one-liners are dispensed more sparingly than ever, they are all the more jarring juxtaposed against the over-the-top carnage. It's a fine action film in its own right, the explosive climactic tanker truck chase in particular is a fantastic sequence, but it's ultimately a lesser outlier installment of the James Bond series.

Timothy Dalton cements his status as a colder, more brutal James Bond than his predecessors, doing everything he can to make this relatively humorless take on the super spy still appear heroic. Having to bury his natural charisma under layers of anger and anguish, Dalton deserved a better final Bond film. As the skilled pilot and CIA informant love interest Pam Bouvier, Carsey Lowell is believably tough and feisty but slightly struggles as a convincing match for Dalton's Bond. Conversely, Talisa Soto is lovely but somewhat bland as the femme fatale Lupe Lamora. The intimidating Robert Davi fits perfectly as drug lord Franz Sanchez, his performance makes the cartel boss feel more threatening than some of the series' megalomaniacal villains armed with doomsday weapons.

As Sanchez's underlings, the film features Anthony Zerbe as slimy trafficker Milton Krest, Anthony Starke as cocky financial advisor Truman-Lodge, and a young Benicio del Toro stands out as Sanchez's loyal and sadistic enforcer Dario. Returning from Live and Let Die, David Hedison reprises the role of Felix Leiter, slightly more than a minor role this time around, while Priscilla Barnes delivers a brief but spirited performance as Leiter's doomed bride Della. The cast also includes Frank McRae as the standard unfortunately disposable Bond ally Sharkey, Everett McGill as corrupt DEA Agent Ed Killifer, Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa as undercover MI6 Agent Kwang, and entertainer Wayne Newton as lecherous televangelist and minor cog in Sanchez's trafficking operation Professor Joe Butcher. While the highly amusing Desmond Llewelyn once again enjoys an expanded role in the story as Q, Robert Brown and Caroline Bliss make their brief final appearances in the series as M and Moneypenny.

An odd combination of relatively low stakes and extreme violence, Licence to Kill is a unique James Bond film that discards series standards with mixed results. While his traits are put to good use on this tale of bloody revenge, Timothy Dalton's short-lived darker take on Bond deserved to go out on a better film than this one.


THE COLD OPEN
Slightly too long but all and all entertaining, it's another high-flying stunt for Dalton's Bond as he literally fishes Sanchez's plane out of the sky. Concluding the sequence with Bond and Leiter parachuting down to Leiter's wedding is pure 007 cheese.


THE THEME SONG AND OPENING TITLES
Gladys Knight's "Licence to Kill" is disappointingly bland, perhaps best remembered for opening with same notes as Shirley Bassey's "Goldfinger" if nothing else. Patti LaBelle's "If You Asked Me To" playing over the end credits is much more memorable, a catchy pop single that can easily stand on its own. Maurice Binder's final opening title sequence isn't his most memorable. It prominently features an Olympus camera and film strips alluding to the sniper rifle made out of camera parts that Q lends to Bond in the picture.


THE BOND GIRL
Pam Bouvier is a step in the right direction for Bond love interests, proving to be a capable operative in her own right, one hell of a pilot as demonstrated in the climatic tanker truck chase when she provides Bond with invaluable air support. The way she uses her sex appeal to infiltrate Joe Butcher's compound to reach Sanchez's drug lab is amusing. Unfortunately, the huffy jealousy she displays upon seeing Lupe's attraction to Bond takes much away from her character's overall respectability.


THE BOND VILLAIN
His plans are relatively ambitious for a drug lord, and he goes to great lengths to turn his operation into a global enterprise - creating a cult as a clandestine way to communicate with his business associates, engineering a method to smuggle cocaine in gasoline - but Franz Sanchez is still just a drug lord. He's interesting to watch - quick to demonstrate how he values loyalty over money with swift violence, treating his pet iguana better than his woman - but he pales in comparison to the vast majority of Bond villains.


FEATURED HENCHMAN
Devoid of basic human remorse, the gleefully violent Dario is one of the more memorable underlings of the series. His brutal death by grinder is one of the most graphically gory exits for a Bond villain's henchman.


BEST GADGET
The plastic explosives disguised as Dentonite brand toothpaste is gloriously punny.


FLEMING FIDELITY
The manner in which Leiter is disfigured with the accompanying note "He disagreed with something that ate him." is lifted from Ian Fleming's second James Bond novel Live and Let Die published in 1954. In the book, Leiter loses an arm and a leg when crime boss Mr. Big captures him and feeds him to a shark. The drunk and abusive Milton Krest and his ship the Wavekrest are adapted from Fleming short story The Hildebrand Rarity first published in Playboy magazine in 1960.


FRAGMENTS
- The son of Pedro Armendáriz who portrayed Karim Bey in From Russia with Love, Pedro Armendáriz Jr. appears as Isthmus President Hector Lopez

- Talisa Soto and Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa went on to appear as Princess Kitana and the shape-shifting villain Shang Tsung in 1995's Mortal Kombat based on the video game

- At the bottom of the end credits, the film advertises that "James Bond Will Return"


MCU CONNECTIONS
- Benicio del Toro (Taneleer Tivan in Thor: The Dark World, Guardians of the Galaxy, and Avengers: Infinity War)

The Living Daylights

THE LIVING DAYLIGHTS
1987 | Dir. John Glen | 131 Minutes

"Stuff my orders! I only kill professionals."

Bond prevents the assassination of General Georgi Koskov and smuggles him out of East Berlin when he defects to the West but Koskov is immediately captured by a Soviet operative during his debriefing with MI6. Bond quickly confirms his suspicion that the assassination attempt was an act perpetrated with assistance from Koskov's oblivious girlfriend. Koskov's schemes to eliminate the current head of the KGB and profit off stolen Soviet funds, the wares of a delusional arms dealer, and narcotics traded by the Afghan Mujahideen.

The Living Daylights is a slick espionage action film offering the James Bond movie franchise's customary exotic locations, clever gadgets, and exhilarating stunts with a decidedly darker, more mature tone than the installments that immediately preceded it. While he still utters the occasional one-liner with a smirk, the 007 of this film isn't afraid to fight dirty, best characterized in his quickness to violently strip a woman nude to distract an enemy, and his key allies on this adventure, honorable KGB general and dope trafficking Afghan Mujahideen leader with a heart of gold, are by far the most morally ambiguous featured in the series yet. The grittier overall style of the picture makes the escapism all the more entertaining though having Bond ally himself with the rebel forces that would historically become Muslim terrorists violently opposing the West is a political stance that certainly hasn't aged well.

The set pieces and action direction of The Living Daylights are uniformly superb as director John Glen delivers his fourth and best James Bond picture. The explosive climatic battle on the airfield between the Soviet army and Afghan Mujahideen forces leading to the midair fight between Bond and the nigh-unstoppable Necros as they dangle from a next on the back of a cargo plane is ambitious and truly spectacular. Most impressive is how the finale constantly escalates, with Bond bombing a bridge to save the rebels from the Soviets just moments after dealing with Necros, only to be forced to improvise a makeshift escape aboard a Jeep with a parachute as the plane runs out of fuel and crashes into a mountain. The only sequence that feels slightly out of place for this picture is the cheesetastic gadget heavy Aston Martin car chase that culminates with Bond and love interest Kara sledding downhill on a cello case while dodging machine gun fire.

Timothy Dalton proves to be an exceptional James Bond, immediately setting his performance apart from past Bond actors by subtly suggesting a conflicted inner life, conveying pain and anger just beneath his handsome and naturally charismatic exterior. Maryam d'Abo is adorable Kara Milovy, bringing as much credibility as possible to one of the more clueless love interests of the series. As the alternately groveling and treacherous Koskov, Jeroen Krabbé really makes a meal of the scenery. Conversely, Andreas Wisniewski is convincing a total badass Necros. Joe Don Baker isn't particularly notable as Napolean wannabe Brad Whitaker but his performance is serviceable. John Rhys-Davies brings his reliable excellence to the role of KGB head General Leonid Pushkin. Despite the controversy behind the part, Art Malik is great as the unassuming prisoner revealed to be the noble and eloquent Afghan Mujahideen leader Kamran Shah. Thomas Wheatley as stickler MI6 agent Saunders is impressive in how believably annoying he makes the character but also in how he gives his death scene the right amount of gravitas to make the tragedy of the moment really stick. Caroline Bliss is immediately lovable as the second actress to play Moneypenny, while John Terry definitely looks the part of Bond's American CIA counterpart as the sixth actor to play Felix Leiter. Returning from previous films, Robert Brown and Geoffrey Keen reprise their roles as M and British Minister of Defence Frederick Gray, while Desmond Llewelyn's Q really gets a chance to shine with demonstrating a wide selection of mid-1980s gadgets. Walter Gotell makes his final brief appearance as General Gogol in the epilogue.

Despite its questionable politics in hindsight, The Living Daylights is very much a return to form for the James Bond film franchise, perhaps the most underrated installment of the series. Offering fantastic action and an excellent new leading man, Timothy Dalton's debut 007 feature is a hard-edged fast-paced ride with just a little bit of corniness.


THE COLD OPEN
The training mission at the Rock of Gibralter turned deadly chase does a awesome job of setting the tone for Timothy Dalton's Bond, establishing him as a real man of action while still making time to romance a lady right after eliminating an enemy agent.


THE THEME SONG AND OPENING TITLES
Potential hot take: a-ha's "The Living Daylights" is one of my favorite Bond theme songs. Anecdotally, it's certainly not series regular composer John Barry's favorite, clashing with the band over the song's composition; the single version featured in the film sounds notably different from the band's album version of the song. It's a slick, extraordinarily 1980s tune and in the end, Barry's version is truly epic, skillfully woven it into his fantastic final James Bond film score. Maurice Binder's opening title sequence is also quite lovely, featuring a prominent orange and blue color scheme.


THE BOND GIRL
Beautiful cellist Kara Milovy is clueless to the point of absurdity, somehow completely unaware of her boyfriend's nefarious machinations until the final stretch of the story. She also falls for Bond almost a little to quickly despite initially resisting his charm for about five minutes. Thankfully, she proves to be so much more than a damsel in distress and plays a crucial part in the climactic battle. She get her own love theme in the form of The Pretenders' lovely "If There Was A Man" worked into Barry's film score and playing over the end credits.


THE BOND VILLAINS
Both the main villains kind of suck in this one. Georgi Koskov is appropriately aggravating but less than intimidating. His plot to make money while taking out his superior officer is also fairly pedestrian by Bond villain standards. War profiteer Brad Whitaker doesn't get enough to do to really make him stand out, and his death by stone bust is also incredibly underwhelming.


FEATURED HENCHMAN
Necros simply rocks. He has one of the best introductory sequences for a Bond henchman ever as he infiltrates the lavish MI6 safe house disguised as a milkman to retrieve Koskov, strangling his enemies with a headphone cord, tossing explosive bottles of milk. His badassery only increases from that point on. It's awesome that not only does he have his own theme song, The Pretenders' "Where Has Everybody Gone?" (with several phenomenal instrumental arrangements within Barry's score), he's jams to it on audio cassette.


BEST GADGET
The multi-purpose lockpicking, stun-gassing, exploding whistle-activated keychain is the perfect balance of practical and cheesy.


FLEMING FIDELITY
The plot of the first act originates from Ian Fleming's short story of the same title first published in 1962. In the short story, Bond is assigned sniper duty to protect British Agent 272 as he escapes from East Berlin. Bond discovers the enemy sniper is a blonde female cellist and decides to spare her life, shooting her rifle instead.


FRAGMENTS
- Timothy Dalton finally takes on the role of James Bond after turning down the part multiple times since as far back as On Her Majesty Secret Service in 1969

- At one point, producer Albert R. Broccoli chose Pierce Brosnan to play 007 in The Living Daylights, but his refusal to cast Brosnan due to his commitment to the NBC television series Remington Steele and NBC's last minute renewal of the series delayed his debut as James Bond

- Joe Don Baker would return to the series to play CIA Agent Jack Wade in GoldenEye

- At the bottom of the end credits, the film advertises that "James Bond Will Return"

A View to a Kill

A VIEW TO A KILL
1985 | Dir. John Glen | 131 Minutes

"Intuitive improvisation is the secret of genius."

Bond investigates government defense contractor Max Zorin after he recovers a Soviet microchip identical to those manufactured by Zorin's tech company. In a scheme to monopolize the computer industry, Zorin is in the process of causing a massive seismic event to destroy Silicon Valley.

Director John Glen's third James Bond film, and Roger Moore's seventh and last, A View to a Kill is a wacky low point for Eon Productions' long-running film franchise. The plot involving high-tech race horse doping and man-made natural disasters perpetrated by a psychotic rogue KGB operative endowed with super-intelligence through Nazi medical experiments is superfluously, hilariously convoluted. The set pieces are rote and uninspired, even the ones that prominently feature the Eiffel Tower and Golden Gate Bridge. Worst of all, the action sequences fall way below franchise standards, as the audience can clearly tell the difference between the nearly sixty-year-old Moore and his stunt double. Bond's race through a booby-trapped horse track, a forced cop car and fire engine chase through the streets of San Francisco, and the finale in a flooded mine rigged to explode are all remarkably regrettably dull. Connoisseurs of subpar cinema will assuredly find ample amusement in watching Bond stumble his way through the narrative, dutifully going through the motions of murdering his enemies to serve Queen and country and the plot, delivering his cheesy one-liners without missing a beat, and embarrassingly romancing ladies old enough to be his daughters.

At least Bond's adversaries in A View to a Kill are fun to watch. Maniacal industrialist Max Zorin played by a distractingly blonde Christopher Walken and his physically imposing bodyguard/lover May Day exhilaratingly brought to life by Grace Jones are a sight to behold. In a sense, they are an interracial power couple to root for until Zorin's disappointing inevitable betrayal. Walken's Zorin and Jones' May Day are vastly more captivating together than Moore's Bond and his fleeting woefully forgettable love interest, the dull as dishwater geologist Stacey Sutton played by Tanya Roberts. Sutton is completely lifeless in the role, and the lack of chemistry between her and Moore only makes matters worse. Visibly aloof, Moore still does what he can with the material but what fun he had playing Bond is clearly gone.

Patrick Macnee, Jean Rougerie, and David Yip respectively play MI6 agent and horse expert Sir Godfrey Tibbett, French private detective Achille Aubergine, and CIA Agent Chuck Lee - a parade of disposable Bond allies. Patrick Bauchau is just kind of bland as as Zorin's secondary henchman Scarpine, while Willoughby Gray simply looks out of place as cartoonish Nazi scientist Hans Glaub aka Dr. Carl Mortner. Fiona Fullerton is genuinely a lot of fun briefly appearing as KGB Agent Pola Ivanova. The film also features Alison Doody and Papillon Soo as May Day's underlings Jenny Flex and Pan Ho; Robert Brown, Desmond Llewelyn, Geoffrey Keen, and Walter Gotell reprising the roles of M, Q, British Minister of Defence Fredrick Gray, and KGB head General Gogol; and Lois Maxwell in her fourteenth and final appearance as Moneypenny.

A View to a Kill is an awkward and campy end to Roger Moore's run as 007. Featuring bizarre over-the-top villains with a logically questionable plot, it's one of the silliest, most absurd Bond films made even more ridiculous by its doddering leading man. For all of its wretchedness, this goofy romp is best enjoyed ironically.


THE COLD OPEN
Bond's mission in Siberia isn't bad, though the forced snowboarding moment set to a cover of the Beach Boys' "California Girls" is downright embarrassing. It doesn't help that you can immediately tell the difference between Roger Moore and his stuntman right at the top of the picture.


THE THEME SONG AND OPENING TITLES
Duran Duran's "A View to a Kill" is a fabulously 1980s rock tune, and objectively one of the best James Bond theme songs. Featuring an ice and fire motif that doesn't have much at all to do with the film, the opening titles is classic Maurice Binder with a literal coat of fluorescent paint applied on the dancing ladies in the darkness.


THE BOND GIRL
Stacey Sutton is among the worst love interests of the series. Her backstory is dull, and her geological knowledge is almost completely useless. Constantly shrieking from the danger, she does the minimum to assist Bond in taking down Zorin during their climatic Golden Gate Bridge battle but she wouldn't have been up there had she not been captured in the first place, somehow blindsided by Zorin's gigantic blimp.


THE BOND VILLAIN
Max Zorin's backstory involving Nazi eugenics is total nonsense as is his plot to flood Silicon Valley in order to control the microchip market against the wishes of his erstwhile KGB masters, but he is so much fun to watch. The way he indiscriminately murders friend and foe really sells his madness. Gotta love how he still cackles as he hangs off the ledge moments before he plummets to his death.


FEATURED HENCHMAN
May Day is totally rad. She inexplicably possesses superhuman strength, perhaps a product of the same experiments that produced Zorin, but it the long run it doesn't really matter. Her wardrobe seems completely impractical for a deadly assassin and all the physical work that comes with the job but she pulls it off and kicks major ass all the same. Best of all, she doesn't allow Zorin the upper hand when he betrays her, instead sacrificing herself to help Bond foil Zorin's explosive plot. Her final emphatic shout of "Get Zorin for me!" may be the best dramatic moment of the film.


FEATURED GADGET
Bond's electronic lockpicking Sharper Image credit card is a gloriously dated bit of product placement.


FLEMING FIDELITY
Though the plot of the film is completely original, the title is sourced from Ian Fleming's short story From a View to a Kill first published as James Bond and the Murder Before Breakfast in 1959. In the short story, Bond faces off against an assassin who murdered a motorcycle dispatch-rider transporting top-secret documents.


FRAGMENTS
- The film opens with the disclaimer: "Neither the name Zorin, nor any other name or character in this film, is meant to portray a real company or actual person" due to the producers discovering  real fashion design company Zoran Ladicorbic Ltd.

- Dolph Lundgren, who was dating Grace Jones at the time, makes his cinematic debut as one of Gogol's KGB agents

- Appearing in her third Bond film following The Man with the Golden Gun and Octopussy, Maud Adams makes an uncredited cameo appearance as an extra in one of the Fisherman's Wharf scenes

- Bond's jab at Sutton about finding a uniform that fits when they infiltrate the mine is an ad-libbed reference to Tanya Roberts' allegedly insufferable attitude on set

- At the bottom of the end credits, the film advertises that "James Bond Will Return" without naming the next film for the first time since Thunderball


SUPPLEMENTAL STUFF
- Podcast: How Did This Get Made? Episode #99: A View To a Kill: LIVE

Octopussy

OCTOPUSSY
1983 | Dir. John Glen | 131 Minutes

"We're two of a kind. There are vast rewards for a man of your talents, willing to take risks."

MI6 Agent 009 is slain in East Germany leaving behind a counterfeit Fabergé egg. Picking up the fallen agent's mission, James Bond encounters deposed Afghan prince Kamal Khan and his cohort, a prolific jewel smuggler and all-female cult leader known as Octopussy. Bond discovers Khan is in league with a rogue Soviet general and races to stop their nefarious plot.

Offering few thrills and failing to capitalize on its aging leading man's cheeseball charisma, perhaps best remembered for literally presenting Bond as a clown in one off-puttingly self-aware moment, John Glen's second Bond film, and Roger Moore's sixth, Octopussy is another low point in Eon Productions' film series. The plot involving circus performers, stolen Russian treasures, and nuclear disarmament is convoluted yet the story is threadbare. The characters are downright boring, featuring the least intimidating villain Bond has ever faced and a love interest who predictably and infuriatingly loses all agency after one night with Bond.

The action scenes are mostly by-the-numbers, every one of them substandard. Bond is chased through the streets of Rajasthan littered with awful Indian caricatures, he dodges bullets and swings from jungle vines complete with corny Tarzan yell, he improbably drives on train tracks and leaps train cars in pursuit of his target. Even Octopussy's skimpy acrobats who do most of the fighting in the finale fail to truly liven things up. Aside from the production value on display in some of the sets, there is little to distinguish Octopussy from a tedious made-for-television movie.

Roger Moore has seen better days as James Bond, and though he still appears committed to the part delivering the often cringey dialogue without missing a beat, he has clearly overstayed his time as the action hero based on how much screen time his stunt double receives in this one. Previously appearing as Scaramanga's doomed lover in The Man with the Golden Gun, Maud Adams is fine but unremarkable as Octopussy. Adams surprisingly doesn't have much to do despite the fact that film is named after her character. Louis Jourdan doesn't leave even the slightest lasting impression as Kamal Khan, which might be the worst thing that can be said for a Bond villain, and neither does Kabir Bedi who plays is go-to henchman Gobinda. Twins David Meyer and Anthony Meyer are slightly more memorable than the main baddies as knife-throwing assassins Mischka and Grischka. Kristina Wayborn is great as the seductive Magda, surprisingly makes it through the entire film without dying, Tennis star Vijay Amritraj is charming as the doomed token foreign operative Vijay, and Steven Berkoff chews scenery the cartoonish Soviet General Orlov. Walter Gotell makes his fourth appearance as the honorable KGB leader Gogol, Desmond Llewelyn receives significant screen time as Q in his tenth appearance, Lois Maxwell makes her thirteenth appearance as Moneypenny, and Robert Brown appears as M as the second actor to take on the role.

Octopussy is arguably the worst Roger Moore Bond film in terms of entertainment value. Not only is it unapologetically silly, it's also uncharacteristically dull. The adversaries are rather generic and unappealing, the featured set pieces are disappointingly mundane, and the action sequences are among the least inspired and most forgettable of the entire series.


THE COLD OPEN
It's the best action sequence of the picture. Naturally, it's completely unrelated to the rest of the film. With the help of a beautiful accomplice, Bond infiltrates a Cuban military base, gets caught, and accomplishes his mission while making his daring escape piloting a small airplane.


THE THEME SONG AND OPENING TITLES
Rita Coolidge's "All Time High" is a fairly standard inoffensive track. It's pleasant love song but rather forgettable for a James Bond theme tune. For me, the title is unintentionally ironic, as I consider Octopussy one of the series' all time lows. The opening title sequence by Maurice Binder isn't one of his best, featuring odd-looking laser graphics over the on-brand nude models and silhouettes of acrobats that look out-of-place.


THE BOND GIRL
With an infamously terrible name, Octopussy is written as an interesting and capable match for Bond. Unfortunately, despite her incredible backstory as a skilled smuggler and leader of a formidable cult of fighting women, the film only ever tells and doesn't show, the plot doesn't give her much to do once Bond beds her. Instead of having her dispatch Khan in revenge for his betrayal, he almost immediately takes her hostage during the finale, shamefully rendering her another damsel in distress.


THE BOND VILLAIN
Bland as can be, Kamal Khan fails to live up to the standards of even the most basic Bond villains. The evil scheme devised by Khan and General Orlov carries catastrophic implications but unfolds late in the film, is over-complicated in execution, and is relatively pedestrian overall. The most memorable thing he does is plucking an eyeball out of a stuffed lamb's head and eating it.


FEATURED HENCHMAN
Gobinda is just as forgettable as Khan despite showing his strength by crushing dice with his bare hands. If there's one thing that's memorable about him, it's his perhaps misguided loyalty to his boss. When ordered to fight Bond hanging outside of their plane midflight, he questions Khan but ultimately does as he is told leading to his demise.


FEATURED GADGET
The crocodile submarine is one of the most ridiculous out-of-left-field gadgets featured in the series, delivered as a campy plot twist when Bond emerges from its mouth after struggling with what is clearly a real crocodile. It's really kind of sublime in its campiness.


FLEMING FIDELITY
The story of Octopussy's father, the disgraced Major Dexter Smythe, as well as the title of the film, originate from Ian Fleming's short story of the same name first serialized in the Daily Express in 1965, with few details changed. The auction sequence is loosely based on Fleming's short story The Property of a Lady first published in Sotheby's annual journal The Ivory Hammer in 1963. The rest of the film is an original story.


BATTLE OF THE BONDS
Ion Productions' Octopussy was in direct competition with Never Say Never Again, Kevin McClory's remake of Thunderball starring Sean Connery released by Warner Brothers four months after Octopussy. Though it claimed a better opening weekend than Octopussy, Never Say Never Again ultimately made less money.


FRAGMENTS
- In one extraordinarily cheesy moment, this film features the first and only diegetic use of the James Bond theme tune when Vijay plays it to charm a snake

- At the bottom of the end credits, the film advertises that "James Bond will return in 'From a View to a Kill'" though the title of the next film was slightly shortened to A View to a Kill during production