I really enjoy the James Bond series and have seen plenty of its films, but I've never ended up going through all of them. I could just fill in the blanks whenever one pops up on a streaming service, but I've always do a full marathon, see all the movies one after the other. And with Amazon Prime getting all of the Bond films for a "limited time", I thought this was as good a time as any to go through the series once and for all.
There is one issue, however. Spectre, one of the last Bond films, is leaving Prime in like a week. So I decided to give this marathon a bit of a twist. I'm going to watch the James Bond movies in reverse actor order, meaning I'm going to start with the Craig movies, then watch the Brosnan films, and keep going until I end with Connery. So Spectre will be one of the first movies I watch, and I won't have to cram 23 movies into like 9 days. Let's continue things with the Roger Moore era:
Since I've watched plenty of these movies already, I wanted to mark the ones that I'm rewatching rather than going into blind. To keep things simple, if you see the (R) symbol next to a movie, that means that I've seen it before and that this is a rewatch.
Live Or Let Die: While Moore is generally regarded as the goofy, campy Bond, I'd only seen The Spy Who Loved Me and For Your Eyes Only before this marathon, which are also his most grounded movies. I was not prepared for how crazy Live Or Let Die would get, and I was especially not prepared for the fact that it's not even in the Top 3 craziest Bond movies.
Live And Let Die starts off with a pretty interesting hook. Three British agents have been killed, Bond needs to figure out who did it while also making sure not to be killed himself. LALD is at its best whenever it's focused on how in danger Bond is, and it leads to some pretty suspenseful sequences, particularly whenever the genuinely great henchman Tee-Hee is involved. Unfortunately, this doesn't happen nearly enough, as much of Live And Let Die is actually pretty light-hearted. This is partially because the goal of the villain, Dr Kananga, is actually a drug scheme rather than some malicious plot against agents. LALD really just slowly spirals out of control as it goes on, starting off as a fairly grounded Harlem-bound thriller and escalating into a movie with honest-to-goodness voodoo and magical elements. I don't think I need to tell you that a Bond movie having magic in it completely destroys my sense of disbelief and seriously drags down the film. Honestly, the only thing I really thoroughly enjoyed in Live And Let Die was the genuinely great action. Most of Moore's films, no matter how bad, tend to have some pretty fantastic stuntwork-centric action scenes. In this movie specifically, the highlight is definitely that lengthy boat chase (albeit lengthy because those irritating cutaways to Sheriff Pepper), along with that subtly impressive crocodile hop. Unfortunately, not even the best action scenes can save Live And Let Die at its absolute worst.
From what I can tell, Live And Let Die was inspired by the blaxploitation genre, a subgenre of film that was popular in the 70s which were basically exploitation (as in gory, crass action) films starring African-Americans. It was a pretty controversial genre at the time, with some finding that it perpetuated stereotypes and others liking that it allowed for black protagonists and action heroes. However, considering that Live And Let Die is still a James Bond movie above all else, it pretty much solely has the former element. Live And Let Die is a really racist film, with much of its largely black cast coming across as stereotypes, the implication that all black people know each other and are part of some intricate conspiracy, lots of casual racism on the part of Bond himself, and of course, the aforementioned voodoo elements coming across as very stereotypical. But wait, Live And Let Die isn't just racist. It's sexist too! Midway through the film, Bond forces the Bond girl to sleep with him and lose her virginity, and to think this is only the second most reprehensible rape Bond did in the whole series. Once again, I've only seen the grounded Moore films, so it's surprising to see just how skeevy his Bond portrayal is in this one.
Overall, Live And Let Die has its moments, particularly in the stunt-heavy action scenes and the brief flirts with suspense, but the wasted potential, suspension-of-disbelief-shattering magic elements, and especially the awful racism and sexism makes for one of the worst Bond movies I've seen so far. Also Sheriff Pepper can suck it, worst side character ever.
1.5/5 Stars
The Man With The Golden Gun: The Man With The Golden Gun is the definition of wasted potential. It had what is probably the coolest concept for a Bond film: James Bond vs the world's greatest assassin. Who wouldn't want to see them face off? This could've been a lean, focused Bond film entirely centered around the dynamic between Bond and his villain... unfortunately, what we got was a mess.
As mentioned above, TMWTGG is about Bond facing off against the world's greatest assassin, Scaramanga. That's a really cool concept, and Christopher Lee's performance as the character is genuinely really good. He's intimidating and calculated, and while I wish he got more screentime, you can tell Lee is giving his all in every scene he's in. Unfortunately, what stops Scaramanga from being one of the all-time Bond villains is that him being a super assassin with a insta-kill golden gun isn't enough, he had to have a second gimmick: A third nipple. Scaramanga having a third nipple reminds me a lot of Christmas Jones. It adds nothing to the movie, only leading to a bunch of unfunny gags and gross close-ups of said nipple, and it feels like the writers didn't trust the audience to handle a more serious villain (similarly they gave him a weird solar power-related plan when he could've just been after Bond). Scaramanga could have been this super terrifying antagonist that never gives Bond a moment to breathe, but the nipple turns the character into a relative joke. That's not just an issue with the villain though, TMWTGG turns pretty much everything into a joke to the point where you can't take anything seriously. The film is bloated with weird gags and tangents to keep the viewer's attention that leave the film feeling confusing, when all it needed to do was tell a tight story about two assassins. This issue is at its most apparent (and worst) during the movie's infamous slide whistle scene. At one point, Bond has to do a corkscrew jump with a car, which was actually done in real-life. This is an incredibly impressive stunt, probably one of the most impressive in all of film... but it's watered-down by a slide whistle sound effect straight-out of America's Funniest Home Videos. Once again, this is one of the most impressive stunts in any movie ever, and it was turned into a joke. This single scene epitomizes everything wrong with The Man With The Golden Gun.
It gets worse, though. Oh, does it get worse. The henchman, Nick Nack, is a dwarf and was also pretty much turned into a joke. I think there was a lot of potential for Nick Nack to be this mastermind-type character, someone who doesn't fight for obvious reasons but can be the brains of an operation. Unfortunately, the final battle has Nick Nack actually try to fight Bond head on, and he's swiftly defeated in one of the most "comedic" and stakes-less fight scenes I've ever seen. Speaking of "comedy", TMWTGG brings back Sheriff Pepper, and he's even more annoying than he was in the last film. Seriously, this doesn't even feel like a Bond film, it's like a parody, a bad Austin Powers movie. Then again, not even an Austin Powers movie would be this sexist. Yeah, TMWTGG doesn't improve on the problematic elements of its predecessor. Similarly to Live And Let Die, this movie goes for a lot of easy stereotypes, though this time with Asians. But even worse is its treatment of the female characters. The Bond girl, Mary Goodnight, is supposed to be a CIA agent, but in reality, she's the token Dumb Blonde trope who screws everything up. Even more, she literally only wears skimpy clothing, so it's more obvious than ever that her only purpose is to be sexualized. Then there's Andrea Anders, Scaramanga's sex slave who Bond proceeds to beat upon first meeting her. Bond's skeevy characterization hasn't changed here, if anything he's even worse. He flirts with and seduces every single woman he comes across, and even when he's not doing that, he's kind of a jerk. One scene has him push a kid off a boat, which even Moore himself thought was too cruel. I get that the film wants to explore Bond's darker side to parallel him with Scaramanga, but the fact that the movie maintains a lighthearted and comedic tone throughout and doesn't actually do anything with these themes (a common trend in Bond, I see) makes his characterization feel inconsistent and confused instead.
The Man With The Golden Gun may just be the worst film in the series. Aside from Christopher Lee's too-good-for-this-movie performance, TMWTGG was an overlong and kinda incomprehensible waste of a perfectly good premise, with unfunny gags that mitigated any of its attempted seriousness, and some of the worst sexism in the franchise.
1/5 Stars
The Spy Who Loved Me (R): When I first watched The Spy Who Loved Me, I thought that, despite its status as the "best Moore film", it was nothing special. However, at that point, I had only watched the really beloved Bond films like Goldfinger, Goldeneye, and Casino Royale, so no wonder. Now that I'm watching the Moore films in order, holy shit is this a breath of fresh air! I still have my gripes, but The Spy Who Loved Me is a rare bright spot in a dire lineup of movies. It's fun, entertaining, unproblematic, and, to put a simply, a genuinely great action film.
The Spy Who Loved Me involves Bond having to team up with a KGB Agent named Anya Amasova to track down two stolen submarines and retrieve them before they're used to start a nuclear war. If this sounds a bit familiar, that's because it is, Tomorrow Never Dies has a very similar premise. Personally, I think the villain's plot in Tomorrow Never Dies is a bit more realistic (and prescient), but TSWLM does a much better job of fleshing out the relationship between Bond and his unlikely ally. This is an easy pick for one of the most romantic Bond films, and the burgeoning romance between Bond and Anya crossed with the tension of whether or not one will backstab the other is just incredibly juicy and fun. As far as the villains go though, Stromberg is fine. He's not super memorable, but I like that the movie sticks with the fact that he's not much of a fighter. He spends almost the entire film sitting down, and even his final battle with Bond feels more like a battle of wits. The henchman Jaws, on the other hand, is a truly iconic foe, quite possibly the best henchman in the whole franchise. He's intimidating, memorable, and shares some phenomenal fights with Bond.
As far as Bond movies go, The Spy Who Loved Me is still fairly light-hearted, but unlike its two predecessors, it still takes itself seriously enough for me to care about what's going on within it. It also helps that the jokes land a lot better, Bond's characterization is way less sleazy, and the racial stereotypes are dramatically toned down. But above all, what really makes TSWLM work as a light-hearted Bond film is that it's just effortlessly fun. It's a soaring, globetrotting adventure filled to the brim with action and spectacle, and it feels like the people working on it just want the viewer to have a good time. The action scenes are easily some of Moore's best too, ranging from the awe-inspiring ski jump stunt (another one of the series' most impressive), to the brutal train fight with Jaws, to the iconic submarine car chases, to that bombastic final showdown in the secret base. So all of this sounds great, and it is, but while I definitely love TSWLM a lot more now, my biggest gripe with the movie still remains: Bond has it too easy. Outside of a few moments, my biggest problem with The Spy Who Loved Me is the fact that it doesn't feel like Bond is struggling at all here. He approaches every situation with a knowing wink, and it rarely ever feels like he's actually in danger (the only exception being that bomb defusal scene). If you like seeing James Bond as this unstoppable super spy, then this won't be a problem for you, but for me, the fact that this feels like just another day for Bond means that the stakes are a low lower than I think they should be.
Overall, while probably a bit too breezy for my tastes, The Spy Who Loved Me isn't just one of Moore's best Bond films, it's a great Bond film period. It's a fun riproaring adventure filled with death-defying stunts, great action, compelling romance, fun villains, and Moore's most confident performance as Bond to date.
4/5 Stars
Moonraker: Given my opinions on the Moore films so far, it's easy to think that I would hate Moonraker. One of the most mocked Bond films of all time, Moonraker is infamous for sending Bond to space in an obvious attempt to cash in on Star Wars. It's goofy, ridiculous, and very weird, so I'd obviously despise it right? Honestly, not really. While very flawed, I actually enjoyed Moonraker a decent amount. This is how you make a goofy Bond movie, you lean into that ridiculousness and play it with as much sincerity as you possibly can.
Plot-wise, Moonraker is literally just The Spy Who Loved Me but in space. The villain steals a space shuttle and plans to use it to destroy the world, Bond has to track it down and eventually goes up to space to stop the villain's plans. It's very much an excuse plot, but you know what? It works for me. Drax manages to stand out on his own as a villain compared to Stromberg for how cruel he is, the globe-trotting feel is still intact, and Moore's performance as Bond is genuinely really great here. I know that a lot of people hate the space stuff, but I actually think it's executed surprisingly well. I like how Bond going to space is saved for the third act, letting the film slowly build up the insanity and end on a high note. I also like how Moonraker treats a lot of its more weird elements with a bit of seriousness and sincerity. Moore does't wink at the audience as much, he just goes to space without question. It feels like the filmmakers are fully committing to their premise, no matter how weird, and it shows in just how great the production is.
Moonraker is, hands down, the best-looking Moore film of the bunch. Lewis Gilbert is a master at making Bond movies that feel big and grand, but it's especially apparent in Moonraker. The cinematography is beautiful, the lighting is moody, and best of all, the set design is impeccable. I probably wouldn't have been as kind to Bond going to space if Ken Adams' set design for the space station wasn't so great. This applies to the action too. Continuing the trend of killer Moore stunts, the opening has Bond stealing someone else's parachute in freefall, starting off the film with a bang. But even after that, action scenes like the gondola chase, tram fight, and climactic space battle are fun and inventive, if a bit ridiculous. Even more, I adore John Barry's score here, it's soaring, romantic, and really heightens the film's tone. On a production level, Moonraker is an absolute success.
However, even though I enjoyed Moonraker, that doesn't mean it doesn't have its issues. This is still a very flawed film, though not for the reasons you might be expecting. See, I like Moonraker because of how much it commits to its premise and setpieces without winking at the audience, which is why it sucks whenever they do implement a corny and usually unfunny cutaway gag that only makes the scene less effective. Stuff like the doubletaking pigeon, Jaws falling into a circus tent, and... well, to be honest, most of Jaws' screentime. Jaws is as fun as ever here, but they do make a lot of jokes at his expense which lead to him coming off as less intimidating (though I do like his changing sides, that was kinda fun). I'm also not a huge fan of the Bond girl here, Dr Goodhead (god, do I hate these names). I originally liked the idea of her being a scientist, but then it turns out she's a CIA agent, essentially a clone of Anya from the previous movie. Even more, compared to Anya, Goodhead just doesn't have any chemistry with Bond. Finally, I think Moonraker can be a bit slow at points. I get that's purposefully meant to be a slow burn, and I do think that approach works for building up to the space stuff, but you can tell the film was padded out at points since there were plenty of scenes where characters are just... not doing anything.
Overall, Moonraker is nowhere near being one of the best Bond films, but you know what? I liked it. With a recycled script and a cheap premise, this really could've felt like a cashgrab, yet it feels like the crew put a lot of effort here and it shows. Moore is at his best as Bond, the villain is great, the third act takes itself just seriously enough to be a lot of fun, and the production as a whole is stellar. While dragged down by tonal and pacing issues, I thoroughly enjoyed Moonraker more than a decent chunk of the other Bond films, and I think that counts for something.
3/5 Stars
For Your Eyes Only (R): I loved For Your Eyes Only when I first saw it and I love it just as much now. It's easily the best Moore film by a county mile, and it baffles me that it's not held up as one of the finest films in the series. It's grounded, gripping, and boasts some of the best action sequences in all of Bond.
For Your Eyes Only boasts a simple plot to many of Moore's Bond films. The villain stole a MacGuffin (this time a missile command system), and Bond once again has to go and retrieve it. Nothing new there, and the villain in question Kristatos isn't anything super special. However, what really elevates For Your Eyes Only's plot is the Bond girl Melina, who gets a surprisingly large role for a Bond girl. Kristatos killed Melina's family, so she spends the film trying to get revenge on them. Her character arc about learning to not fall into the cycle of revenge is genuinely well-done, and I'd argue that she's probably the central character of the film. Not to say that Bond isn't also a highlight here, because another thing I like about FYEO is that it finally goes back to the more grounded portrayal of Bond. Moore gives an impressively cold and detached performance of their character, making for what is easily his best role out of them all. Bond casually pushing a car with a baddie in it off a cliff is just a perfect encapsulation of what I love about the character.
As a whole, For Your Eyes Only is darker and more realistic than most of the other Moore films. While there are still a fair share of jokes and goofy moments, they never overwhelm the film or mess up the tone. As fun as TSWLM and Moonraker were, it's nice to finally see a Bond movie that feels more gritty and grounded. In addition, the action scenes are genuinely fantastic, easily some of my favorite in the series. There's the fun car chase through Italy, the lengthy and dynamic ski/bobsled chase down a mountain, and the shootout at one of Kristatos' bases that culminates in the aforementioned car-kicking scene. Despite FYEO being more realistic, the action scenes feel more dynamic, well-choreographed, and gripping than ever before. And that's not even mentioning the nail-biting cliff sequence near the end of the film, one of my favorite Bond setpieces and a masterclass in building tension. I'm on the edge of my seat anytime I watch it. Honestly, my only gripe with the action is with the opening sequence, which had to give Blofeld a hasty sendoff since the rights to the character got sold. Look, I get that Eon was in a tough spot here and didn't have many options, but Blofeld's death in the opening just feels incredibly lame and anticlimactic considering how important of a villain he is.
Overall, For Your Eyes Only isn't anything super special in terms of its plot, but it will always be one of my favorite Bond movies regardless. Moore's detached performance is easily his best yet, the more grounded tone is a breath of fresh air, Melina's character arc is genuinely really well-done, and the action scenes are some of the best in the franchise.
4.5/5 Stars
Octopussy: Look, I get that James Bond is a very innuendo-laden series, but Octopussy? Really? You could do better than that. Name aside, Octopussy was just kind of boring. It's not bad, and actually has some elements I really liked, but generally, I found it to be a bit of a drag.
Okay, so let me try to explain Octopussy's story because it's very convoluted. So an agent gets assassinated with a counterfeit Fabergè egg, so Bond travels to India to find who stole it. He then discovers the thief is allied with a Russian general who plans to use a nuclear weapon to win the Cold War, and of course has to stop it. Bond storylines are usually a bit ridiculous, but Octopussy feels like it's two different stories at the same time, the egg and the nuclear weapon, and neither really feel convincingly connected. It's not just the plot that's confused, the tone feels all over the place in Octopussy. Half of the time, it feels like a fairly grounded Cold War plot ala FYEO, and the other time, it's easily one of the goofiest movies in the series. From Bond doing a Tarzan yell, to pretty much everything involved the circus, to all the goofy gags in the rickshaw chase, Octopussy once again suffers from whiplash because it can't just pick a damn tone. And of course, I think it goes without mentioning that I'm not a fan of the series returning to the "Bond travels to ____" structure from the first two Moore films, because with that comes many racial stereotypes. Octopussy depicts a very caricatured version of India, one that brings to mind the similarly racist Temple Of Doom. But at least that movie (aside from just flat-out being a better film) focused on a cult separate from the rest of India, while Octopussy is explicitly depicting India as a whole.
But hey, I did say that Octopussy had its good elements, so let's talk about them. For starters, I really like the titular Bond girl, once again name aside. She might actually be one of my favorite Bond girls, possibly even a Top 3 candidate. I have a soft-spot for the Bond girls that are initially allied with the antagonists and change sides, so Octopussy already fits that niche. I also like that they brought back Maud Adams considering how horrible her character in TMWTGG was treated. But what I especially like is her age. At this point, it's gotten really apparent that Roger Moore is starting to age out of the role, so the decision to pair him with a slightly older-than-usual Bond girl was a great call that allows for a more mature dynamic that really works for this movie. This is important because the crew would proceed to not do that in the next film. I also really liked the action scenes in Octopussy. While they're slightly bogged down by the usual Moore era cutaway gags, they're still really inventive and impressive on a visual level. There's Bond avoiding a homing missile, a rickshaw chase, a fight scene atop hot coals, a lengthy car chase/fist fight/shootout sequence involving a train, Bond disabling a nuclear bomb in a clown costume (which works surprisingly well in context and is genuinely tense), and saving the best for last, Bond fighting someone while clinging onto a plane. Sure, some of these action sequences are a bit outrageous, but like in Moonraker, it's hard not to get too mad when they're this creative and fun. I also think Octopussy just flat-out gets better in its final third. The train/circus sequence in particular is genuinely one of the best stretches of action in the entire series, and left me wondering just how good this movie could've been if it focused more on the Russian plot rather than spread itself this thin.
As it is now, however, Octopussy is mostly a pretty average movie, with a convoluted plot, uneven tone, and some uncomfortable stereotypes. However, the Bond girl, action sequences, and final third are good enough that I still enjoyed myself and would rank it over the first two Moore films.
Update: I've actually started to really warm up to Octopussy over time? I mean, the stereotypical stuff is still a problem, but it's a pretty fun adventure film overall where the high points shine far more brightly. It's consistently entertaining, never boring, takes itself just seriously enough to still be genuinely be engrossing, and has some of the best action in the franchise. It's very much a flawed gem, I think the Temple of Doom comparison was particularly apt, but I'd easily put it up there with Tomorrow Never Dies as one of the most underrated Bond films.
3/5 Stars
A View To A Kill: With the recent reveal of the trailer for the new Super Mario Bros movie, there's been a question that I've been thinking about as of late: Will a bad lead character tank an otherwise great film? If A View To A Kill is any indication, it's definitely a possibility.
A View To A Kill does a lot right. Coming off the convoluted heels of Octopussy, Bond trying to stop the owner of a microchip company from destroying Silicon Valley to start a monopoly is mercifully simple, even if it's admittedly a bit ridiculous (no, that's not how Silicon Valley works, you idiots). Like many Roger Moore films, A View To A Kill feels like a large globe-trotting film, maybe even the most considering the film makes a point of holding many of its biggest setpieces in a different country. Speaking of which, there's definitely a fair share of typically well-staged action scenes, ranging from a ski chase through Siberia, to a half-car chase through Paris, to a awesome sequence involving a firetruck, to a very climactic final battle on the Golden Gate Bridge. But I think what really sticks out about A View To The Kill are the antagonists, Max Zorin and May Day, played by Christopher Walken and Grace Jones respectively. If you know anything about these two actors, it should be very obvious why this is such a fun villainous duo to watch. Walken has one of the most iconically hammy acting styles out of anyone out there, and Jones is an LGBT and camp icon, and it shows in just how much fun they both seem to be having in their roles. Any scene with Zorin and May Day in it is a joy to watch solely because of their actors.
So A View To A Kill has a simple but effective plot, solid action, and fantastic villains, but the film has one pretty glaring flaw: Bond himself. See, as I hinted at in my Octopussy review, Moore was starting to age out of the role. This isn't inherently a death knell for the actor's time as Bond though, the crew totally could've came up with a movie that dealt with Bond grappling with his age. Skyfall did that, and it was fantastic. Unfortunately, AVTAK is otherwise an entirely standard Bond film, which makes Moore's age stick out like a sort thumb. On an acting level, Moore feels tired, and you can tell he's not able to put as much into the action scenes. While I stand by my statement that AWTAK's setpieces are well-staged, a decent number of them are dragged down by the fact that Moore is visibly struggling to pull some of them off. But even worse is the fact that, just like in any other entry in the series, Moore is still hitting on girls, having sex with people, and getting a love interest. Unlike in Octopussy, where Maud Adams was noticeably older than your standard Bond girl, Bond flirts with and has sex with people way younger than him. The age gap is apparent and immensely uncomfortable. And all this leaves me a bit mixed on A View To A Kill, because it really does have its good moments. If Bond had been recast or the film made when Moore was a bit younger, I genuinely think it would be a solid, though still unremarkable, entry in the series. But as it is now, Bond is a focal point, who's in a lot of the action scenes, and gets a love interest nearly 30 years younger than him. It's hard not to just ignore his age here.
Overall, A View To A Kill is rough. There's a good film in here, with solid action, a solid plot, and some of the best villains in the series. However, it's hard not to look past the fact that Roger Moore is way too old to just be doing what he's been doing for the past six movies. Whenever Walken and Jones are on screen, AVTAK is a blast. Whenever Moore is on screen, it's a bore at best and a very uncomfortable watch at worst.
2/5 Stars
Here's how I'd rank the Roger Moore movies:
- For Your Eyes Only
- The Spy Who Loved Me
- Octopussy
- Moonraker
- A View To A Kill
- Live And Let Die
- The Man With The Golden Gun
See you next time when I review the final batch of Bond movies, the ones with Sean Connery...
