Bonding with Bond

Sigh...starting this post fairly late, but I promised one today.

I recently borrowed the first box in the 4 box Ultimate James Bond box set from one of my best friends. He's a huge Bond nut, and I've never seen the old ones all the way through. I've got time on my hands, so I figured I'd watch them. I remember being a lot younger (8ish?), and some TV channel would run one movie a night Bond marathons which I would watch with my parents. Unfortunately, I always had to go to bed before seeing the end, so I've seen the first half of most of the old Bond movies, just like I've seen the first half of the Ten Commandments. It was actually pretty funny because I had gone over to Ethan's place in DC to watch the NCAA title game and, as I was leaving because it was past his and Sara's bedtime, I asked him if I could borrow the first set. He paused and looked at me for about 3 seconds before saying okay. Knowing E as well as I do, I told him that I fully well understood that I was one of the privileged few allowed such an honor and promised to bring it back next time I came over. E and I have known each other our whole lives, our dads have been friends since they were about 3, we can joke around about stuff like this.

Anyway, included in the box set were 5 Bond movies, though the reality is that I feel like I should refer to this set the same way we referred to the Rocky 1-5 box set 1st year, namely, 4 Bond movies and that other movie starring a guy named James Bond. The contents of this set included Goldfinger, Diamonds are Forever, The Man with the Golden Gun, The Living Daylights, and The World is Not Enough (this is the one we pretend doesn't exist.). If you want to know what my problem is with The World is Not Enough, I think it can pretty much be summed up by saying that Denise Richard plays a Nuclear physicist. You can extrapolate from there.

For the rest of the set, my ranking would go as follows:
The Man with the Golden Gun-10.0 This is probably my favorite of the Bond movies. Christopher Lee is an awesome bad guy. Roger Moore makes a great Bond. That amazing 360 car trick. They're in Southeast Asia. And that duel between Scaramanga and Bond is just awesome. Highly recommend it.

Goldfinger-9.5 Roger Moore may play Bond in my favorite single Bond film, but Connery was the best Bond. I don't like it quite as much as Golden Gun, so it gets the 9.5, but it does introduce some of the most iconic Bond characters ever. I mean, if you mention Goldfinger, everyone knows you're talking about James Bond. Also, you have Odd Job and his judo chop and Pussy Galore. Where can you go wrong?

Diamonds are Forever-8.5/9.0 Another Bond classic. As usual, a good showing from Connery, though not my favorite Bond film. These Bond movies do seem to be obsessed with diamonds though. Here, Living Daylights, the one with Halle Berry, I'm sure there are others. Either way, still a really fun flick. The car chase with the cops in Las Vegas was great. It also has perhaps the funniest chase scene ever between a moon robot and guys in cars/three wheeled dirt bikes. Also, the blow up an oil rig at the end. I really enjoyed it, just doesn't stack up to the other two.

The Living Daylights-8.0 I liked the Living Daylights, but this was the worst movie of the this set since I'm not counting the fifth one. It's not that it's bad. Timothy Dalton makes a pretty good Bond. It just has to compete with 3 Bond classics, and it doesn't stack up. My main problem is that Bond seems to fall in love with the Bond girl. Look, it's well known that Bond was a player and slept with plenty of women, but he never, ever falls in love with them, Casino Royale being the exception. Part of what makes Bond, Bond is that he's so suave that even when the girls know he's seducing them, they fall for it anyway. Pussy Galore is a perfect example. Bond is straight up the man, but he never actually falls for any of the girls. In this one though, it seems pretty obvious that Bond falls head over heals for this girl, and I didn't like it. Call me a male chauvinist if you want, but Bond has a reputation to uphold, and Dalton and the script did not hold up their end of the bargain. Still, it's a good Bond movie.