Ian’s Bond Education: Part 1
I have a confession to make: I’m not a Bond fan. I’m not anti-Bond either mind you, its just that I never grew up watching them and I’m not as well acquainted with the series as many other film fans. So I’ve decided to change that.
My history of Bond is seeing Goldeneye back in high school and liking it, I think. I then watched Casino Royale and loved it. I know Bond fans are shaking their heads at me, but too bad, its my favourite Bond film thus far, and probably will remain so for a while. Most of the reason is probably my lack of experience with Bond, but its all a matter of perspective I suppose.
I of course watched the other two Craig films. Quantum disappointed me, like many others. Skyfall was enjoyable. I also watched Dr. No a few years back, since it was the first of the series and I felt like I should see it. I liked it. It was down to earth, but not completely, the setting was exotic, and I just thought it was a solid film. I also remember seeing From Russia with Love even longer ago, like when I was a teenager, so I didn’t remember a whole lot except the part where he shoots down the helicopter. A couple years ago I decided to check out Goldfinger since it is widely considered thte ultimate Bod film, but I wasn’t overly compelled by it.
So there is my history thus far. I have decided to make a more concerted effort to catch up on my Bond film knowledge, starting with Thunderball and going from there. I hope you enjoy my thoughts.
Okay, so I watched Thunderball. I do think that the early Bond films have a certain charm to their locations and overall style. I am getting the sense that I much more prefer Bond without the silliness like gadgets or overly complicated schemes. For example, I rolled my eyes something fierce during that opening scene when he flies away on a jetpack for no reason other then to have James Bond fliy away on a jet pack.
For the first half of the film I will admit I was kinda bored. I wasn’t seeing anything that set this apart from other Bond films or even from other spy films in general. But then the underwater stuff came and I understood why this movie had value. There’s some really cool ocean stuff in the second half which brought me back in.
8/10
I was somewhat caught up in the story I will admit. It was sort of the reverse of Thuunderball though. . Where Thunderball picked up as it went on, most of my interest here was in the first half and I began losing interest in the second. And James Bond trying to look Japanese? He looked like some weird Vulcan.
Also, didn’t the whole fake death thing that the title refers to ultimately pointless in regards to the story?
7/10
7/10
Interesting thoughts, glad to hear you’re catching up on your Bond info and movies.
vinnieh - January 13, 2015 at 4:59 am |
Yeah, tired of feeling out of the loop.
ianthecool - January 17, 2015 at 4:06 pm |